When you read through this forum, you'll find a lot of people who are having problems, big and small, with their kittens or cats. Sometimes behavioral, sometimes health, sometimes "mystery" problems.
It's very easy to conclude that felines are not good pets, or are big problems in small packages.
It would be interesting to see how many healthy, happy, well-behaved, loving cats we have. It would undoubtedly be a big majority of the cats in the population. Like children, new kittens are more prone to little health problems, and like senior citizens, old cats would be much more likely to develop serious problems and pass away.
But most would be like Punkin and Sterling, two really great cats. Both had the typical Upper Respiratory Infection when we got them from the shelter. Yes, by the time we had them a couple of weeks, what with the adoption fee, neutering, and treatment of the URI, we were into them for about $200 each. But since then, other than regular vaccinations, food, and litter, they are trouble-free and great company.
There's nothing like a purring cat sitting on your lap to reduce your stress (actually proven to reduce blood pressure!), and playing a few minutes each day with animals who have paws like lightning and enough imagination to turn any string or bottle cap into elusive prey will melt off a lot of weariness.
It's true that cats don't live as long as we do, but even that is good; they remind us that we, too, have a finite time on this earth, and we need to accomplish what good we can while we can.
And some of the good we can do is to provide a home for these little furry people.
It's very easy to conclude that felines are not good pets, or are big problems in small packages.
It would be interesting to see how many healthy, happy, well-behaved, loving cats we have. It would undoubtedly be a big majority of the cats in the population. Like children, new kittens are more prone to little health problems, and like senior citizens, old cats would be much more likely to develop serious problems and pass away.
But most would be like Punkin and Sterling, two really great cats. Both had the typical Upper Respiratory Infection when we got them from the shelter. Yes, by the time we had them a couple of weeks, what with the adoption fee, neutering, and treatment of the URI, we were into them for about $200 each. But since then, other than regular vaccinations, food, and litter, they are trouble-free and great company.
There's nothing like a purring cat sitting on your lap to reduce your stress (actually proven to reduce blood pressure!), and playing a few minutes each day with animals who have paws like lightning and enough imagination to turn any string or bottle cap into elusive prey will melt off a lot of weariness.
It's true that cats don't live as long as we do, but even that is good; they remind us that we, too, have a finite time on this earth, and we need to accomplish what good we can while we can.
And some of the good we can do is to provide a home for these little furry people.