CATS WERE DOMESTICATED in ancient Egypt about 10,000 years ago, and they were considered sacred. Several of their gods were even depicted with cat heads. It's not hard for me to determine when I began loving cats. Since I grew up with no particular feelings about them, then married a woman who, although she has no ancient Egyptian ancestry that I know of, definitely loves the little beasties, my onset of feline adoration commenced with marriage. Particularly since my spouse comes from genuine redneck southern Georgia stock, you might expect her to favor dogs, perhaps a pittie with a head like a concrete block. But no, she’s a certified crazy cat lady. It didn’t take her long, either, to domesticate me to the delights of sharing our home with the little rascals. They are much less time intensive than dogs, too. To start with, they sleep away much of the day. When they’re up and about, a little food and a few pets seems to satisfy them. You don’t have to walk them, and they use a litter box as naturally as a human uses a toilet. There are those times, of course, where they get the urge to bond, and so I have to guard that one of them (we have four presently) doesn’t sneak up and jump onto me anywhere near my stoma. After a while, communicating with a cat comes easy. You just have to remember, as George Carlin said, that “meow” means “woof” in cat.
Hello HenryM.
Thank you for this illuminating, if controversial post.
My perception of the ancient Egyptians was that they were a society who were ruled by people who believed in inequality, slavery and cruelty. It therefore seems little wonder that they elevated the ‘cat’ to god-like status, as it probably mirrored, for them, the ‘qualities’ they admired and perpetuated in themselves.
I have nothing against cats in their ‘natural’ environment, doing what comes ‘naturally’ to them. However, I have some misgivings when they are supposedly ‘domesticated’ in vast numbers, yet still allowed to kill at will, anything and everything within their prey-range. I am particularly put out, when other people’s cats prey on (and kill) my ‘pets’, on my land, yet the owners expect me to be accepting of this phenomenon.
It surely should be recognised that a cat has the potential for being a dangerous animal to anything smaller and more vulnerable than it is. Therefore, in the ‘unnatural’ environment humans have created, people who keep these animals should accept responsibility for what they do outside of their own homes.
Best wishes
Bill
CATS AND COVERT BULLIES.
One day I watched my cats at play,
and wondered how I could convey
the similarities between
these felines and the bully-scene.
The first thing that came to my mind,
was how the cats could seem so kind
and loving when they want to be
especially when in front of me.
It was as if they somehow knew
that other things they got up to
would show them from another view
to throw my liking all askew.
Cat’s have ‘natural’ characters
which means that they are predators,
and killers in their natural state
which some people will tolerate.
The cats will often play with prey,
abuse and torture them someway,
and they have done this for so long,
they don’t see this as being wrong.
These cats can concentrate enough,
to do the nice and nasty stuff
in sleek and sneaky ways that we
might overlook the things we see.
We humans may turn a blind eye,
because we know they’re driven by
instincts that are illustrative
of history that is primitive.
But human bullies mimic cats,
and therefore, I’ve some caveats.
When behaviour’s unacceptable,
then it should be controllable.
Be Withers 2021
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Mike
Bill, When it comes to bullying and other predatory practices, cats don't even come close to humans. I don't think that "human bullies mimic cats"; the aggressive, confrontational, often warlike behavior of the human species is far and away many times worse than the feline variety. Anyway, sorry you don't like cats. Perhaps if you read more T. S. Eliot...
Hello HenryM.
I actually agree with you that many humans are far more deadly than cats. However, I would point out that I don't dislike cats, What I have difficulty with is the human element of keeping them but not taking responsiblity for what they do. Indeed, I have recently donated a relatively large sum to the cats protection society, which at least tries to help those animals when they are abused or discarded by their human 'owners'. The rhyme was to show that in certain ways the cat and the bully have things in common.
Best wishes
Bill