Half Changed World

Over at The Rabbit Lived, there’s been some interesting posts about pet owners and their attitudes towards their animals.  The blogger, who is a vet, wrote:

"I said that she was precisely the kind of pet owner that vets hate (sorry to speak for all vets there, but I was angry): the kind of person that takes care of the physical needs of an animal and expects applause for doing so.  Oh look, I do this and that and the other and I’m so good to this cat, he’s lucky to have me.  I said that the best kinds of owners are the ones that can list of ten reasons why their dog/cat/whatever is the most special dog/cat/whatever in the world."

This made me feel bad, because I’m definitely not that kind of owner, at least not about Aloysious.  I used to joke that she was my step-cat — since T got her when we were living on opposite coasts — and I was obviously a horrible step-mother who showed blatant favoritism to my cat.  (I could easily come up with a list of 10 things I loved about Becca-cat, who came to me when I was a teenager.  She died 5 years ago and I still have a photo of her in my office.)

Aloysious just isn’t a terribly lovable cat.  She will jump on your lap and want attention, but if you pet her, she’s likely to suddenly claw you without warning.  I don’t blame cats for scratching furniture, but I do object to her crapping on the couch, which she does often enough that we keep it covered with a plastic sheet when we’re not using it.  When we had to board her a couple of years ago (we were having the floors redone while we were away, so she couldn’t stay in the house), the staff nicknamed her "Aloy-vicious."

And yet we spent a significant amount of money last year to have her treated when she had a serious, but not life-threatening, medical issue.  Not really out of love, but because we could afford it, and because we take seriously the responsibility of being pet-owners.

This sounds awfully negative, so I will end with three things I love about Aloysious:

1. She’s got the loudest purr I’ve ever heard.
2. She’s the only cat I’ve ever known that fetches.  She loves it when you throw shoelaces or the plastic things from milk jugs for her.  (But she’ll also claw your hand open when you try to pick it up.)
3. In spite of being a not-very-gentle cat overall, she’s incredibly tolerant of the boys.  I’ve seen her respond to pokes by batting the offender with her paw — with the claws retracted.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 10th, 2005 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Personal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.