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I'm not so sure that I "have" cats - even though I'm supporting (and loving) 16 of them.
It's more like they "have" me.
That's exactly how it's played out for me as well. Every cat that's crossed my threshold since I've moved here insisted they lived here. You know, the old "MOM! Don't you remember me??" hustler routine? I have trouble saying no to that face & stick with the unadoptable ones full time. Bless your heart for taking them in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cinebar
For instance, if I go to sit down and there's a cat on the chair, instead of moving the cat, I'll go get another chair for me. Now what kind of crazy person does that?
I love animals, but cats have an affinity for me and I've got the paw prints on my front and back doorsteps to prove it. Some brain cell creeps up and starts singing at me-- feed the cats, tuppence a bag. Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag. I have no recollection of what happens in between but a few hours later I'm hauling a bag of cat chow home for the strays. Your feeling this might be a psychiatric condition isn't so far fetched.
No way I'm giving up my chair because I've got my alpha cat image to uphold or all hell would break loose around here. However, I seem to have been trained to sleep perfectly still so I don't roll over on them when they snuggle up like a pile of kittens on winter nights. When I'm very well behaved I get a cat massage even if I don't know what I've done right. Not a bad deal.
We've decided some things together as family. We'd rather not be feral, mean cats suck the same as mean humans, and we're not the crazy ones.
If this old house had a soundtrack...
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Nearness Of You - YouTube
... the video would look something like this. Cats weaving around my ankles. One leaping up on my lap and hurling his body down so I cradle him like a baby as he naps. Another trying to 'assist' me cooking (you're not keeping that ham all to yourself, are ya?). Another annoyed that a computer has my attention jumps on my lap and demands I give him tiny kisses on the top of his head. The finale I wake up with one of them on the top of my head as if they were a hat, and another grooming me licking my arm.
Same time last year this family was in mourning. I'd rather clean a thousand liter boxes than dig that hole. The others patrolled the house for months looking for him. My oldest enlisted me to look with him room by room. He's not here, baby. Scaredy is gone. When people say cats are selfish and only love themselves, I don't know what they're talking about. Occurs to me they don't know what love looks like.
harborlady: Thanks for the really fine music clip! It doesn't get any better than that.
And you are so right about 'selfish' cats. Cats are fine judges of character. I try to stay away from people who don't like them. The cats can tell who is worth being close to!
I've had cats continuously since age 7ish, so I just can't imagine life without them! Sure, they're a pain in the arse sometimes, and my dog provides more companionship/loyalty... but how could I not love being head-butted & kneaded by a purring kitty?
So here is my "share". Yesterday was gotcha day for my, now, rainbow kitty Friskie. He was my first cat and the reason I have the four that I have now.
10 years ago I was working at a place where there were ferals (truly) living outside- we would watch them play etc, they were so funny! Then the bank that owned the parking lot the cats liked to sun in decided the cats needed to go as they were bothering customers (not really). So animal control was called to trap them. Well we, and some of the other store people asked the animal control if we could use the traps to get the cats ourselves and find them homes and they said we could rather than the alternative of having the cats taken in.
All the cats had been caught and had homes but one. I begged my hubby (not hubby at the time) if we could have this cat but the answer was no - we were young, had no money, and just out living on our own.
A day or so later it was my Birthday. My co-workers gave me kitty toys and treats as a gift. One friend helped my catch that last cat and home we went that night. He was mine to love for 8 years. Best birthday ever.
This is just to start some conversation...I have always had cats, my whole life, except for a year when Beau went away to school with my daughter.
Jasper pretty much just holds down the comforter...he is pretty useless, but he is good company none the less.
Why do we have cats?
I have cats because I can't turn my back on a creature in need...all of my cats were given to me...I never seek them out...as I know, somewhere down the road..another little rescue will need my love....they reward me by keeping the rodents away..as well as..of course..lots of feline love.
My mom got me my first cat when I was in elementary school, don't remember what age. I remember picking up the kitten with her, we stopped at a store on the way home to pick up supplies (food, litter box, etc). I sat in the car with the kitten while she went inside. The kitten meowed and meowed, and when my mom came back out I was crying. I told her I wanted to bring the kitten back because we took her away from her momma, my mom told me she would be ok, and of course she was. Trixie was her name, and I will never forget her. I've had cats since (lets just say over 30 years). I will always have cats, and dogs or course. I turned my hubby into a cat person too.
I begged my hubby (not hubby at the time) if we could have this cat but the answer was no - we were young, had no money, and just out living on our own.
A day or so later it was my Birthday. My co-workers gave me kitty toys and treats as a gift. One friend helped my catch that last cat and home we went that night. He was mine to love for 8 years. Best birthday ever.
Your man said no and you brought the cat home anyway. Now that's marriage material!
My rental cat told me my boyfriend was a keeper, and I kept both the cat and the man, now my hubby.
My first cat was a stray that I found when I was visiting a city in the midwest. I ended up taking her home with me (NY state). I had never had a cat. I felt bad she was homeless so I took her. Other ones came after that. My primary motivation was to save them from a life of hel*.
Great stories you guys. Earnest Hemingway said it best:
"One cat just leads to another"
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