We Love Our Cats With Petfinder
“You’re really the cat lady, aren’t you?” accompanied by an eye roll.
“No, I’m not the cat lady.”
“Come on, you have all those cats and you talk about cats all the time, you’re a cat lady, admit it!”
“What if I had ‘all those dogs’ and talked about dogs all the time, would I be a dog lady?”
“There is no such thing as a ‘dog lady’.”
“But what would you call me?”
“A person who lives with dogs.”
“Then I’m a person who lives with cats.”
“What’s the problem with ‘cat lady’?”
“I don’t like your attitude.”
That was face to face with someone who thought he was being friendly and actually complimentary. The eye roll negated any positive sentiment he may have had.
And this from electronic communication…
A friend had just rescued another dog, and another friend remarked, “You have five dogs now! Good thing they’re not cats!”
I asked, “What would be the problem if they were cats?”
I never received an answer, but I’ve had that question answered in other conversations. A person with five dogs loves dogs. A person with five cats has a social disease.
“Hey, I’ve got a social disease!”
No quoting West Side Story lyrics today, but keeping cats has always had a stigma, usually associated with women, usually single, childless women who live alone and care deeply about cats, women who…sound a lot like me.
This label has been persistently slapped on my back for decades because I totally fit the profile. But I have flatly denied this label from the beginning because it’s not true of me and I have never wanted to perpetuate the cat lady myth for myself or for the welfare of cats.
I find cats to be wonderful companions and so inspiring I’ve produced a body of creative work inspired by the cats I’ve lived with and others’ cats as well. When I see a cat in need, as I find too many of them to be often by human hands, I will help that cat up to and including taking it into my own home and caring for it. The truth really is that…
And I’m not the only one—cats actually outnumber dogs as pets and yet cats receive statistically less than half the veterinary care of dogs, are abandoned at higher rates and a shocking 70% of all cats who enter shelters for all reasons never find another home but are euthanized. Cats are mistakenly seen as “throwaway pets” who “don’t require care” and the people who care for them as somehow misguided.
Petfinder® has launched a campaign entitled “I Am a Cat Parent” to encourage people to think of cats as equal to all pets and people who love cats as regular people just like everyone else and prove that “Everyone Can Love a Cat”—even guys.
Click the link above or any of these three Petfinder graphics and you’ll find links to stories, testimonials, videos and graphics telling the truth about living with and loving felis catus. If you love your cat and cats in general, add your stories and experiences to the campaign through the PetFinder website. Perhaps your story will help convince someone that living with cats is the way to be.
Recognizing Cat Rescuers
Many thanks today to the volunteers who spent wild Friday and Saturday nights trapping cats for the Frankie’s Friends mobile spay and neuter clinic today to help initiate care for a feral colony of about 25 cats found on Pittsburgh’s North Side. The mobile unit is also providing spay/neuter for other cats in need as well. Not sure how many cats will be attending but one volunteer trapped 20 cats including one without an eye and one without an ear—at left you see ten of his traps. So far this year he has trapped over 100 cats for spay, neuter, care, foster and rehoming, including Mama Kitty and her kittens, and also regularly makes runs to shelters to pick up cats and kittens who have foster homes for medical care, socialization or to avoid euthanasia.
He also rescued a cat named Knight who was rescued from being euthanized in a shelter because he has FIV, or “feline immunodeficiency virus”. FIV is similar to HIV in people but infected cats can live a long and healthy life with the virus. They can also live with other cats without infecting them —because FIV is most easily transmitted via saliva through bites, spaying and neutering and keeping the cat indoors so that it doesn’t fight with other cats has been found to be the most effective way to stop transmission. It’s not contagious to dogs or people in any way. Read An Impassioned Defense for the Adoption of FIV+ Cats for more detailed information.
“This cats purr rattles his cage!” said his rescuer, who is keeping him in his home with his other cats and dog. “He’s a big baby!” He’s looking for a home for Knight, who is an adult, neutered, has had all his shots and is in good health. Did we say he was a real lover? If you want a cat who loves to be held, loves to be cuddled, loves to play, loves people, other cats, dogs and life in general, please contact Donnie at dlgst18@Mail.rmu.edu.
Browse some rescued cats and kittens!
All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit Ordering Custom Artwork for more information on a custom greeting card, print or other item.
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If I’m a crazy cat lady, so be it. I’ve saved lives and received more love than I could ever imagine.
Katie, it’s just that reward that kept me going no matter what I was called!
I have always sort of embraced the cat lady title. I’ve felt that if I own it then it’s mine to wear with pride. Damn right I’m a cat lady! 😉
I might like it if anyone had ever used it without a derogatory connotation, but that’s never happened. It’s also affected my professional life as an artist–cat art gets no more respect that cat ladies, I could paint cockroaches and get more respect in the art world, while painting dogs is a long-respected genre. It’s just not for me.
So much good info to save cats lives. I wish everyone would read this and become aware of how cats are still not appreciated in our society.
Thank you, Linda! If we keep repeating it, maybe people will listen.
Why can’t we defuse the term, “cat lady?”
If we OWN it, use it ourselves with joy and dignity, we can turn it around.
This has been done with other once-derogatory words and phrases — for example, gay.
I gaily carry the cat lady banner. I happily carry the crazy cat lady banner.
I’d be happy to carry a gay crazy cat-lady banner if someone had a double parade. The more, the merrier.
Meg, you can turn around the status of a title if you have enough support and people willing to advocate–and there are a heck of a lot of gay people to fight the good fight, which is a very big fight on many levels. Personally, I don’t like labels and tend to reject them even though they are useful, and I’m not even terribly fond of “cat lady”. I don’t think I’m ready to fight for that one.
Great post! The whole “crazy cat lady” stereotype just makes me, well, crazy!
LIkewise, Ingrid, and I think the whole concept is derogatory for both the cats in question and the people.
A great post on all fronts. Loved the first two photos. Purrs and hugs, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Lisbeth, Astrid and Calista Josette
My great-nieces and nephews are all animal lovers, cats and dogs and even other creatures when they are old enough to have them. Thanks for stopping!
Sheesh!! What a crock!! I would have more cats… and dogs too, if I could! So what is a person who likes cats and dogs and lives (almost) alone and is a woman of a certain age??
Carolyn, they are a person who loves cats and dogs! No more name-calling!
LOL OK Bernadette! 😉
Gee,that sounds like me. I have 6 cats.
I like your attitude and I refuse to be seen as “crazy”
My cats are wonderful and loving and super companions.
I agree with Sparky Spitfire too 🙂
Nancy and the kitties
Nancy, I averaged ten cats for nearly two decades, single, childless…plus I’m an artist so my house looks a little funky, and my yard is a wildlife habitat, I have big read hair and wear big swirly skirts. What do you suppose people made of that?! But my neighbors were never the culprits, they appreciated what I was doing.
I have a button (yes, I still have buttons) that says, “destined to be an old woman with lots of cats”
Meg, I loved those old buttons! I still have some too. I think I’m destined to be such too.
such a lovely destiny. . . .
I “heart” your social disease ;-D
I know a lot of social workers who have the same disease, Sparky!