Oh I so hope other people do this otherwise I'm going back for a psychiatric referral.

I like to sit and talk to the cat, and pretend that he has a voice and talks back. But the voice I give him is a really stupid one - if you've ever watched the Simpsons it's the voice they always use for the young geeky spotty assistant at the grocery store type , but with a British accent.

We even have (usually sarcastic) conversations along the lines of:

Me: What have you been up to today, pussy pussy pussy?
Cat: Er... I'm a cat... might give you a clue what sort of things I get up to?

Oh gawd if nobody else does this I'm really gonna go :$

I do that too. :-) But don't let that reassure you too much, I do have serious doubts about my sanity some of the time. :-)

Haha, I'm not quite at that stage yet. I like how the cat sounds like a British version of one of the grocery store clerks. I've conditioned my mum's dog so that when I lick my lips, at any time of the day, she thinks I'm going to eat her dinner and growls and barks. That can bring light relief as I try and write up. I also rehearse what I'm going to say in my viva and say it aloud as I write - thank God, no-one can hear me.

Viva examiner (VE): So, how did your research come about.
Me: Well, bla, bla, bla.
VE: I'm a bit concerned about this areas here...
Me: Yeah, well, I've been sat a computer for 3 years, I've got no money and don't you think this bit is really good?

I've even had a lucid nightmare where the external examiner gave me a big book and it was a list of all the corrections for my thesis. I remember thinking and saying 'is it really that bad? How long I have I got to do these corrections?'
So, not exactly the same malady as yours, but on the same spectrum of madness.

The oldest of my three dogs back home has long been trained by me to growl and bare her teeth when I say "I'm going to take the DOG's food...the DOG..." The moment you say DOG loudly she bares all her teeth. I trained her personally and am very very proud.

I pretend i can play the piano on my desk when i can't think... when it gets really bad its the third movement from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Its knackering.

That's ok Dan, I still call my neighbour's cat 'beautiful lady' 'isn't she beautiful' even though I now know she is, in fact, a Tom cat called Tim. Tim seems to like it.

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At least you are talking to a living creature. I have a stuffed chimp who I sometimes put in the passenger seat of my car if I'm doing a lot of driving. I talk to him about annoying drivers, interesting scenery etc. He only talks back if there is another person with us who gets the joke and then I do a silly voice for him. I've had him for 22 years so it's not a madness that has come upon me since starting the PhD.

This thread has really made me laugh. I talk to my cat but have never made him answer back...maybe I'll try it sometime though.

Don't think you're going mad, everyone has their little strangities. My boyfriend and I have recently been says "shoes" to each other in silly voices. I don't really kknow why and if anyone else heard they'd probably think we were both mad!

I'm so pleased I'm not totally mad (I'm happy being a bit mad, makes life more colourful!)

PamW, I love the idea of having a travel partner for long distances! I could do with one of those for when I travel up to see my parents!

I seem to be the only dog walker on my 'dog walking field' who talks to their dog - I'm not talking about commands here, I'm talking "ooh, look at that bird [dog's name] you could definitely chase that, chase it, CHASE IT, woop woop woop............oh you got it, that's disgusting, you killed that poor little creature. Here have your ball, squeak squeak (that's me doing the sqeak noise too)"

I win.

When I'm fed up, I turn my sighs into pretending to be a puffer fish...So the exhalation of breath leads to blowing my cheeks up really big like a puffer fish, and see how long I can hold it until I 'pop'. That's always fun!