Why Did You Adopt Your Cat?

Why did you adopt your cat? Deciding to adopt a “pet” is a big step. It is a lifestyle change. It is for the life of the cat. The adoption will have a big impact on your life for a long time. So why did you do it? Did you consider all the ramifications?

Because the adoption of a domestic cat carries with it such a profound change to a person’s life you could say that the person wants their life to change. If the person wants their life to change, you could also say that the person is unhappy with their life as it is. A person is unlikely to change a life they are happy with it because it may make things worse.

If a person is unhappy with their life they might decide to make some changes to try and improve it and sometimes the changes that they wish to make includes the adoption of a domestic cat. Is it always the right choice? What kind of change in an individual’s lifestyle does the introduction of a pet imply?

You don’t need to read all this article, if you don’t want to. However, I would like you to leave a comment in which you tell me why you adopted your cat. If there are 40 comments I will give a $40 Amazon voucher to the comment that I think is the best.

New Relationship

One reason for adopting a cat into a household is to create the opportunity to form a new relationship. Every cat caretaker forms some sort of relationship with their cat. Not every cat owner does, however. Nonetheless, the formation of a new stable relationship is one reason why a person adopts a cat. The relationship that many cat caretakers develop with their cat is similar to the relationship that they would have with a person. They also frequently referred to their cat as a family member. And many people relate to their cat as a child, while children might relate to the family cat as a sibling.

Did you adopt your cat because you wanted a more reliable relationship? Cats are more reliable than boyfriends and girlfriends.

Or perhaps, you just got divorced and you wanted to plug the relationship hole. Or perhaps, it makes you feel good to look after a domestic cat. It satisfies your need to nurture and look after another animal.

One of the most commonly mentioned reasons for keeping a pet animal is for the companionship. Companionship means doing things together. A cat caretaker can play with her cat, talk to her cat, receive feedback from her cat by way of body language, routine and even through talking because a good cat caretaker will understand cat talk.

When, and how long, an interaction between a person and a cat takes place is generally dictated by the person. In other words, a person can stop her interaction with her cat whenever she likes, which is something a person cannot do when interacting with another person. Is this one reason why some people prefer a relationship with a cat?

There is no doubt that very many cat owners consider that they share activities with their cat on an equal footing. The relationship is one of mutual assistance, which is similar to the sort of mutual assistance that takes place between people. Many marriages, perhaps all marriages at a certain stage in the marriage are founded upon the idea of mutual assistance-the relationship becomes something practical but also very loving.
Kids also benefit from having a cat around the house. A lot of children enjoy a relationship with the family cat. The cat can have a calming influence on a child who may be hyperactive. Very many children and young adults receive a lot of satisfaction, love, self-esteem and support from the presence of the domestic cat. I am sure that this is one reason why adult people who are parents adopt a cat.

Confiding In a Pet

A person can confide in his or her pet with the utmost confidence because there is no risk of betrayal. A person can express his or her most intimate feelings and thoughts when confiding in her cat. Obviously, a cat will not understand the language of the person and therefore some people would argue that when a person confides in a cat, the person is in effect talking to herself and simply offloading some of her problems. I would disagree with this. I do not think it is as simple as that. Cats can pick up on a person’s emotional state and provide comfort. There is a lot of intuitiveness in a cat’s behaviour.

Reliability of the Relationship

The domestic cat is far more reliable than the domestic man or woman! “Pets” are more consistent in their behaviour than humans. Therefore, a relationship with a cat is likely to be more constant and reliable than a human–human relationship. This must surely be one reason why a person adopts a domestic cat.

Self-esteem

A relationship with a cat can give a person and perhaps more often a child a feeling of self worth and higher self-esteem. When a person looks after a cat he or she recognises that the cat is dependent upon her, which creates a responsibility which is then discharged successfully by a good cat caretaker. This must lead to improved self-esteem. For a child, self-esteem is extremely important as it builds confidence and in the world today confidences everything. If a child can successfully created a mutually supportive relationship with a cat and look after the family cat it does the child a lot of good emotionally and psychologically.

Love

It is probably common knowledge that a lot of people feel for their cat resembles the affection that they feel for a person. Cat owners believe that they not only can give their love but receive it. They probably do receive it, which prevents criticism from people who say that when a person loves her cat she loves her car in the same way.

Expectations of Pet Ownership

The positive expectations of pet ownership in a study included the following:

Companionship, friendship, pleasure gained from watching, stroking-pleasure gained from tactile contact with their cat, affection-receiving love from the cat, training-some people gain pleasure from training their dog (few train cats), relaxation-people find cats relax them, nurture-people like the opportunity to nurture, meaning take care of their cat, self-esteem-people gain self-worth when caring for their cat, responsibility-caring for a cat provides a purpose, play-people enjoy playing with their cat, family extension-cats are seen as family members, gentleness-interacting with a cat encourages a person to behave gently, consideration-caring for a cat encourages a person to be more considerate, security (dog usually)-the presence of the dog provides a feeling of security, entertainment-cats entertain, loyalty-people feel that their cat is loyal to them which is pleasurable and finally exercise which applies more to caring for a dog companion.

The negative expectations and aspects of cat caretaking include: cost, mess, noise, damage and injury.

My Reasons for Adopting a Cat

A lot of people will adopt a cat because they simply like cats and they have a strong desire to look after a cat and/or a person. They don’t think beyond that emotional response, which is completely to be expected and normal. That would apply to me in large part. In addition, I have a need to help the vulnerable and in my instance I have always rescued a cat under a variety of circumstances. There are lots of cats that need rescuing and they come to us. So for me, rescuing and caring for a cat satisfies a personal need.

Perhaps the greatest motivator for me is the need to nurture and be the carer for an animal (although it can also be a human animal) that requires my care. I’m sure that there are a lot of people who adopt a cat the same reasons as me.