3 things I Want to Tell Cat Lovers and Haters

After the loss of our 20-year-old cat, three new souls joined our household to fill it with zoomies and caterwauling. As pictured below, (From left to right; Petunia (Toots), Magellan (McGee), and Smokey (Pokey)), these troublesome three threaten our sofa’s, electrical wires and plants but we tolerate them for their adorable chaos and for three shadows to follow us around at night.

People have reservations about cats, and it’s understandable. They are stinky and they don’t listen to commands like dogs do, but they need their credit. They’re aloof, and only a certain personality of people can understand them. Some people need dogs because they need constant reassurance, and something to control while cats do what they want, they have boundaries, and some people just can’t stand boundaries.

Here are three things for all cat lovers and haters to understand.

1. Cats will come to you if you ignore them.

Like advice from an incel alpha male- if you treat them badly, they will be more attracted to you. Sit near them, but don’t pay them any mind. You’re the prize for them to chase. Looking directly into cats eyes is a threatening sign to them, so blink slowly while you admire them. For the run of the mill neighborhood cat, chronically shy cat, or an apprehensive cat, you need to understand the animal body language- no sudden movements, relaxed body language, and if you’re so desperate for a rando cat to love you- get some deli meat.

2. Cats reflect their environment.

If a neighborhood cat comes trotting up to you, it’s a reflection of the people who live there. It grew up in a friendly and non-threatening place. But if a stray cat runs at the sight of you, sits ten feet away and ignores you or worse, hisses and runs, it may be stressed, hungry or been treated badly so chronically that it’s scared. This has nothing to do with you and who you are as a person.

In a household, cats become agitated, violent or destructive if the household teases or hurts them (pulling on tails, hitting them, chasing them, scaring them, not leaving them alone ect.). If the cat runs away, don’t follow them, they want to be alone. Like dogs, cats need play time too (or else they may play with something they’re not supposed to) so get a few good toys. Also, like humans, they can want alone time.

3. They’re not dumb

They’ll ignore you- your screaming, tsk-tsk-tsk-ing and begging will be ignored, but they’re not deaf (unless they are) and they’re not dumb. They can be taught to do things like dogs, but they don’t do it out of blind obedience. America’s Got Talent features trained cats performing fun tricks and you can definitely train yours to fetch. It takes as much time, patience, repetition and attention as dogs do, but like with any animal, (shout out to Pavlo and his dogs) they need repetition and praise to learn a task.

Cats aren’t for all lifestyles or persons, nor are dogs, but we all need companionship whether it be a pet or a human partner. Cats and dogs have their own personalities- you may get a dog that acts like a cat or vice versa, but either way, they’re precious and deserve the best homes that will provide them with all their needs, and that’s the most important thing.