I own two cats. OK, it’s more like there are two cats that live in my apartment that let me pretend I own them. Sometimes, life is just about the two cats.
My cats’ names are Kitty Bon-Bon and Maggie. Kitty Bon-Bon was named after a cat in a children’s book from the early 1960s entitled Our Happy Family. In the book the cat was bright yellow; Kitty Bon-Bon actually looks more like a mountain lion – a fat mountain lion.
Maggie is an odd looking cat. She obviously is a domestic short hair, which means that if she were a dog she’d be called a mutt. One of the cat breeds that apparently is in her mix is Siamese, as she has really close set, pale green eyes that to me just look way too human. Maggie was named after the Simpson’s youngest daughter – the one who sucks on a pacifier and never says a word.
Maggie doesn’t always like to pee in the cat boxes. Sometime she pees on the bathroom rugs. I have to buy the Febreze brand Laundry Odor Eliminator for when I wash the rugs. Besides that smelly issue, in the wintertime when I’m keeping the doors and windows closed to keep in the heat, my whole apartment just smells like cat. That’s not pleasant.
My cats are on what I’d call a kitty HMO plan. It actually is cheaper keeping them inside on a veterinary plan to discount the three shots they need as indoor cats each year. But I can’t help but feel that at a time where so many human beings don’t have adequate health care coverage, my cats each have a health care plan. Something feels wrong about that.
They’re expensive little things too. Between their special cat food (because Kitty Bon-Bon has a kidney issue), their litter box “sand,” their dental treats (to keep their tartar down), and their kitty HMO plan, Kitty Bon-Bon and Maggie are easily costing $140 a month to keep.
So, why keep them? Well, because I need them.
At night, both of my cats come up and lay beside me as I watch TV from the couch. When I scratch them on their jaw lines and behind their ears, their feedback of purrs warms my soul. The touching of their furry bodies against my body, and feel of their furry heads between my fingers is miraculously soothing.
When I go to bed, they lie beside me. I feel needed.
When I travel, I miss them. I miss the warmth of their furry bodies against mine; I miss petting them; I miss the feedback of their purrs. I’m never as aware as when I’m traveling of how my cats keep me on an even keel.
They’re stinky, they’re messy, they’re expensive and they’re often a pain in the butt to take care of.
But in a world full of inequality, harassment and discrimination; of hard work sometimes coupled with no feeling of accomplishment, and of mundane household tasks that can wear down the soul, I have my cats Kitty Bon-Bon and Maggie to hold and love; for the purrs and warmth they give back in return.
It’s not always about the big things like work and the struggle for ordinary equality for one’s self and one’s community; sometimes it’s about small things like interactions with one’s pets; as well as with one’s friends and family. As I’ve aged and come nearer (although hopefully not too near) the end of my life, I really have come to appreciate something my Dad told me before he passed away. He told me that he’d never heard anyone lament at the end of their lives that they didn’t spend enough time at work. Instead, he said people always lamented how they wished they’d spent more time with their loved ones.
My loved ones include my cats Kitty Bon-Bon and Maggie – some days life really is just about time I spend enjoying the company of my cats.
