After four tumultuous marriages she prefers animals

Who wouldn’t? How many people have given up on the idea of marriage and decided that it is better to have a relationship with a cat or a dog?

There comes a time when it dawns on a person that marriage is not going to work for them. It is a sad revelation because almost everyone is indoctrinated into believing that marriage is the gateway to happiness and a good life.

When you have had four marriages, three of which lasted under five years and some of which were allegedly violent, you can end up trying something different. In the case of Doris Day she turned to animals for companionship.

It was more than companionship. Doris Day has a great love of animals. I think she prefers dogs. However she has helped many cats and her World Spay Day initiative has neutered and spayed 6,388 cats since 2008. Ms Day’s charitable foundation has donated $385,000 to HSUS for neutering services since 2008. Over 15 years this initiative has spayed and neutered 1.5 million animals.

One of the cat charities her foundation has made a grant to is cat adoption center in shopping Mall, called Tabbytown.

Doris Day is 91 at the date of this post (28th Oct 2013) and reclusive. We are told that she used to have a house full of dogs but only two or three now for safety reasons. She has a few aches and pains as is to be expected at 91. However, Doris Day says in an audio message on her website that she is fine and has not given away her dogs. She blames the tabloids for lying about her. She sounds fine and talks about the success of her World Spay Day operation.

Doris Day’s animal charity is the world famous: Doris Day Animal Foundation. Personally, I have always been a bit of a fan of Doris Day for both her voice and her love of animals.

I would expect that older people are more likely to give up on marriage having tried it, done it and got the T-shirt. Actually, it isn’t just about marriage, it is about cohabiting.

There has been a 73% increase in divorce rates for men over 60 in the UK since 1991². The figures for women are similar. Three reasons are suggested by the government:

We are living longer
Loss of stigma in getting divorced
Women are more independent financially

Perhaps another reason is that it can be better living alone with a cat than with someone you are constantly arguing with.

Note: Picture is almost certainly in the public domain.
ons.gov.uk

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Comments

After four tumultuous marriages she prefers animals — 36 Comments

Sarah Hartwell on October 28, 2013 at 5:04 pm said:
When it came to making a choice, the cats stayed and the husband left. There were a few other factors (e.g. the other woman), but essentially the cats were way more congenial company than any of my boyfriends. While I’m not anti-man (I’m rather fond of them in small doses 😉 ), I don’t want a live-in partner. Cats don’t judge you, they don’t backstab and they don’t try to control you with comments about your supposed deficiencies and, having failed to manipulate you, leave. I’m sure there are some great men out there, but these days I’d rather come home to creatures who appreciate me for who I am and not for what they want me to become.
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- Dee (Florida) on October 28, 2013 at 5:22 pm said:
  AMEN!!!
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- Valley Girl on October 28, 2013 at 7:49 pm said:
  Amen. Or stand over me, telling me what to do.
  Pretty funny though, my recent experience with Ms. Cat. She was unhappy with the state of the litter box, and she was definitely telling me what to do, in a very creative way. But, she was not judging me. 😉
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  - Michael on October 28, 2013 at 7:54 pm said:
    You sound like a crazy cat lady 😉 Just joking.
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    - Valley Girl on October 28, 2013 at 8:00 pm said:
      And you didn’t even ask about Ms. Cat’s creativity. She is one smart cat.
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      - Michael on October 28, 2013 at 8:03 pm said:
        I was more interested in the way you were communicating with such clarity with Ms Cat. I could sense there was a clear channel of communication. A sure sign of a cat lady and her cat.
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        Valley Girl on October 28, 2013 at 8:05 pm said:
        No, it was Ms. Cat who was communicating with me! Very effectively.
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        Valley Girl on October 28, 2013 at 8:15 pm said:
        Okay, I won’t wait for you to ask. Ms. Cat started off yeowling at me, while I was at the computer. And, then in the “computer room”, some feces appeared. I didn’t see her do that. But then, I watched her, and she got into “pee posture”. Hmmm… I thought. And then I caught her peeing on a bag of mine. Aha! “This has something to do with the litter box”, I thought. She has never ever indulged in this kind of “direct messaging” before, but I knew enough to figure out what she was telling me. Took me a bit too long to figure out the message, but I must say I am very proud of Ms. Cat’s ability to communicate. Of course I fixed the litter box issue, once I twigged. And that was that.
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        Michael on October 28, 2013 at 8:18 pm said:
        Yes, a very direct, forceful and effective way of communicating. The point is made clearly. Shame the human was a bit slow 😉
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        Valley Girl on October 28, 2013 at 8:21 pm said:
        Yes, shame the human was a bit slow! But, I have to laugh at Ms. Cat’s tactics, which were indeed quite effective.
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        Michael on October 29, 2013 at 7:10 am said:
        Ms Cat employed visual aids to make sure you got the message.
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- Michael on October 28, 2013 at 7:53 pm said:
  I think you have pretty well summed it all up in one paragraph. I hate to say it but cats are better companions although I’d like to have a conversation other than about food and opening the door.
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  - Sarah Hartwell on October 28, 2013 at 8:18 pm said:
    I have very varied conversations with my cats. They may not understand the topics, but they manage to interject comments. Or maybe they just want me to shut up.
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    - Michael on October 28, 2013 at 8:21 pm said:
      I didn’t want to tell for fear of embarrassment but I actually have long conversations with Charlie eye to eye and he holds my hand while conversing. A sign of affection.
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      - Sarah Hartwell on October 28, 2013 at 8:40 pm said:
        Was that originally withheld for fear of embarrassing Charlie?
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        Michael on October 29, 2013 at 7:09 am said:
        For me. People think you’re crackers if you do that sort of thing.
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      - Ruth aka Kattaddorra on October 29, 2013 at 6:23 am said:
        lol Michael you could have a long conversation with our Walter too, he always has a lot to say, but he doesn’t hold hands, I wonder if I tell him that Charlie does, he might consider it lol
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Entertainment Today on October 27, 2013 at 4:48 pm said:
Too funny, or sad, depending on how you want to view it.
Guess who was the common-denominator in all those failed relationships?
This is why all men see any woman with more than 1 cat (or sometimes just 1 as a warning flag) as damaged relationship material from the very start and won’t have anything to do with them once they find out they have cats as surrogate children. So the emotionally and mentally crippled woman just blames men for her being unwanted even more and more. She is incapable of relating to humans in a healthy manner. Never realizing that the problem was her all along. Deranged Cat-Lady: Enter, stage-center.
Men subconsciously choose mates the same way any animal chooses a partner, on their health and ability to sire healthy offspring to ensure the survival of his genetics — whether he wants children or not, this selection method is hardwired into the DNA of every living thing. A woman who has cats for children shows a man that she is already incapable of being a responsible parent and incapable of having the social-skills needed for the healthy survival of his offspring, and might even be barren.
Woman + cat = universal warning-flag, avoid at all costs for a relationship.
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- Michael on October 27, 2013 at 5:31 pm said:
  Guess who was the common-denominator in all those failed relationships?
  Please support that statement. Do some research on the marriage record of the men she divorced and their behavior and if it supports what you imply I’ll believe you. In the meantime what you state does not carry any weight.
  A lot of extremely successfully married women have cats and husbands who like cats too. They may have a dog too. Once again you are writing rubbish.
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  - Dee (Florida) on October 27, 2013 at 5:33 pm said:
    DO I SMELL WOODY???
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    - Michael on October 27, 2013 at 6:50 pm said:
      Yes 😉 I think his next comment will contain the F word. The person who wrote these comments is probably a misogynist and cat hater. Wait and see.
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      - Dee (Florida) on October 27, 2013 at 7:36 pm said:
        So, the hate list has expanded to women now too.
        Such a sicko!
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        Michael on October 27, 2013 at 8:26 pm said:
        To be honest Dee, I think he is a just a troll. He enjoys trying to wind people up. Very sad, useless life. He probably lives with his mum even though he is 45 years of age and is terrified of her. She probably has a cat, who also frightens him 😉
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    - Dee (Florida) on October 27, 2013 at 7:38 pm said:
      Or, should I say “Vanessa”, the stage name?
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    - Ruth aka Kattaddorra on October 28, 2013 at 8:02 am said:
      What a sick mind Woody must have and nothing else to do but search for articles on which he can air his ‘knowledge’ and vent his hatred of cats and cat lovers and now women.
      I think he hates the whole human race, himself included.
      He is a pathetic laughing stock if he did but know it.
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      - Michael on October 28, 2013 at 8:48 am said:
        I psychologist would have a field day with him! He’d be an interesting “specimen”. A human that went wrong.
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        Leah on November 3, 2013 at 10:25 pm said:
        Yes he probably isn’t allowed out much so he has to stay home and troll away all day. How sad that he thinks women with cats who don’t need a man are damaged goods perhaps he was spurned by a woman in favour of a life with her cat because she sees him as the complete freak he clearly is.
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Ruth aka Kattaddorra on October 27, 2013 at 2:11 pm said:
I like Doris Day also and it’s very good to see a celebrity putting her money to helping animals.
Especially even though she prefers dogs, helping to pay for the neutering of cats, she obviously cares about them too.
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- Michael on October 27, 2013 at 8:23 pm said:
  I have just thought of another actress well known for her love of animals, wild cats in fact: Tippi Hedren who famously played the woman who was stabbed in the shower scene of Hitchcock’s film: Psycho and bitten by crows etc. in The Birds. She is still alive and has a cat sanctuary in California called “Shambala”.
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  - Valley Girl on October 27, 2013 at 9:06 pm said:
    fwiw, it was Janet Leigh who was stabbed in the shower in Psycho. Tippi Hedren was, however, in The Birds, and 2 other Hitch movies.
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    - Michael on October 28, 2013 at 7:35 am said:
      Yes, you’re right VG. I am getting mixed up between the two. I think Hitchcock pestered Tippi Hedren and made her unhappy.
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      - Valley Girl on October 28, 2013 at 7:44 pm said:
        Yes re: Tippi Hedren. Hitch was a great director, but not a nice man. He drove her out of acting.
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  - Ruth aka Kattaddorra on October 28, 2013 at 8:04 am said:
    I much admire Celia Hammond too, her wonderful Celia Hammond Trust and her charity rescued all the cats from the Olympic Village when it was being built and the cats losing their home and possibly their lives.
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    - Michael on October 28, 2013 at 12:23 pm said:
      She is another well known and beautiful person who has devoted her life after celebrity to the welfare of cats.
      She rescued the feral cats from the Olympic site before development began. It was not easy. She was meticulous in trapping them all.
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Dee (Florida) on October 27, 2013 at 1:38 pm said:
I, also, am a huge fan of Doris Day. Anyone has to admire her talents; but, it’s her devotion to animals that sets her aside from other stars.
I, equally, admire Betty White who is also 91 years old and going strong. She had 3 marriages, 2 failed but the 3rd with Allen Ludden lasted 18 years. He died in 1981 and she never married again.
But, her commitment to animal welfare is well known and has spanned decades. She is one of the strongest animal advocates among the stars also.
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- Michael on October 27, 2013 at 8:18 pm said:
  It is difficult to not like her. She was a very charming, beautiful actress with a world famous voice. To love animals as she does makes her special for me.
  Brigitte Bardot is another wonderful lady who has totally shunned plastic surgery – she actually looks old (and great) – and who adores animals and fights for them.
  I don’t know Betty White that well. I don’t think several divorces means anything. It might mean the person has a strong personality. It certainly does not mean the person is no good. There are countless great people who have been married several times.
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