What is so intriguing about inviting a small-prey hunter, that has claws, needs a litter box, and leaves fur everywhere, into our homes? Well, because… it’s a CAT! If you are a cat lover, you get it. If you are not, it might take some time and effort to understand. But there are a few good reasons I bet you haven’t thought of yet!
We humans have interesting relationships with cats. While most people generally like, or are tolerant of dogs, with cats we tend to have stronger feelings one way or another.
Versus, remember that Lady-Hating-On-A-White-Sassy-Cat meme that circulated most of 2021?? Meme story here
Why People Get Cats
Some of us absolutely love them, own a couple, feed the local strays, and proudly call ourselves “cat people.” Some of us kindof just tolerate them, sometimes enjoy them. Maybe we have them in the house because our roommate or family member wants them; or maybe one just walked into our life and we felt obligated to give it a home. Some of us dislike, avoid, or even fear “those things.” Some of us are strongly allergic (like my man! but we’ll get into that later) and see a cat coming as danger and death on four legs. However we feel about them, I read there are an estimated quarter million cats owned worldwide, with around half a million more strays. A lot of us own cats!
To say the least, cats do entertain us with their strange antics.
Their show of love and affection can be pronounced (yes, as you can see I’m expecting here : )
They can try to keep us from working (gotta love working from home during the pandemic)
And they can liven up life with friendship and companionship (and… lots of meows?)
If you gain some level of enjoyment from having fluffy around, you are not alone. We enjoy our cats for entertainment, for companionship, for liveliness, or possibly even because they keep the household threats (Spiders! EEK!) away.
Cats Make Us Happy
What is most magical about cats is they can literally change our whole lives. It only took a few weeks after Ariel moved in for me to start calling her my “sunshine cat.” I couldn’t help but realize this little tiny ball of fluff somehow made me so happy. Now, 12 years later even as she is slowing down, sleeping more, and administering occasional jealous attacks on her cat-mate: she is still my little buddy. She still greets me first thing every morning, still comes when I call, and is waiting at the door every night when I get home. (She may have her own motivation for that such as bolting past me to escape outside, but I like to think after our history together, it’s for me 😉 This cat has boosted my mental and psychological health for over a decade!
Now as my career is teaching me more about what benefits and harms our mental health as people, I can’t help but smile and nod in agreement when yet another article highlights the health benefits of cat ownership. To my delight, there are a handful (although not many) scientific studies that highlight this phenomenon. I found a few articles (links here: Psychological Health in a Population of Australian Cat Owners, and Not-so-guilty pleasure: Viewing cat videos boosts energy and positive emotions, IU study finds) that basically seem to tell us that even science shows that cats, whether in real life or just online: make us happy J Which is why I am passionate about starting this blog! And why I so look forward to meeting a community of cat owners, and learning about yours.
There are such great benefits cats can hold for us humans, that I can’t wait to get into next. But first, what are some reasons you enjoy yours? Or what are some of your cat’s funny or entertaining behaviors?
Please feel free to send our community a pic or description of your favorite cat moments!
Please note that CatLoveLady provides general educational information on various topics on this website as a public service, which should not be construed as health, medical, mental health, professional, or veterinary advice. These are my personal opinions only. See more in our disclaimer policy here.