Kylee of our PoC family inspired this article with her comment about cat lovers, on another page:
‘It’s good when it makes you realise there are others like us out there’
She is right, it is good!
PoC is a wonderful meeting place for all of us who love cats but we also meet other like minded people in real life too.
The North of England is known to be a very friendly place to live and I’m wondering if other parts of our country and countries abroad are the same?
Here cat lovers are especially friendly people, almost always in the Pet Food aisle at the Supermarket someone strikes up a conversation:
‘I just don’t know what to buy for my cats today, they refuse everything lately that they used to like’
‘Oh I know, ours do the same’
‘How many have you got?’
‘Three, how many have you got?’
‘Two’
‘Oh I wouldn’t be without cats, I love them’
And so it goes on.
Then the checkout assistant:
‘My cats like this sort of food you’ve got today’
‘Do they?’
‘Oh yes, I have six, how many do you have?’
When buying cat food in bulk for local cats in care, it goes something like this:
‘Wow that’s a lot of tins, how ever many cats do you have?’
‘Only two, this is for cats in Sanctuaries’
‘What a good idea, I should do that, I’d love to have a cat but my hubby doesn’t like them’
In the vet’s waiting room people with cats tend to gravitate together, not only to avoid the dogs waiting too, upsetting the cats, but to admire each other’s cats.
A little ‘meow’ and others there with their cat baskets all look sympathetic and peek in at the cat and a conversation starts up:
‘What a pretty cat’ and ‘Hello and what’s your name beautiful boy?’
Cat lovers feel no embarrassment about talking to their own and each other’s cats.
I feel sorry for people without cats, they miss out on so much. Even more so for people who say they hate cats, what very inadequate people they must be to think that way!
We don’t expect everyone to like cats but to hate them is very unkind. Cat lovers don’t go around saying we hate dogs, anyone hating any animal makes me think they are a very pathetic person. I think cat lovers are mostly very tolerant people.
It does get my back up if anyone says nasty things about cats, stupid things like ‘I hate cats because they kill birds’. What an ignorant, blinkered opinion that is.
Whatever happened to tolerance of each other and of animals?
Oh yes this is spot on, on any trip to the supermarket, pet shop or wherever else we go to buy cat food you can guarantee that in the cat food aisle there will be someone with an anxious look on their face searching for something that their cat will approve of, someone who wants to proudly report that they have a cat in his late teens, someone who has multiple cats, someone who’s cat loved a certain brand of cat food until yesterday when suddenly she hated it and so it goes on, the pet food aisle takes the longest to shop in because there are so many people to chat to. I remember a few years ago when for a long while I shopped at Morrisons at the same time every Saturday morning and met the same lady every week who had found a feral cat living rough in her garden, Ruth and I were CP feral officers at the time and had trapped the cat and taken her to be spayed and then returned her to this lady’s home where she eventually, against her husband’s wishes, befriended her and brought her into the house to live. Each week she would give me progress reports on how well the cat was doing, what she liked to eat and how gradually she was winning the husband over, he would stand there patiently waiting while we chatted and other people hearing us joined in and learned how this kind woman had saved that cat’s life. I was very sad when eventually the lady died, but heartened to hear that the cat was still welcome in the home by the husband. What a legacy she left, she’d converted her husband from a cat hating macho man to a cat carer. These are the sort of stories that come about by cat loving people meeting and chatting, it’s a bit like the way parents share a special bond, you see strangers with kids smiling at each other sharing a special look that says “we have kids” well the same is true of cat lovers, we also have a special smile that we share with other cat people in cat related situations don’t we?
this is amazing ruth it gives me such joy that there are so many of us out there. Same here in New Zealand we talk about the same things. Often when down the cat aisle there are others trying to decide what to get our pets. I just had today to get more Whiskas cat singles as my ozzie was complaining that werent any wet food left. Im pleased i gave you an idea glad to help. Im not looking forward to going away as it means leaving my boys with someone else. Im hoping they be ok, which im sure they will. They will be looked after by someone that already has a cat but its always hard to be apart from our family. Ive decided im going to start giving cat food to the local Spca, Got a reply that they glady have me once their shop is open in Town. So looking fwd to that.
You are wonderful Ruth. I love the poster. So true. That is why we hang out here on POC, eh? Like minded people.
Its so true Ruth its lovely when we meet cat people who are as passionate about their cats as we are! Only yesterday I delivered a rug I’d sold on Ebay to someone I’d never met before and before long we were chatting like old friends just because we’d both got cats!
OH ,I LOVE THIS ARTICAL..I HAVE HAVE MET MANY NEW FRIENDS IN THE CAT FOOD ISLE.
Love this article Ruth because it touches a nerve for me. The events you describe happen to me. I have had lots of little conversations as you describe.