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?
It sounds a really nice place to live Marc x
We just had a visit from an old friend on his mobility scooter with a carrier bag full of cat food for Marion CP because she has 17 new neglected cats in care now too from a closed down sanctuary, it’s heart warming how kind people can be.
Yes, very much so. People here are generally very chatty and happy. People are happy here. It’s a little odd if you are used to a place like London where people are more anonymous and cold. I miss the anonymity of huge cities – the fact that nobody gives a damn what I’m up to or not up to is a good thing in a way, a freedom, but I also now appreciate Switzerland where I know my neighbours and talk to people in the store etc. It might seem superficial if you are a cynical person but I think people are genuinely happy and that is great. People are extremely helpful here too. They will go out their way to be nice and to help you with something if you ask. It’s one of the first things I remarked on when I arrived here. Usually people give you a minimum if you ask for help. Here not so. They will help and make sure you got it or whatever. I had an old man climb all the way back up the stairs just to show me how to use the ticket machine. It was the first time I took a train. I only asked him where the ticket machine was and he could see I didn’t have a clue. He came and helped buy a ticket right til I had it in my hand.
After living in the big city it comes as a suprise when strangers are nice and helpful by default and not just once in a while.
Yes Dorothy like minded people in our own wonderful cat world here at PoC 🙂
Are strangers friendly where you live Marc?
Ebony was the mother cat (another Ebony not our own Ebony) and had 2 kittens who were young enough to socialise and find good homes for when we trapped them for neutering.
I think more than likely Ebony was a stray or had been abandoned, rather than feral as the lady enticed her into the house to live, a true adult feral would have been much more difficult if not impossible, to tame and be happy to live indoors.
You got Ebony and her sibling really young I take it? It’s sad when cats look for their friends to no avail.
I like Babz expression too – “special smile” – it’s true.