Indignities

One's pride goes out the window when one is owned by a cat. One's dignity goes there too when one is owned by a house full of the critters. Nothing can wake one up faster at 3 am than a cold wet hairball oozing between one's toes as one is heading for the bathroom. Particularly when one vaguely remembers hearing the hairball come up at 1am but was too tired to do anything about it.

Having a cat bounce off your back & nearly send you face first into a litter pan as you're scooping can be scary. However, the day I decided to get a closer look at the stuff I was cleaning off the carpet was unnerving. As I leaned in for a sniff, I lost my balance and went nose first into the blob. Fortunately it was a hairball.

You could say I should just have picked it up. That would have been smart I suppose. However, right around that time I'd got up one morning, and found a toy mouse in my path. As I bent to pick up I noticed it didn't have a tail. The toy was not a toy at all, but a headless, wingless, legless, bat, so I learned to look closer before touching. This, by the way, explained Martin's fever the previous week, and why the vet couldn't find any puncture marks.


We're used to discussing serious subjects with a cat perched on a shoulder staring intently off to one side.  Washing dishes just wouldn't be the same without a tail sliding under one's nose as the critter wanders by.  Movies are often viewed between cat ears, or around a cat sihlouette.

It's not uncommon to suddenly notice that we've gone out in public so covered in fur that we're not sure what design was originally on our t-shirt.  It can be embarrasing to admit to the vet that the smell he thinks is coming from your sick cat is actually emanating from yourself.   Having a cat make 'the face' after sniffing your breath first thing in the morning is .... well .... informing.  They are so helpful.

Dinners are often spent with a cat either trying to pad your chicken, or edging around your neck towards the plate, while purring sweetly.  Then there are those who keep hitting you because see no need for you to eat when they need attention.

As for the critters, they don't see what the problem is.  In fact, their version of indignity is when we get all bent out of shape over the things they do.  You can see it in their eyes: Why are those stupid humans dancing around and making so much noise?

At least Drew didn't throw up in my hair in the middle of the night. He saved that gem for Betty. Frasier did pee on my back though. I am officially his.