The craziness of cats

[UnseenParticipant]

I assume we all have at least one cat. If you don’t, you’re really missing out. It’s no wonder they have finally surpassed dogs as the #1 pet.

My first cat wasn’t really mine but my daughter’s, though she became a family cat. It’s hard to own a cat. Usually, it’s the reverse. (“Cats don’t have owners. They have a staff.”) Her name was Ginger, but she was not a ginger (orange) cat but a tortoiseshell. Tortoiseshells are one of the two main varieties of tricolor cats. The other one being calico. Tortoiseshells are brindled white, orange, and black, whereas calicos tend to have large patches of orange and black on an otherwise white body, and many tortoiseshells have little or no white. Then there’s the torbieshell, but let’s not get too deep into the weeds.

She was an ideal cat, very gentle and loving. She just had this bad habit of curling up on your lap, extending her claws, and digging in.

We lived up against a wooded area and we let her go out. She was a good hunter and would bring back small woodland creatures like shrews or mice. However, her specialty was moles. Moles are about the same size as a rat but against a cat, a mole is totally defenseless. We had a mole problem, so we figured more power to her.

Then I went catless for a few decades until I had a roomie for a while whose cat was named Jasper. Jasper was a girl cat. I know, I know. You see, she was named after Jasper, a lovely town in Alberta, Canada. The apartment we lived in at the time had a balcony next to a tree that was so close, squirrels would come onto the balcony. I would put out food to attract them for the enjoyment of Jasper, which also attracted birds, which she equally enjoyed watching. We didn’t let her out on the balcony. I didn’t want to deal with a dead squirrel or pigeon.

The most endearing thing about Jasper was that she would crawl under my covers many nights and sleep there.

Since she was 18 then, and that was about 10 years ago, she has passed on, because 18 is already quite old for a cat. A 22 year old cat is like a 110 year old human. An 18 year old is probably like an 85 or 90 year old.

Now, we come to my cat, Squeaky. She’s fairly small as cats go, about 9 lb. That’s not tiny, but it’s on the smaller end of the spectrum which runs from about 8-13 lbs, though some breeds, notably the Maine Coon can be up to 25 lb without being overweight.

Every cat has a personality, and little Squeaky is feisty and bossy. Sometimes she demands to be held and she will yell at me with a gruff growly meow when I put her down. If she’s really pissed, she will scratch or bite. When she thinks she knows where I’m going, she will walk in front of me, slowing me down. And like all cats I’ve known, she will lay down at some choke point and dare me to step on her. A dog would move.

She sleeps with me, cuddled up tight next to me, but on the covers and not under them.

I’m diabetic, and three times now she has awakened me when I was hypoglycemic. No, she didn’t wake me up because I was hypoglycemic. She just always wakes me up somewhere around 5 a.m.. but I do tell people that she has saved my life several times, and who knows if I didn’t have a cat, would I be writing this now?

One weird thing about her is that she isn’t into play. She will play for a few minutes before going under the bed.

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll have more to add later, like about her food finickiness, but now it’s someone else’s turn.

[TJParticipant]

I love your writing, it is really well done.

😀

 

I used to like cats, but, then the local Korean restaurant closed for some reason, and, well, I lost my preference for cats.

Other Korean restaurants opened, with different menus though.

Anyway, I prefer dogs now.

 

You know how it is, some people are cat people, and, some people are dog people.

The one’s who say they are “people persons” sound scary though.

 

On a less serious note, I have owned cats, and, they can be adorable, but, to truly appreciate them you need to be a bit of a Sub personality or something, vs a Dom, etc.

I am neither really, so, a dog just works better overall, in that dogs tend to want to participate in your life, as opposed to cats, who mostly just ask yours to overlap theirs, thermally and/or nutritionally.

Both can give love, but, I just can’t help feeling that cat’s are more manipulative about it.

And, cats like to play, but, some, again, will go through the motions to get you off guard, and wake you so you don’t die in your sleep…

.. but as soon as someone else moves into your place who would feed them, they crawl on your face at night, and suffocate you in your sleep.

😀

 

[UnseenParticipant]

Well, there’s an old saying I just invented: “Owning a dog is like owning a slave, living with a cat is like having a roommate.” A dog is “Hey, wassup! What ya wanna do? I’m totally up for it.” A cat is, “Hey, I’m resting here in the doorway to the bathroom. I’m comfortable. Don’t step on me. What? Me move? Fuck you! Oh! Is that a bird I see through the window? Outta my way!”

[UnseenParticipant]

BTW, I do love dogs, too.

[Author]

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