My wife Andie and I are, it's fair to say, Crazy Cat People. We have no intention of having any kids, and our two cats mean absolutely everything to us. We talk to them, we believe they are communicating with us in considerably more depth than they probably are, and they are an incredibly important part of our lives.
At times like this, pets are a good thing to have, regardless of how much of a Crazy [x] Person you are. Pets are good company. And I've always seemed to manage to draw out the best in cats I've spent any degree of time with; both of our cats Meg and Patti are very attached to me and frequently follow me from room to room while I'm doing things. When I'm not well or having a rest in bed, one of them (usually Meg) will come and lie on the bed with me as if she's "looking after" me. And Patti taps me in the face every bloody morning at about 6am.
It's been funny and heartwarming to see both of their personalities develop over time. Meg has become very much like Penny, the cat I grew up with; she's very expressive and communicative, enjoys having some time to herself but is also very loving and caring at exactly the right moment. Patti, meanwhile, is enthusiastic about everything and loves to talk. She's also prone to hiding if there's any sort of situation she's not sure about — usually loud noises.
We suspect Patti never really "learned" how to be a cat properly. All the shelter we got her from knew was that she was abandoned — they didn't even know what her original name was. From the way she behaves, it seems like she didn't get all the early "socialisation" a young cat needs in order to know exactly how to do certain things; she's not incapable of anything, it's just more that she's sort of found her own way of living her life, and as a result she doesn't always seem quite "right", particularly when she's stretched out to three times her normal length on the landing, curving her spine backwards and looking at you upside-down with a face that just says "what?"
We love them both dearly, and we still love our dear departed Ruby, too; she has a photo in pride of place atop the television unit so we never forget her — not that I think we could anyway.
Cats are great. Next time there's a global pandemic keeping us all in the house, get a cat.
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