I don’t really like the phrases “cat lover” or “cat lady”. They should be hyphened, probably: “cat-lover” and “cat-lady” although I have not seen them spelled that way. I would prefer the phrases:
- “a lady who loves cats” or:
- “a woman who likes cats a lot” or;
- “a woman who cares about cats”
Why do I believe they are not the best ways to describe a person who likes cats and why am I being so pernickety?
Well, the reason is that, in my opinion, these phrases carry connotations of a more derogatory phrase, “crazy cat lady” or “cat hoarder”. Why is that?
The answer is because they are regularly used by people who dislike, even hate, cats when they are writing about people who like cats. They are phrases that are used by people who dislike (a) cats and (b) the idea of people employing trap-neuter-return while feeding feral cats.
These people also attack men who like cats as “gay”. As this is intended to be an insult the people who write these things are homophobic. Actually it goes wider than that, they possibly hate women too.
The phrases cat-lady and cat-lover should be nice ways to describe someone who likes cats a lot but I tend to avoid them for the above reasons.
There is another issue that I have with “cat lover”. It is a narrow description. People who like and love cats will often have a great concern for all animals. They may not like other animals as much as cats but they will always treat animals with respect.
When people write about a cat lover it gives the impression that the person is obsessive about cats to the exclusion of other animals. This is misleading.
I don’t believe it is possible to love cats and hate dogs or other animals. You might love cats and be unsure or frightened by dogs but you won’t hate them. If you love cats and hate dogs or any other animal I would doubt that you really do love cats while respecting them as cats and as a companion animal. You probably love cats as fluffy plush toys.
My current header to the website reflects my views. I very strongly feel that PoC has become a community of cat lovers, which I truly love, but decided not to use that phrase.
This is a personal viewpoint. If a cat lady who hates dogs disagrees with me I will respect their opinion.
People who love cats should avoid being pigeonholed as crazy cat ladies because you are not.
What planet are you on? People who love cats don’t do this. Sure, some cats die in an accident but that is not quite the same thing is it?
As for the cat licker I wrote about this. This person has an addiction of sorts to cat fur but this is nothing to do with loving cats.
TNR has been proved to work and in doing so it saves wildlife. You really are behind the times and out of touch. There are two recent reports from America which establishes that TNR is effective when carried out properly and consistently.
The only reason I use the term “cat-licker” is because “cat-lover” is a dishonest lie. People who willingly throw their cats under the wheels of cars or to be cut in half by the fan-blade of a car, or allowed to lap-up antifreeze from a gutter or someone’s garage is anything BUT a lover of cats. Someone who lets cats roam free does NOT love cats. Therefore they can never be referred to as a “cat lover”.
The term “cat licker” is accurately gleaned from the growing fad of people who are obsessed with cats and want to do everything possible to make their cats feel good, as naturally as possible, at the expense of all that is reasonable and sane.
They are now licking their cats clean.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9xmiOxsTWg
Since they see a cat fighting back from being washed in water as animal abuse, but the cat not fighting if they use their tongues, they use their tongues instead to wash their cats.
It’s just another one of the many aberrant and mentally-ill behaviors of “cat lickers”. Not unlike TNR — trying to believe they are making their cats feel good at the expense of all other life on the planet.
I understand – I probably most likely wont have kids and will be in the same situation as you down the line and I’ll probably do the same thing with my money too. But for now here in Switz I might be able to buy the right property but I couldn’t generate enough money from it to survive in this country. I therefore would be working – perhaps some days at home – and would have a perfect paradise for the cats. But only when I retire could I run a home for them and boarding house. Having said that I could retire early and get on with it. It’s my dream actually – to have this cat paradise, so it’s exciting to reach this goal.