Of course, the answer to the question in the title depends on the person. However, I believe that people are hard wired to be social. People need people. A person needs a partner. On that basis the answer is no, a cat cannot totally substitute a person. Also, I think that it is fair to say that women are more about to make the “cat substitution” work than men.
I got this idea for a post from Rudolph, a most welcome and well travelled regular visitor who lives in Mumbai, India. Rudolph says that he does not feel lonely living alone with his Persian cats. Rudolph is a writer so I guess he spends lots of time at the computer with his Persians by his side. It is quite hard to beat that, as a way of life.
But can it be better if you have the right person for company as well? A relationship with a cat is very beneficial. A cat does ward off loneliness. However, my personal view is that a cat cannot substitute the company of a person.
Obviously I have to qualify that sentence by saying the companion person has to be decent and the right person for you. The whole argument turns on that point, in fact.
Cats are almost always good for you. A person who likes cats will be able to live with almost any cat. Whereas it is mightily difficult to find a person that one can happily live with and keep the relationship on a stable footing. Why is that?
Why do marriages last for an average of 9 years in the UK while most human to cat relationships last until either the cat or the person dies? Yes, some people do abandon their cat. But cats very rarely abandon their human caretaker.
What I am getting at is that cats are far more reliable companions and the relationship we have with them is in general more solid than our relationships with other people. It is the human who has the fragile character and who is more demanding, probably seeking the impossible. Cats are more accepting.
Humans are headless orphans chasing around for something, anything to make life meaningful. Humans are orphaned from their roots. They have distanced themselves from nature and live in an artificial world of their own making that does not satisfy them – a world of quiet desperation.
But…despite that criticism of people and the difficulties we have with people as companions, as mentioned, I still don’t believe a cat can totally substitute a person as a companion provided the person is the right one. For some disastrous reason people are so often unable to sustain a balanced and stable long term relationship. It is a human dilemma and a human failing, which is when the companion cat steps in.
Is the cat sometimes a kind of safety net to catch the victim of a failed human-to-human relationship?
She is the world’s most famous and prolific cat rescuer.
https://pictures-of-cats.org/lynea-lattanzio-the-worlds-greatest-cat-lady.html
Saw this amazing lady on “Natgeo T.V” and this is the written article on Lynea.Lattanzia on “Daily Mail”.:-http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017608/The-Lady-With-700-Cats-California-woman-takes-strays-pioneering-kill-sanctuary-expects-business-boom-landing-television-show.html .Lynea.Lattanzia was once was a beauty queen later married a millionaire and lead a jet-setting life.She later divorced her husband and since the last 20 years has devoted her entire life to cats!Today a total “CAT-LADY”, living with 700 cats on her 12 acre land in California.The daily upkeep costs of 700 cats amounts to approx 45,000 U.S $’s/Day!Seems, sometimes certain personal changes in one’s life can lead people to different vocations, hobbies or philanthropy. As for Lynea.Lattanzia, she is the true “CAT PHILANTHROPIST”, a life dedicated to cats.
Absolutely. Completely agree. It shows up failings in the human, I think. We should learn from our more stable human-to-cat relationships.
I think Marc hit on the real issue. In relationships with humans, there is a tendency to have expectations of each other, often unrealistic expectations. That breeds judgement which ultimately leads to discontentment. Think about how we are with our cats. They just get to be who they are. It is easy to trust them to just be happy to hang out with you. We don’t worry about their values, or politics. Cats don’t ask us to change. (Tho they do train us!). Imagine being in a human relationship where mutual admiration and simple cooperation was the order of every day. It could work.
I think you have the correct mentality. I think I have the wrong mentality. I am more of a hermit type because I have been hammered enough by life – get me out ;). Although I have just been to a club (Tuesday 4th Dec. 2012) that I am a member of. I have to say I am not totally convinced that a cat can completely substitute another person. This is a complicated topic though. Ultimately it is about people. And people are complicated. Cats aren’t.
Interestingly – the more people who choose to live alone the less lonely they will be because they can hang out with other people like them. When somebody is in a relationship it is often the case that they are consumed by it and sort of disappear a bit. If in the future people don’t fear not being in a relationship then i think everything will balance out and people who are single will no longer have to consider the myth that ‘they will forever be alone until the die alone’. Sometimes I feel far more lonely in a relationship simply because the girl I am with doesn’t understand me or i feel like I have not been givewn space to be myself, unfairly. Then I feel totally alone and stuck and I go in the other room and cuddle my cat and thank her for being there for me in even the worst of times 🙂