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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3596 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 4, 2022

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"Dad: doesn't want a pet. Family: gets a pet anyway. Dad and the pet: sappy picture" is a meme for a reason.

We were adopted by a cat at our dacha. Dude was super polite after he realized he was in a safe space. Only bit our handsy kid once and felt super bad about it. Loved to chill behind me on his own chair and accepted belly rubs. Unfortunately, we couldn't take him with us as he wasn't an apartment cat at all and would get stressed out being locked in a concrete box with a handsy kid with no bushes to hide in or trees to scratch. And the whole emigration thing didn't help either. We've left the food with our neighbor and built him a warm kennel inside the greenhouse.

Uh yeah? I've gotten attached to pretty much every cat I've ever met. Even the regular cats that I see walking around my neighbourhood, not even ones I own. I will always stop to pet a cat and it usually ends up with a conversation with the owner. There's a few cats on my street that I know the names of and who will walk over to me to get petted when they see me. And as a result I'm friendly with the owners too, so that's nice as well.

Cat affection is more valuable than dogs to me, because it's not as... automatic?

My family had a cat when I was little, but it was effectively feral and very destructive, and spent as much time as it could hanging out with strays and hunting small animals and birds (honestly no idea why we kept that beast, in a city at that). So I didn't care much for cats after that. Eventually things happened and I ended up having a very beautiful and affectionate (though stubborn and independent) juvenile cat, and it became a big source of happiness for me. It wasn't dog-like at all and took a patronizing attitude towards me, but that was cute too. Now it's old and remains in Russia. It likes the place more than it likes me, I suspect, and it's a bit too timid and fragile for travel. Still, I feel like kind of an asshole here.

I feel sorry for your cat. Do you mind explaining why you decided to leave it in Russia? (It remains is passive whereas it feels like this was your choice.)

Because cats are a poor fit for hotel lifestyle.

Ahh, good point! I didn't think about the fact that you probably had to leave quickly. Unfortunate, sorry to hear.

When my boss was moving to Cyprus he told us taking his cat with him resulted in a whole separate section in his checklist. Vaccination, chipping, deworming, airplane travel arrangements, hotel arrangements, pet-friendly rentals, food, bowls, water, favorite scratching post, medicine if needed...

And that was a controlled move in 2018, not a hurried semi-evacuation in 2022.

Yes, I was extremely anti-cat, now I have three and adore them. One in particular is very dog-like: follows me around, licks my hand, greets me when I get home, sleeps at the foot of my bed, likes being picked up, plays fetch, lets me pet her belly, starts purring loudly when I give her attention. I still like dogs, but cats are awesome and way less work than dogs.

Yep. As a child, I was like : "Cats are independent and selfish, they're barely even a pet.....meh."

As an adult, I'm like : "Cats are independent and selfish, and they barely even need to be taken care of like a pet.......woah that's great."

My family had cats growing up, but they were pretty standoffish. Current cat is perhaps the most dog-like I've ever encountered, to the extent that he even likes to play fetch. Certainly a wide range of cat "personalities".

Yes. I spent much of my teenage years bottle feeding stray kittens then finding them homes. The first few that really love you, you get attached. After the second dozen, it wears off, by the twentieth early death you get used to it and stop being so sensitive.

Was sitting outside feeling down one winter night when a cat walked up and climbed into my jacket, instant adoption. Never had a pet before or since, just her.

Wish I could have taken better care of her without keeping her indoors, because she lost a fight with a raccoon only a few years later.

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