Cats, The Gateway Animal

Cats and Marijuana. If you think they have nothing in common, you’re dead wrong.

Cats.  Innocuous at first …ditto marijuana. Once you’re hooked, there’s no going back …ditto marijuana. Introduce you to a whole world you never realized existed (ditto).

Growing up I was never into cats – or marijuana.

No animals were harmed in the taking of this picture. Katie says she never inhaled.

What I  craved from as far back as my teenage years, was a baby fix. The grocery store, the mall, doctor’s offices – I wasn’t picky.  Some unsuspecting mother would suddenly find me face-to-face with her precious little bundle, my hand clutching a chunky thigh or squeezing a chubby cheek (the face kind).  Friends warned they’d have to turn me in upon news of a baby-napping in the vicinity.

My friend H___ is the same way with dog.  She plays “name-the-breed” and has to have a conversation with every canine that crosses her path. Between the two of us it takes forever to walk a block.

Dogs were never on my radar. It’s not that I ignored them so much as they never registered, just as H___ might walk past the Gerber baby without a second glance. In retrospect perhaps it was because I grew up pet-less (see “The Cat-less Years”) and saw my grandmother accosting babies wherever she went (in Armenian, at that).

But then things changed. I got cat (s).

We all have the friend who prefers a hit over a glass of wine. But there are some who once they start smoking, want more. Pot turns to coke, coke to E…you get the picture.

Cats were to me, what a bong hit is for some.

Both seem innocent enough...at first.

I discovered cats had little personalities with individual temperaments. Some are shy and others very social. There are curious cats (Kip) and scaredy cats (Petey).  Some cats are rather…well..loose, while others play hard-to-get.  Some like belly rubs and others would rather die than expose their belly!

Once I was tuned into the cat universe I couldn’t stop. I began noticing dogs and guessing their breed – hoping they were rescues – and caring about the way cows. pigs and even chickens are treated (if I couldn’t imagine skinning and eating one of my cats, how could I let myself have BBQ?).

It is only because of cats that I now notice every dog I pass on the street, and stoop to say hello at pup-eye-level.

Cats were my gateway to the animal kingdom.