I’m a cat person. Not like this. Just that to the extent I like and have had animals as pets, it’s been all cats since the mid-1970s. I am not a dog person. I never have been, and I never will be. Sorry dog people. Especially those of you who just recoiled in horror.
Being such a longtime owner of cats (there have been about a dozen, and all have been indoor cats, with occasional, limited, and space-restricted outdoor privileges), I know them pretty well.
Each cat I’ve had has been a champion sleeper. In almost all cases, they’ve been very playful in the few minutes hours each day when they’re not slumbering. They’re also first-class freeloaders, scarfing down free food and loudly reminding you if you’ve shirked your responsibilities to amply and timely feed and pet them. These cats — having all almost always lived in multiperson households — also have been well loved. If they weren’t getting love from one person, they’d move on to the next and all was good.
Feline groovy
Cats are having a bit of a moment. For example, the Wall Street Journal last month published a cat’s musings on the working-from-home phenomenon coming in the wake of the ‘rona. Surely a first in the feline world. And in the personal finance world, My Money Wizard, ESI Money, and Financial Mechanic all recently discussed the costs of acquiring and maintaining a cat. My own experience as to start-up costs? $200-$300, tops, including any purchase price (there are plenty of ways to get free cats, and I’ve done so), immunizations, neutering/spaying, and declawing (I do for the front, but not the back).
Given the spotlight being shone upon the kitties, I got to thinking about how easy domesticated cats (at least those I’ve owned) have it. Sleep and play at will. Free room, board and health care. Lots of love. Regular massages. And so on. That all sounds really sweet.
But then I got to thinking, as I do on rare occasions. Maybe that life actually sucks. Maybe we humans — even though most of us have to scratch out a living, search for love, pay for massages in most instances, and so on — actually have it way better than the cats. How so? Welllll . . .
Free willy
For starters, we have much more free will. Sure, it might be (very) restricted in any number of ways, from a need to work, to the freedom-restricting whims of a parent or dictator (not always mutually exclusive, mind you), to safety-focused measures taken in response to a bug invisible to the naked eye. But the vast majority of humans have much more free will than the typical cat. And free will = power over one’s person, and the ability to pursue activities that bring us joy. Granted, cats have some free will. For example, outdoor cats can roam wherever their little heart wishes. And inside the home, they may have free reign to mostly do as they please. But in terms of choosing where to live? With whom they will live? And to otherwise act on their whims? Their abilities, and the options available to them, are much more restricted than for humans. Then again, maybe it’s mostly their lack of opposable thumbs. Nah.
Taste makers
While no human’s eyesight is as good as a cat’s, we have the ability to see and appreciate beauty. Even when it comes to the sight of a comfortable pillow or lap, or of a fast moving laser beam spot on the floor, I’m pretty sure cats have no appreciation for beauty. Best they can muster, I think, is a “Hmm. That’s interesting.” Ditto as to a full appreciation of beautiful sounds and textures. And I triple-dog-dare you to find me a cat who has any appreciation for something as beautiful as an impressionist painting, except insofar as they might be eaten.
Fare game
And speaking of eating, the daily bill of fare for my cats has mostly been the same each and every meal. For their entire lives. There are treats and scraps here and there, but those don’t amount to much. I suppose that for some humans, this limited diet would be fine and good. But I suspect the vast majority of us enjoy variety in our diets.
The struggle is real
As for humans’ need to eke out a living, that’s not in always bad. Work — whether we’re an employee, self-employed, a stay-at-home parent, or a volunteer — gives us meaning and purpose in our lives. It’s a place to go to on a regular basis, giving our days structure. It allows us to regularly interact with or care for people, provide useful goods or services, and potentially make new friends and connections. And it allows us to acquire and build skills.
Cats do have their routines, which consist primarily of sleep, punctuated by small bursts of energy to eat, use the litter box, and knock things off of shelves and tables so that they break. But I don’t know that the cat derives any deep sense of meaning out of this. Well, maybe they do from breaking things. But that’s probably it. In any event, I’ll know that miracles can happen when I am introduced to the cat that performs any useful work.
Are you experienced?
We humans also get to experience infinite more things than cats. Once the event passes, we get to hold onto the experience as a memory. And we can bring those memories back in an instant so long as they remain ingrained in our brains. And cats? They don’t even remember that you spent 20 minutes petting them only an hour ago. Harrumph!
Live long and prosper
The cats I’ve had have all lived to around 15 years of age, which is about the average lifespan of a cat. Sure, that’s about 105-years-old in cat years. But the last I heard, we’re most of us using not using any cat-developed calendar. So 15 years is 15 years until cats are able to impose their own calendar on humans. I don’t like their odds. Anyway, hopefully our lives are much longer than 15 years and spent pursuing things that are meaningful to each of us, and we accumulate good memories and do good for others, even if there are bad things that happen along the way.
Dear Reader, there’s something to be said for living the coddled life of a domesticated kitty. But I think probably not. Of course, it’s possible I don’t know everything about how rich and varied a cat’s life can be.
We have had both cats and dogs for decades. They are working animals, the dogs are watchmen alerting us to be people near our property and the cats are mousers protecting our vehicles’ wiring from shredding by rodents. They are never allowed inside. It’s a simple relationship, they work, we feed. Sure if we are sitting outside a cat is likely to jump onto our lap, and a dog will walk over to get his ears scratched, but outside of that is a work relationship. And after some 40 years of observation I think the dogs would die protecting us while the cats’ biggest frustration in life is they aren’t big enough to eat us.
I’ve on occasion observed my cats eyeing me with hungry eyes. Although I’m yet to be eaten by one, there were a few times when the cat rubbed catnip on me and then tried to take a bite. I probably should have been more alarmed than I was at the time.