Be a pet lover

I’ll be honest. Pet-keeping is not something I am known for. Perhaps that is because I have never had a pet of my own. Oh, one can find a multitude of reasons for this, such as a not-so-large, city home, nobody to stay home with the animal, lack of knowledge about pet-keeping, assumed allergies on part of the parents and what not.

The real reason, though, is that I don’t think I would want to share my pet with anyone else. I am a cat person through and through and like a cat, I like my territory and my rules to be observed and obeyed. For this reason, though I love cats, I have never pushed my parents to keep a cat for a pet and probably will wait till I have a house of my own. However, I shall talk about cat as a pet and what to expect when you are living with one.

To think of cats as pets is to say that salad is a whole meal. The analogy is correct but incomplete. Some of the most commonly known features of a feline animal also indicate the fact that they are essentially wild and do not have the entire set of characteristics to be fully tamed. Scientific research has shown, however, that any animal that has functional response cycle will respond to human contact when exposed for a given period of time. This is especially true for those animals which live in groups because they are naturally more inclined toward behaving in a pattern than their solitary counterparts.

To that effect, just like a lion’s cub starts to look to a human caregiver for milk and food if made to grow up with said caregiver and fed by them, other feline animals can also be brought to respond to human contact in many ways over a period of time. That being said, the first thing to remember about cats, big or small, is that they are by nature territorial and that instinct cannot be curbed, changed or even subdued easily. If you have a cat as a pet, you know not to challenge their boundary if they have chosen it, whether it is three inches where they eat their food or three feet of your favourite chair. It’s theirs now.

Moving on, another typical feature of cats that a cat-owner (I want to say ‘cat companion’ because this term somehow undermines my original point) should understand is their purring patterns. Just like dogs have various ‘touch points’ which elicit various responses in their language, cats have different kinds of purrs which indicate how they are feeling. I will only discuss the primary three here.

The first kind is the typical guttural purring that you can see/hear from an alley cat if you get a chance to observe them for more than ten minutes and they don’t see you. This deep, throaty purring is a sign that a cat is out on a prowl and should not be crossed paths with. Any smaller animal at this time is in mortal danger because she is looking for food and she will not tolerate interference. Dogs get scratched because of this, trust me. It is also the same state of mind which enables the cat to look at you straight in the eye when she catches you coming towards her and you feel like she will say something.

Well, she kind of is. She is telling you that she will not attack because you are bigger but you should just move out of the general area and let her do her thing. A tame cat with the same purr will be telling you that this is her game time and you should not try to feed her. She needs to feel like it is still her territory and once she has satisfied her inner feline urge to hunt a little she will come back to you.

The second purr is slightly higher in decibel points and more like she is cooing or trying to talk. This is the one you will more likely hear if you live in a cat-infested neighbourhood and if you have one of your own. Never think that a house cat is either unaware of or unknown to alley cats because chances are, if your cat is more than three months old, she is fast friends with all the alley cats whether you know it or not. So, a higher, more audible purr with a kind of sing-song tenor is your cat communicating with alley cats. They may be outside, out of earshot.

Your cat still thinks she is being heard and she will try to talk to her friends nevertheless. And the moment she can, she will quickly go out on a stroll and shake paws with them. It is a cat’s way of assuring that she is amongst trusted friends who are not human. While dogs do not need other dogs for support, being solitary in nature, cats need a distant group to rely on even when living in a house.

The third and most important purr of a house cat is the growl. This growl can mean three things: don’t touch her food; don’t touch her babies; don’t look at her in the eye too long. Ultimately though, it means one thing – she is threatened. If something has happened to your cat’s surroundings or general environment (even if the heat is up too much and you have not turned it down), she is on guard and is definitely looking out for safety from something unknown.

The unknown status of this threat does not assure your safety from her claws because as far as she is concerned, you are a threat too. In case she is eating, she is scared that her food will be taken away and you should not touch or adjust her food if she is purring while eating. If she has just had babies, you will be well-advised to only pet them when she is safe and calm. If she has just come from outside and had a bad encounter and if she is purring loud enough for you to hear, don’t try to coddle her or pick her up or even make eye contact too instantly or she might snap.  Give her time to realize that everything is fine and she will return to normal soon.

Your cat is a very independent and self-sufficient being and she needs to feel that way till her dying day. Being overly careful or touchy-feely will always irritate your cat and she will show it in many ways. And so, cat person or not, if you have a cat, remember that you have a roommate and just like you need your space, your cat does too. Close the door once in a while.

Karishma

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