I don’t post many cat videos. Alright, I do on Facebook and other social media from time to time, but not very often on my actual website unless it’s my cat or pet!
I just had to share this though as it absolutely made my day.
Cats Who Think They are Human
A thread had gotten started on a page recently, about whether people’s pets (fur babies or what have you) are the same to a parent with children. One mom who started the conversation and brought up the topic said most definitely not and there was no comparison. I explained that I don’t have children, probably couldn’t because my doctors tell me I could transmit Lyme to them (and wouldn’t want to put a child through that) and my 2 cats who I raised (one for 20 years the other 19 who died recently) were like my children.
I’m adopted as were both my cats. I’ve had friends with children tell me their dog or cat they have is just the same as a child and treated and thought of like a family member.
We could discuss this for decades to come, and I don’t want to get too serious but sometimes cats, dogs (and all animals really!) have such human qualities it’s quite amazing.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite poems by T S Elliot. When people would tease me for having a nick name for my cat I would say, “But of course!” and recite this poem to them. : ) Enjoy.
The Naming Of Cats
It isn’t just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I’m as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there’s the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey—
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter—
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that’s particular,
A name that’s peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there’s still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover—
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.
