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What My Cat Teaches Me About Myself

I love my cat.

Let me introduce you to him.

His name is Pud.  He is about 5 years old and he’s been with us – his forever home – for the last couple of years.

Every day I’m thankful that he’s come into our lives because he’s brought with it so much joy, laughter and eye rolls.  He has his own personality – at times aloof, other times clingy but I know he loves us in his own special cat way.  We love him too.

Ever since losing both our cats Tigga and Willow to old age (and which devastated us for a long while afterwards), a visit to the Cat Show changed our lives.  We saw Pud sitting in his kitty litter box asleep in the cage.  No one was looking at him as there were other far more exotic breeds.  We spoke with the owner who was a carer for Cheltenham Cat Rescue that he was given up because he was “too clingy”.  If they didn’t find owners for him soon, she lamented of his future.

We couldn’t get Pud out of our minds for a couple of days after that so we got on the website and made a claim for him.  We filled out the documents and went over to his carer’s house where he was sharing this temporary home with another cat and an over excitable little dog.  Pud seemed nonchalant and came over to sniff my feet then promptly sat down on his haunches near me and didn’t budge.  I patted him but by then I was already in love.  I had to have him.  I think my fate was sealed that he was going to be my cat from this day onwards.

When we brought him home, he must have felt really comfortable.  His first action was to take a long stretch then plop on his back and stretch himself out while we gave him a belly rub that he enjoyed.  That was it.  He was here for the long haul.

Since that time, I’ve spent many hours with Pud.  As I work from home, we have our own routine every day when I start work that he comes and joins me to lie in the sunshine near my desk.  Other times, he curls up on the sofa while I work away in the study and comes to annoy me when it’s time for his meal.  Other times, when I like to sleep in, he comes and joins me on the bed where we both play and laze around for hours on end.  I have lost track of how many hours have passed just stroking his fur, giving him belly rubs, mock fighting or playing chasey around the house.  He’s my little furry friend where at times I look at him and just filled with love.

Pets are wonderful creatures that can teach us a lot about ourselves.

When I look at Pud and how his life is revolved around the simple pleasures of food, sleep, hunting, playing, being at the receiving end of hugs, kisses and stroking – I think about how we can learn a lot from cats.  At times, I wonder if he thinks that I’m the weird one with the most inexplicable behaviours such as looking at a rectangle thing in my hands most days (that diverts attention from him); or constantly running around the house from one room to the next picking up clothes and doing housework when I could just be like him and sit down instead.

* By the way, he knows that the iPhone will get a reaction from me.  Every morning, he jumps up on the bed to annoy me to feed him and if I ignore him, he jumps down and goes to where the iPhone is charging and starts chewing on the cables.  I can hear him, then I get up to shoo him away from there. It’s his way of getting my up from bed to go into the kitchen to feed him. Cheeky cat!

Having Pud has made me realise that I need to slow down at times.  A pet allows us to refocus our time, energy and attention on another little being and one that needs our love because in return it gives us love back (in its own way of course – it is a cat, after all).

I’m so glad that Pud has been in our life in time of lockdown and that I have a furry friend to be with me during the day at home.

Next time you’re running around flat chat with work and life, think about getting a lesson from your furry friends.  They’ve got the right idea. Live in the moment, eat, sleep, play and ask for belly rubs; have a roll around in the grass.

What more do we (or should we) want?

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  1. […] wrote about Pud, in a post called What My Cat Teaches Me About Myself and I would say that he has played such an important role during the lockdowns. (Ok, our lives!). He […]