People have been trying to get me to write an essay about cats for over a year. No, no, I said, a bunch of people are going to unsubscribe. That may be true, but I think I’m to the point where I don’t give a crap. I have been a cat lover my whole life. Even as a toddler, I didn’t play with bricks and blocks—I played with stuffed toy cats. I gave them names, and we had grand adventures together. But I couldn’t have an actual cat—because I was violently allergic. Later, after my parents divorced and I moved in with my mom, I found that I wasn’t allergic to cats at all. I was only allergic to cats when I was around my father. In a sense, I was allergic to my father. All of this is true.
Thank you for putting into words much of what I feel about cats. Yes, they have souls in every meaningful sense of that word, and I can't imagine how hard it'll be when we eventually outlive our cat.
For the record I'd also joyfully murder anyone who hurt our cat.
Wonderful read. Cat person here too, grew up in the country. One time we had 6 cats and 2 of them had litters of 6 each. Insanity, and I loved it. In my adult life I've had 3. Alex, total badass, lived to 18. My vet made the house call when it was time. Gabby got to 19, and passed in the night sparing me the awful decision. An act of love and grace. Marmalade Gazpacho was found in my garden after I swore no more. That was 10 years ago. Like one of yours, if she's near you she is purring.
My wife & I have been going through what you did with Otto since the end of summer when we rapidly lost our feline boy to cancer at only 7. They really don't live long enough.
Loss of a cat or dog leaves quite a hole because of their proximity and being part of your daily routine. The house suddenly feels emptier.
It can also be hard really discussing with people as most don't know how to talk about loss generally, and people who don't have pets can be especially careless in their words. Surprisingly even some pet people can be as well. I put it down more to benign thoughtlessness than anything else. Everyone is in their own bubble.
Animals themselves also react to the loss of siblings in different ways.
Our younger female cat suddenly became the alpha of the house and much less standoffish, actually quite demanding of human attention & affection where she wasn't previously.
First, when you travel you could find a college kid or someone that could use the money and the space to get out of their parent's footsteps to house sit for you. $100/day would cut your bill in half and keep stress out of your cat's lives.
Second, the same idea could apply to your vet. Have them come to your house.
Good read, Jared. I was always a dog person until my mom rescued this giant fluffy black cat named Senator that followed me all over the house as a kid and would sleep at the foot of my bed every night. He had the best disposition and was just as much fun as all the dogs I've had.
I have never been an animal lover. Dont dislike them, just kind of afraid of animals or dont know how to engage them. But sure its a joy to read how you write about your relationship with your cats.
Great story. We are also cat people and just recently lost one our kitties. My son wanted another so we looked around and got our first kitten in 13 years. Sammy - he's awesome - all black with two white spots on his neck and belly. Super high energy and very loving!
I am allergic to cats, it developed in my teens. My college housemate had a dog and I wanted one ever after. It took me 10 years to talk my husband into a dog as he had only had cats. He hated dogs, you can guess how that ended. He and Loba were inseparable and when Loba was ready, we paid doggy Kevorkian to come to the house. He really lost it and never wanted another dog as she had been the perfect dog. It took 6 more years for me to talk him into our current dog and he loves the little guy now. It took a few months, but our little dog loves motorcycles and hiking. He rides on a platform attached to the hitch of the Goldwing in his Pet Palace. He will be making his first flight when we go to DIrtcon and we already booked someone to board him overnight while we are at the conference.
Of course these animals have souls, no one who has known an animal would think otherwise.
I am not thinking about my dog's demise, horrible, but worth it.
Thank you for putting into words much of what I feel about cats. Yes, they have souls in every meaningful sense of that word, and I can't imagine how hard it'll be when we eventually outlive our cat.
For the record I'd also joyfully murder anyone who hurt our cat.
Wonderful read. Cat person here too, grew up in the country. One time we had 6 cats and 2 of them had litters of 6 each. Insanity, and I loved it. In my adult life I've had 3. Alex, total badass, lived to 18. My vet made the house call when it was time. Gabby got to 19, and passed in the night sparing me the awful decision. An act of love and grace. Marmalade Gazpacho was found in my garden after I swore no more. That was 10 years ago. Like one of yours, if she's near you she is purring.
#cat
Thanks for this post.
My wife & I have been going through what you did with Otto since the end of summer when we rapidly lost our feline boy to cancer at only 7. They really don't live long enough.
Loss of a cat or dog leaves quite a hole because of their proximity and being part of your daily routine. The house suddenly feels emptier.
It can also be hard really discussing with people as most don't know how to talk about loss generally, and people who don't have pets can be especially careless in their words. Surprisingly even some pet people can be as well. I put it down more to benign thoughtlessness than anything else. Everyone is in their own bubble.
Animals themselves also react to the loss of siblings in different ways.
Our younger female cat suddenly became the alpha of the house and much less standoffish, actually quite demanding of human attention & affection where she wasn't previously.
First, when you travel you could find a college kid or someone that could use the money and the space to get out of their parent's footsteps to house sit for you. $100/day would cut your bill in half and keep stress out of your cat's lives.
Second, the same idea could apply to your vet. Have them come to your house.
Good read, Jared. I was always a dog person until my mom rescued this giant fluffy black cat named Senator that followed me all over the house as a kid and would sleep at the foot of my bed every night. He had the best disposition and was just as much fun as all the dogs I've had.
I have never been an animal lover. Dont dislike them, just kind of afraid of animals or dont know how to engage them. But sure its a joy to read how you write about your relationship with your cats.
I show my 4 year old clips of Toonces the Driving Cat just for grins. Hearing about your driving cat made me think of Toonces. What a great cat.
Great story. We are also cat people and just recently lost one our kitties. My son wanted another so we looked around and got our first kitten in 13 years. Sammy - he's awesome - all black with two white spots on his neck and belly. Super high energy and very loving!
I am allergic to cats, it developed in my teens. My college housemate had a dog and I wanted one ever after. It took me 10 years to talk my husband into a dog as he had only had cats. He hated dogs, you can guess how that ended. He and Loba were inseparable and when Loba was ready, we paid doggy Kevorkian to come to the house. He really lost it and never wanted another dog as she had been the perfect dog. It took 6 more years for me to talk him into our current dog and he loves the little guy now. It took a few months, but our little dog loves motorcycles and hiking. He rides on a platform attached to the hitch of the Goldwing in his Pet Palace. He will be making his first flight when we go to DIrtcon and we already booked someone to board him overnight while we are at the conference.
Of course these animals have souls, no one who has known an animal would think otherwise.
I am not thinking about my dog's demise, horrible, but worth it.