Ebbie wrote: "That cat ... ended up knowing what time I should go to bed. At a certain point she would dance on my pillow squalling for me to come into the bedroom."

We are well accustomed to having our behaviour monitored and regulated by the cats: they get us up in the morning, they inform us when dinner is due, and they announce bedtime. In fact, felines are downright normative.

What I find remarkable is that they always seem to know the time. Cats can't read the clock, but they want us up by six o'clock in the morning whether it is black dark (i.e., the dead of winter) or broad daylight (half-way through June).