Understand Your Feline Friend

"There are two means of refuge from the misery of life - music and cats" - Albert Schweitzer

My current cat's name is Odie. Yes, I know that's the dog's name in the Garfield comics, but we adopted him and kept his name, so it would be easier for him to get acquainted with his new home. He was two years old when we adopted him in a Petsmart nearby. He was a big cat, and yes, he still is a big cat and weighs 20 lbs. My wife and I enjoy having him around. Let's be honest, you cannot own a cat, you are gratefully allowed to stay with the cat in the same place. I never had a dog, but I know that cats and dogs are very different animals. Where a dog is more closer to his owners, the cat, and especially if you adopt an adult cat, stays independent and only comes to you, when she wants to. In a way, cats still have some of the behavior of the wild living cats.

"Way down deep, we're all motivated by the same urges. Cats have the courage to live by them." - Jim Davis (Garfield creator)

I love my cat, even sometimes he gets on my nerves, but I still love him. Cats are fascinating animals. If you live with one, just take the time and watch your feline friend for a few moments. His face reflects the different expressions and his ears are like antennas, always active and listening for any strange sounds. My cat sleeps in our bed. I know some people would not accept that, but I have the opinion, if your cat wants to be with you in the night, why not. It's better as if he would run around in the apartment and keeps you up all night. It is very interesting how quickly cats can adapt to new surroundings and get acquainted with their new human friends. My cat has his daily routine. He wakes me up at 6am to get food. He got used to this time as my wife got up at that to go work. Even this has changed now, Odie doesn't care. He wants his food at the same time every morning. Cats are very flexible with their meowing and purring, in intensity and volume. If you pay attention to your feline friend's sounds, soon you will know what he tries to "communicate" to you.

Cats can be very picky and they are individualists. But you can't say male cats are like this and female cats are like that. When we lived in Florida, we had a male and a female cat, both adopted, one was abandoned, the other was a divorce victim. When it came to food, the male cat did not care, he ate any kind of cat food, but our female cat ate only one particular brand of can food. Now, as we have one male cat, he nearly is as picky as our female cat was. When it comes to the noise-level of a cat, from my experience, which is not that plenty, the male cats are/were noisier than the female. Now I know that this probably changes with the breed and/or the character, so this can't be taken as a standard.

"No matter how much cats fight, there always seem to be plenty of kittens." - Abraham Lincoln

One thing is for certain - cats are very independent room fellows. They lie wherever they want, they sleep wherever they want, and there is no area in the apartment that is out-of-reach. As our cat was younger, and a lot slimmer - he now brings 20 lbs. on the scale - he even climbed on top of the kitchen counters. They are just too interested not to check out every spot in his territory.

The point where I envy dog owners is to put the animal into the car. When I see dogs jumping in the car with wiggling tail, I wish cats would have the same attitude when it comes to driving with them in a car. Of course, there can be exceptions from the rule, but I was not fortunate to get cats that like riding in a car. At least with Odie it is not a problem to put him in his carrier. He actually likes to get in and just lie there. It was a totally different story with our former cats. It was so bad that I stopped bringing them to the vet. If they only saw the carrier, they were gone, under the beds. They must have had very bad experience with carriers in the past. We got them when they were 5 and 2 years old.

When it comes to move the carrier into the car, the experience is the same. I did not know that cats were able to make strange sounds like that. Bringing them to a vet is stressful. Thank God, Odie is very healthy, and I hope, it will stay like that. He is an indoor cat, that should give him a better chance not to get sick so easily.

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