![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
botias6yo wants a cat. He's been spending some time with my MIL who lets her cats breed and there are two or three litters to play with. "Grandma Missy's cats don't have fleas," he says when I remind him that he really didn't like that aspect of cat ownership before our old cat passed away. I really didn't either. *shudders* I despise fleas.
I do like cats. I used to love them. But there are many cat owners on my flist, and so my reading is sprinkled with little gems like (I am paraphrasing here): "I hope my cat quits pooping in my shoes..." "I came home to discover he had been spraying urine. I scrubbed and scrubbed all morning, but..." "I'm tired today. I worked late yesterday and then my cat woke me at 5 a.m...." "I sat down at the computer and got a wet butt. The cat's been busy..." "My cat sitter flaked the day before my trip and I had to find someone else..."
I find myself remembering the very stressful, very large, veterinary bills; stepping in cold hair balls and feeling them squish up between my toes; finding the occasional intestinal worm segment writhing on the floor; the swollen ticks; the prey animals (alive and dead, in whole and in part); replacing all the carpet in one of my homes... It's not the inconvenience, or the grossness, so much as the fact that they seem more inconvenient than children in many ways, but much less fulfilling. Now I understand how my mom felt. :P I was so into animals as a child, that I never thought I would be THAT sort of mom myself.
ETA: perhaps best not to read if you are eating
I do like cats. I used to love them. But there are many cat owners on my flist, and so my reading is sprinkled with little gems like (I am paraphrasing here): "I hope my cat quits pooping in my shoes..." "I came home to discover he had been spraying urine. I scrubbed and scrubbed all morning, but..." "I'm tired today. I worked late yesterday and then my cat woke me at 5 a.m...." "I sat down at the computer and got a wet butt. The cat's been busy..." "My cat sitter flaked the day before my trip and I had to find someone else..."
I find myself remembering the very stressful, very large, veterinary bills; stepping in cold hair balls and feeling them squish up between my toes; finding the occasional intestinal worm segment writhing on the floor; the swollen ticks; the prey animals (alive and dead, in whole and in part); replacing all the carpet in one of my homes... It's not the inconvenience, or the grossness, so much as the fact that they seem more inconvenient than children in many ways, but much less fulfilling. Now I understand how my mom felt. :P I was so into animals as a child, that I never thought I would be THAT sort of mom myself.
ETA: perhaps best not to read if you are eating
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-09-05 10:59 pm (UTC)My mother would never allow pets and I got used to it. When my children wanted pets [and we lived in apartments], I always answered, "Only in glass cages". We had frogs and turtles. With three children, there was enough stuff and mess.
Pets of any kind are an investment of emotion, time, money and experiences. [As you know.] Choose wisely. Pets live a long time.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-06 01:22 am (UTC)Yes, pets do live a long time, cats even more so than dogs. My last two cats lived for 20 years. It's really a big responsibility, and I really don't know if I can go there again.