“I think animals make people better,” Frank Fantini (record store employee)

“I think animals make people better,” Fantini said. “It changes the store. They make it more of a calming place.”

I have written about placing shelter cats in workplaces before and I have also presented pictures of cats in workplaces generally or, for want of a better phrase, putting cats to work.

I have not, however, made a statement like the one in the title to this article. I think it’s a very interesting and wise statement. Any time that I read about cats in the workplace the reports are positive.

Placing well chosen rescue cat in the bookstore is an extension if you like of the cat café. It’s based on the same concept which is that when a domestic cat is in a room, a home or a store, the place feels better.

This reminds me of that very well-known cat quote of Jean Cocteau:

“I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.”

Another one addresses the same theme.

“A home without a cat–and a well-fed, well-petted and properly revered cat–may be a perfect home, perhaps, but how can it prove title?” – Pudd’nhead Wilson.

Both these cat quotes are relevant in this instance as they both support what Frank Fantini says in the opening paragraph. The presence of a domestic cat makes a place calmer and emotionally warmer. From the point of view of a store that should translate into better sales.

Of course, there are some potential hazards such as some people do not like cats but overall there are benefits and I agree that animals make people better or make people behave better in their presence unless, of course, you are one of those incorrigible, uneducated fools who likes to hurt or shoot them.

Do you have any idea why animals make people better or make people behave better? Perhaps you don’t think they do. I am going to hazard a guess and say that when we are around animals we are for that moment connecting with nature and in doing so we are connecting with our roots. A lot more of us should spend more time connecting with nature and appreciating it. We tend to build concrete jungles and distance ourselves from nature. This is bad for us.