Cats are good for the soul (Cats in General)

Member Name: Mioliere

Product:	Cats in General
Date:	02/10/08 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean, quiet, easy and inexpensive to keep and brilliant company

Disadvantages: None

Since I have been running a home of my own I have always had cats as pets. We couldn't have one when I was a child because my father was allergic to them. We had a chincilla instead because the fur didn't make him ill.

However, I digress. Since our last cat was put to sleep due to severe old age a couple of years ago, we have not replaced him. I don't know why this is - maybe it's because, for the first time in years, my husband and I have no-one else dependent upon us. The children have left home and now have families of their own and we find we can please ourselves when we go away, even if it's only for one night, because we don't have to arrange for someone to come in and look after the cat. I don't think it will be long before we get another one, though, because both my husband and I love cats and know what ideal pets they make. Our next cat will be a rescued one from the local Blue Cross. They looked after one of my cats when it got itself lost and even advertised a brilliant description of him in the local paper which is how we managed to find him again.

We have owned six cats over the last thirty years, but not all at the same time. The most we have had at one time has been two. Sadly, many years ago, one of our cats disappeared and was never seen again; this was during a time of cat thefts back in the 1980s - several friends and neighbours also lost cats at this time. I prefer not to think about how he may have met his end.

I love cats because they are so independent and won't be bossed around. As they say, 'dogs have owners, cats have staff' and I quite agree with that. A cat will only stay with its owner if he is happy, whereas a dog will put up with anything and still come back for more, even if he is badly treated.

This year my Mum has been plagued with feral cats in her garden and, sadly, found some kittens that had died because their mothers had either been run over or couldn't cope as mothers. Together with the local cat rescue group, she managed to humanely trap six females and the very active male who was keeping the females pregnant. They were all neutered and returned to the end of the garden where they were originally caught, ensuring that the problem of unwanted kittens had been dealt with. She also trapped four kittens, two of which were homed with families and the other two, too wild to be family pets, were sent to a farm where they are making excellent mousers.

The closest we come to a family cat now is when we visit our son and daughter-in-law - they have a year old cat that is very cute but gets into constant scrapes. Only this week, he came home with a punctured eyeball - probably sustained during a fight with another cat; fortunately this has been successfully treated by the vet and he is not allowed out for two weeks. At least this will keep him out of trouble for a while.

All in all, I thoroughly recommend cats as pets - they don't bark, they don't need long walks and they make the most relaxing company.

Summary: Cats make the best pets