Felis Catus

[Cadiz]

As I was doing some of my evening housework (actually, I was cleaning my cat's litter box) I was thinking about how so many human beings live a life of servitude to the royal housecat. When I thought more about it, I was surprised that such a high percentage of the authors I know have cats. Then it made me wonder, are there authors who don't have a cat? Are there any studies on what percentage of authors have cats?

 

[Barbara]

cleaning my cat's litter box

The joys of cat ownership. Mine uses next door's flowerbed. (He also uses my lettuce patch. I don't eat homegrown salad.)

There must be a reason why cats gravitate to authors, or authors gravitate to cats. It might have to do with the litter box. Maybe we like having a pet, but we are way too busy with our writing to go W A L K I E S at inopportune moments when doggie needs to go and visit a tree.

 

[KateESal]

No cats here.

I chuck water at them if they come into the yard (we have two yowling, spraying toms who like to snarl at each other under our window at four in the morning and make our outside area stink).

That said, I grew up with a cat, which I loved very much. Nowadays I'm a bit too aware of what terrible damage pet cats do to the wildlife populations, while being a bit useless when up against the rodents that could DO with a bit of culling (rats).

Sorry!!! Probably an unpopular view on here.

I'm not really a dog person either. Despite (or, more likely, because of) growing up with them, too.

 

[CageSage]

The familiars attached to a writer are there to remind them there are real-world, warm-blooded souls outside the story, to remind them about food and stuff, to remind them to open the blinds to the sun-patch (see, there is a world out there!), to remind them to speak occasionally ...

 

[Cadiz]

Oddly, I was never a cat owner and have always been allergic to them. I was out with my dog on an evening walk after a rain and the dog sniffed out a tiny, skinny kitten that was too weak to walk hiding under a bush. It must have retreated there to get out of the rain. I was certain it wouldn't survive until morning but brought it home in a box anyway, telling my daughters to leave alone since it obviously wasn't going to make it. I didn't want them to get attached. Surprisingly, it survived the night and began eating the next day. The dog, a female, soon became its surrogate mother and the cat has been a part of the family ever since. Even more surprising, my allergies eventually disappeared.

 

[RK Wallis]

Our dog would think a cat a rabbit and eat it, so sadly no cats though my daughter wants one. Our dog may as well be a cat though; the kind of cat that's aloof and only deems to give you the time of day when it suits them.

 

[Steve C]

I used to have a cat called Foxy. 1/2 Burmese and 1/2 Siamese. One day she presented us with a piece of knotted up sponge. Dropped it on my lap and looked at me like a dog so I thought okay, I can play this game and threw it across the room. Sure enough, she ran after it and brought it back and dropped it on my lap. It was great fun designing more and more difficult tricks for her. On Sunday mornings we would lie in bed and throw the sponge out of the window. Foxy would race downstairs, out the catflap, grab the sponge and return with it. Never got tired of playing. I even had her using an ironing board as a launchpad to land on top of a cupboard to retrieve her precious sponge. The board started near the cupboard but I pulled it away a little at a time until I had her running along it and leaping halfway across the room.
Now we have 3 dogs who eat better than most of the villagers around here and don't retrieve anything.

 

[Cadiz]

I used to have a cat called Foxy. 1/2 Burmese and 1/2 Siamese. One day she presented us with a piece of knotted up sponge. Dropped it on my lap and looked at me like a dog so I thought okay, I can play this game and threw it across the room. Sure enough, she ran after it and brought it back and dropped it on my lap.

It is hilarious finding a cat that likes to play chase the sponge like a dog would.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

I am also in servitude to a cat. A generally unpleasant brute of a beast who's lucky he's very good at taking care of rabbits and mice on the property. We considered selling him with our house, but figured he'd lower the property value too much ... Now we're preparing to move with an animal who bites if you pick him up and is the Houdini of pet carriers. I'm not looking forward to a 45 minute drive with a snarling cat loose in the car...