Can we love our cats too much?

[catmandu]

THERE IS A JAPENESE COMIC STRIP WHATS MICHAEL,THAT SUMS IT UP,PURRFECTLY.
A YOUNG COUPLE,IS GOING,ON A TRAIN TRIP,BUT START,TO WORRY ABOUT THIER CATS,WHAT IF SOMEONE BREAKS IN,AND KILLS THEM?
WHAT IF MICHAEL EATS ALL THE FOUND,IN ONE MEAL,AND GETS SICK!!
WHAT IF MICHAEL,GETS DEPRESSEED,AND HANGS HIMSELF!!
WHAT IF POPO,FALL IN THE TOILET,AND DROWNS!!
AND SO,ON,AND SO ON,AND THEY CONVINCE THEMSELVES,THAT THE PLACE,THEY WERE GOING,WASNT GOING,TO BE ALL THAT GRETA,NAD THEY RUSH HOME,TO FIND MICHAEL,POPO,AND MINI MIKE,CURLED UP.ON THE SOFA,,IN THE SUN.
ITS LIKE THE TIME,I WAS WORRIED ABOUT,THE FOUND CATS,IN THE HOSPITAL.WHEN I CAME HOME,THE CATS WERE FINE!!

[Barbara]

My sweet Meo died in 1978 after being run over by a car- but not immediately after the accident. She had some weeks of suffering and vet visits because I was so much NOT ready to let her go.

After that I didn't want cats for many years- because I thought it would be unfair to the cat to keep her/him inside only and if I hadn't changed my mind on that I would not have a cat. Now Filou and Tigris live inside and are very happy but as you all know not 100% healthy, especially Filou who is so close to my heart. So there is no way to keep death outside the doors ( as many humans had to experience since the world started- the thought is not exactly original ).

I prefer to know that I can't protect them from everything and still experience that extra-ordinary love that is possible between cats and humans. The alternative would be never to make that experience- and it would not be a solution for me

[Randy_K]

It's interesting. Many years ago we had a family cat named Frosty. She was born at home by a stray we had adopted - I guess she adopted us more accurately. We kept the runt of the litter. A little white girl. For several years she and her mom lived happily together until one day mom left having moved on to a new home several blocks away. She was a wanderer at heart and I was always amazed that her daughter didn't miss her. They had an agreement that we were Frosty's and, I guess, she was to take good care of us which she did. Our little girl was born in April 1959 and died in March 1980 five weeks short of her 21st birthday. She left a permanent mark on me that has lasted for 25 years since she left us. Do I regret knowing and loving her? Never. Do I miss her? Every day. Knowing her changed my life. A few pictures of her late in her life (I wish I had taken more pictures of her!)

[Don Juan's mom]

A little comic relief....

I was seriously broke a few weeks ago. When I finally got a paycheck, my first purchase was....

TWO (2) bags of Nutro kibble: one Max Cat Gourmet Salmon, one Nature's Choice Weight Management!

Guess I do love the little sweethearts too much.

Liz

[caseysmom]

This is precisely why I haven't gotten another kitty. It was soooo hard, I had gigi for 14 years, my kids never knew life without her. My daughter still thinks she sees her sometimes in the house, I think she was just so use to having her there.

When I told my husband it was time to say goodbye he told me no more pets, never again. He was way more attached to gigi than the dogs for some reason, I feel just as attached to the dogs. Gigi was sort of his baby and he wasn't a cat person...so he thought.

[Kirsten]

I'm glad that so many of you understand what I mean... thanks for your replies!

Some of you mentioned an aspect I was also thinking about: That we too get older and that we may reach an age at which our cats will most likely outlive us. In fact, there was an article a while ago in one of my cat magazines, suggesting that elder people shouldn't adopt young cats. On the other hand, even when we are younger, something can happen to us every day, so the best thing is to make arrangements for such a case - meaning trying to find people who would adopt your cats in case something happens to you... I think this is somethig we should do anyway - no matter how old we are.

About cats being our family... For me, they certainly ARE my family, and I prefer my cats to most people I know. I don't have children, and I prefer to live on my own. For some reason, I could never imagine a life with an own family - but I can not imagine a life without cats!! I've been let down and even badly betrayed by people I knew, so my feelings about the human race have turned to bitterness meanwhile (I know there are exceptions, but usually I feel this way), and most of the time, I prefer feline company.

Kirsten

[janelle]

I had a darling cat for eighteen years. My father died and he was such a big help with that. He liked to cuddle and be with me. He would wait for my dad at the tip of the stairs everynight for about six months after he died. He would always come up and pet him on the head before going to bed. It was sad to see Sammy waiting for my dad.

I taught him how to shake hands, box and meow on cue with my hand movement.

I waited about twenty years to get more cats. I got one shortly after but it was sick and I sent it back to the breeder since I did not want another lose after my dad and Sammy who died around a year after.

My two cats now are cute as well but they will never replace Sammy. They all have their own personality. I wish these cats were more cuddley and more like Sammy but they maybe have each other and one is claustrophobic and does not want to be held very long. So I still miss Sammy and always will. Maybe that's just life.

Like no one can replace our human friends. They are all different. We love them all but for different aspects of their personalities. These cats are so quiet, more so than Sammy was, so they may be better that way and not so irritating at night. I guess we bond with some animals more than others and the time of our lives we have them.

[barncat]

My mother's brothers called her the cotznmudda... and when I was born I took over the title. My first heart-sister cat was Sooty... she was born when I was 4 and died the summer I had to leave for college. If she had not had a stroke I don't think I could have left her... As it was both she and my grandma lwft me before I had to leave them...

There have been many cats in my life. Some only brief cameo appearances, rescues and passing strangers...some heart-friends and companions of 20+ years. They have lasted longer than human family or lovers. I look in the eyes of these beloved creatures and know we live on a different time-scale in some ways, but in others...Who ever has more than NOW? and cats are experts at being in the moment. Sometimes my Belladonna looks at me and I seem to see Sooty lookng back at me... Or Ambrose touches my tears because my human always-significant-sometimes-other is lashing out about her old issues yet again...and it is my beloved Bunny reminding me that love does end. Of course the new ones are themselves and loved for themselves, but somehow in our NOW there is a big piece of always too.

I'm 47 and these are probably the last young tribe I will ever have because I too worry about those that will outlive me. My woodwork is clawed, my furniture is furry and I have to keep a pet-roller in my desk. My vet teases me because I refer to his associates as baby-vets, and yet he trusts me with the care of things that usually require hospitalization.

I am cotzmudda---catmother--- and there is no such thing as loving too much as long as you keep your heart and your hands open.

[carole]

I am the same age as you, and I had thought after lexie my younger cat of only 3 years of age, I would not own any more because of the fact they may outlive me,however I do plan and hope to live way beyond my sixties, which would make my Lexie around 21 years old, hoping that she lives that long for sure, I don't think I could bear to live the rest of my life alone without a kitty, but I am going to make sure that when I am old, I have someone that will take kitty should I pass on, and I think my daughter will indeed be a taker as she loves kitties as much as I do, but if I cannot assure that, then I will have to re-think that plan, there is nothing sadder than the pets that get handed in because their owners have died, just think of the trauma those poor kitties must feel, not only loosing their owner and companion, but then to be put in a cage all alone awaiting adoption that might never come, not something I intend for any of my kitties to go through if I can help it.

I do worry about my parents kitty Tessa, although she is getting on in years and hopefully my parents will outlive her, she is around 12 years old and they are both in their early seventies, I would take her if anything happened to them in a heartbeat, but she would not be very happy here, I do hope my parents donot get another kitty once she passes on, as I will have the worry of what to do with the kitty should the inevitable happen.