Apparently, the rest of the world thinks one cat is okay. Stray comes by, brother moves to Prague; you know, these things happen. One cat implies that the person didn’t do it on purpose. But two cats… that sounds more deliberate. That bears watching.

More than two cats? It’s over. We are Officially Crazy.

I don’t know how Cat Appreciators got mixed up in the public mind with Crazy Cat Persons. We both feed cats, but any resemblance ends there. Cat Appreciators take their cats to the vet, and play with them, and love them, and don’t have more than we can do that for. Crazy Cat Persons don’t do that, and go waaaaay into the double digits, or beyond, into numbers that cannot be properly cared for. They are, in fact, victims of serious mental disorders.

Cat Appreciators have discovered, somewhere along the way, that cats are actually amenable to our wishes, highly companionable, and extraordinarily affectionate. Along with being both amusing and much smarter than the rest of the world realizes.

Cat Appreciators know that we might have this many anyway. But of lot of us have so many because the rest of the world has so few.

Which is a shame. If only more people knew what we knew… they’d be Cat Appreciators, too. Cats can be friendly, but the deepest parts of their hearts are available only to those who understand and treasure them. We know, despite what an often indifferent world might think, that cats are very special.

And that some people just don’t know what they are missing.

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While cats are low maintenance in many ways, their emotional needs are even more challenging than dogs are. People don’t realize that, then don’t meet the cat’s needs, then complain that cats are not affectionate or interesting.

Much of the cat’s appeal lies in their reputation for easy care and lack of walks. Busy apartment dwellers can especially appreciate these qualities. Yet, if we regard the cat as a second tier pet, something we get because we can’t get a dog, the relationship will not work if you don’t regard a cat as capable of affection and interactivity.

If you think otherwise, I have to break it to you… it’s you who is being unaffectionate and uninteresting.

A common saying is, “You know the problem with kittens, don’t you? They grow up to be cats!” That’s because when kittens start to be adults, they start expecting adult relationships from their humans. You know adult relationships, don’t you? Those are the ones that are the result of respect and mutual regard between two equals.

That’s what a cat wants.

The cat doesn’t want to bear the full burden of the relationship. The cat doesn’t want to be the one who is always asking for affection or to be fitted into your schedule. The cat wants to be regarded as interesting, adorable, worthy. The cat wants to know they are loved.

So if you think cats don’t need affection or attention, you are mistaken about the low-maintenance aspect of a cat’s emotional life. It would be better for all concerned if you went for the goldfish instead.

Got here from a Link or Search?
There’s more to The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See my LATEST CAT ADVICE.