Dedicated to my cats

This blog is dedicated to my cats. I have two, a boy and a girl. They are siblings. I rescued them from the Blue Cross and I have never regretted it.

Being a writer you spend a lot of time at home, alone. Working as a writer, at home, it is easy to start thinking of your pets as your best friends. You see more of them than you do other people. They always agree with you. They sleep a lot, it is true. But at intervals will cross your path on the way to go outside, to get food, to just maybe look out the window - especially when it’s cold.

But they do something else. They come up to you and rub against your leg, to mark their scent. They miaow. They jump up on your chest, especially if you are sad, or ill, or just watching the TV. Cats soon endear themselves to us and become our friends. So this first blog is dedicated to them because they have become so.

Of course I venture out to see human friends. Every writer must make sure they do this, or they go crazy. They also would fail to get any outside stimulus or stories.

Coming back home, to a house with cats is comforting though. Especially if it would be empty otherwise. My cats get up to greet me, possibly worried that I had been eaten by a monster and was never going to return, or perhaps just because it is getting closer to food time.

Even though they are my friends Cats are definitely mysterious creatures. As no matter how much I know my two, I've had them for a few years now, I still don't really know them. I have no idea what they get up to when they leave the boundaries of my garden. No idea where they go, what they like and don't like outside the boundaries of my home and garden.

The truth is, there is very little I know about my cats. I know they like cat food, but I still don't know what brand. It changes like the wind. I know they like to play. No matter how many expensive toys they are bought I know they prefer a cardboard box and some kind of toy on a rope to poke through holes in the box than anything else. I know they go crazy over cat nip, close their eyes as a form of greeting, miaow when they want to eat, play and run inside when they are scared. 

But I can't speak cat, I do a bad impression of purring. 

I wonder if it is because they are mysterious and yet let us into their lives why we love them so much. It is easy to see why we love dogs, for their loyalty, protection, warmth. But cats? I think it is because we respect and remain in awe how they can balance a fine line between coexistence and utterly remain wild. For a cat is a wild creature who has decided to share life on this planet with us. And for that, we should be very grateful.