Cats, the next best thing to having a dog

I have one cat, Molly.
I'm not sure how long she's lived with me, I think at least 10 years, and she is like my best furry housemate ever.
A friend of mine runs a cattery on the moors and one winter she turned up at their door with missing fur, all skinny and hungry. This happens quite often, maybe people dump them there or the strays hear the other cats and chance it for help.
Anyway, my friend took her in as they do with all strays, fed her up, got her treated by their vet, then rang me asking if I wanted her - she knew I was in the mood for another one after my last one died.
I jumped at the chance and she settled straight into my home, purring on my lap within minutes.

Now Molly has never really got her street-cat mentality out of her system. She'll stay for a few weeks then disappear for a few nights in a row, the longest being 4 nights and I was actually beginning to accept she's found a better offer or dead.
But no, on day five I heard a pitiful wailing and she was back, with two nasty rat bites on her back. I washed the wounds to get the gunk out, she didn't struggle, clearly knowing she needed help, then wrapped her in a clean towel and let her rest.
She seemed okay in herself so I thought I'd monitor her before rushing to a vet.
Sure enough after a day the wounds were scabbing over nicely and she was right as rain again, but didn't stray far from the garden for a few weeks.

I don't own Molly though, she is free to leave my house, and we have a strange love/hate relationship because she can be annoying if I'm not in the mood, so I sometimes shoo her out if I'm in a grump.
I love her living with me though, as someone living alone, she makes the house a home, not an empty shell. She often sleeps under my quilt in bed curled up by my chest, and she has a thing for my dirty work clothes the crazy cat. I'll throw a sweaty coat or jacket on the floor and she's straight into it to curl up.

So much easier and less responsibility than a dog, and okay not so much communication but capable of being trained still. I have certain key words which she knows will result in food, her tricks include jumping headbutts to my knees, and rolling over on her back to command.
Not as loyal as dogs either, but she regularly follows me into town, and knows if I'm sad, jumping straight on my lap and rubbing her head into my face while purring big time.
She also knows if I'm drunk and I swear gives me dirty looks like I should be ashamed of myself lol.

Anyway that's my story, anyone got a crzy cat in their life who helps you keep your sanity?

Your Molly sounds like a sweet girl, I'm glad you two found each other as you sound like great companions! I have a very sophisticated tuxedo cat who I inherited from an ex about eight years ago. He had been abandoned repeatedly by said ex who would take off for months travelling at a whim and dump him at friends or family. It took him years to trust that I wouldn't leave him once he came to live with me...once I had taken off on vacation for five days and had a friend come to stay with him, he stopped eating and drinking completely on day three and was very weak when I returned home. I nursed him back to health and he eventually learned to trust me again but it nearly broke my heart seeing the hurt in his eyes.
They definitely all have their own personalities. In the last few years I adopted another cat, a tortoise shell, she chatters nonesense at me nearly every second she is awake. The two cats despise one another but offer companionship when the humans aren't around, I'll often find them curled up together when I get home from work.
I don't know if I will get another once these two are gone but I'd say they are pretty amazing little creatures.

a reply to: crtrvt

Aw bless your lil guy, and you're right they all do have different personalities. Sounds mean of your ex to abandon him, no wonder he didn't know who to trust. I can leave town for a week no problem with mine so long as someone pops in to feed her.
I bolt a window semi-open so she can come and go but not burglars, she's always pleased to see me when I get back.

Do you use a litter tray? I've never owned one, she does her business in neighbours gardens instead, never had an 'accident' in the house.

...made me chuckle that your two despise each other, my Molly hates every other cat and although she's small she'll chase big old tom's out of the yard if they come too close.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy


I have a little girl named Lexie. I got her for my son when he was 4 because he needed a friend as he is an only child.

She truly is his sister. She had the top bunk on his bunk beds, would slide down the little slide in his room, roam through the castles he had, play monopoly with us, watch him cook, and literally hang over the side of the tub when he took a bath.

When he is away for any length of time she will sit by his door meowing til he is back.

She’s a dainty, clean, sweet little kitty and truly is our angel.

originally posted by: KTemplar
She truly is his sister. She had the top bunk on his bunk beds, would slide down the little slide in his room, roam through the castles he had, play monopoly with us, watch him cook, and literally hang over the side of the tub when he took a bath.

Haha, love this!
Can just imagine her mooching around the castles and playing on the slide!
I bet she's been a massive influence in company for your lad...and so much easier than a dog.

I have dogs now (3 little griffys) but growing up, we had cats. All the time cats. We had a deck in our backyard and a garage that for whatever reason never had a door that fully closed, so stray cats were always getting in there or under the deck and having litters. We were never without at least one adult cat, but often we had several adult cats and anywhere between 4 to 10 kittens.

Most of them were outside cats, but one April we had had a blizzard (western Kansas, not unusual) and heard loud meowing in the backyard. We followed the sound to the deck and realized one of the cats had had a litter under there. It's a vivid memory I have of my dad out there in the snow, with a hammer and a tire iron, out there prying up some boards of the deck to get under there. When he did, the mama cat was there alive with four dead babies but one was alive! So we brought them inside the house. I guess my mom figured they deserved a break after what they'd gone through.

That kitten grew to be one of the most beautiful kitties we ever had! We called him Vanilla. He was all white with striking light blue eyes and the most beautiful long fluffy fur. And he was LOUD as all get out! His meow could be heard all over the neighborhood. Later we discovered that a huge percentage of blue-eyed white male cats are deaf, which explained his loudness and other funny little things about him. After a few years, he disappeared and never came back. When I grew up, my older brother told me they had found Vanilla a few blocks away, run over in the street, and it was winter so he had gotten frozen to the asphalt. 😥. I was glad that my family decided to keep that info from me at the time!

When I was in the 8th grade, a boy brought me an adorable tuxedo kitten as a gift. My mom was NOT happy, because we had just moved to a new house and didn't have any cats, outside or inside. But within minutes she fell in love with this guy and he became an inside cat in our new house. We called him Fat Cat and he was hilarious. We had him (and a few others who showed up at the door) for many years in the house until he got sick in old age. My mom had to make the decision to "put him down" and said it was one of the hardest decisions she's had to make.

We had one cat who somehow learned to drink from the faucet in the kitchen sink, and wouldn't drink water any other way after that. You would walk into the kitchen and she would be sitting on the counter next to the sink and would start meowing frantically at you and pawing the faucet until you turned it on for her. We had one cat called Toasty who would latch onto my earlobe with its mouth and suckle like it was nursing. We had one cat called Big Boy who wasn't quite right in the head: he would yell at the back door until we let him out, and he would immediately run around to the front door and yell loudly until we let him in. He would immediately book it through the house to the back door and repeat the process as many times as we would indulge him.

Cats are certainly different than dogs (how's that for a brilliant observation?), but are just as valuable and wonderful as pets. Thanks for the great thread!

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy


Definitely easier than a dog. My last dog was a black lab (she was my baby too), I still think about her 20 years later.

She would wake me up EVERY night to go outside at 12:30am. I didn’t mind, but now it would exhaust me

God I miss her

I prefer cats. Your cat sounds very nice op, give her a pat for me.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Give Molly a foot rub (4 of them) and some scratches around her ears, and at the base of her tail. Your post has brought back a rush of memories of my two sixteen year old cats that we had to let go eight years ago, almost to the day. They were my absolute world. There is nothing like sleeping with a cat - having that little body tucked into one's legs and you don't dare move so as to not disturb them, ha, ha.

P.S. Hugs to emotionless Mike

I wouldn't say a cat is the next best thing to a dog, the species are so different it is like saying an iguana is the next best thing to having a giraffe as a pet I have had both,for more than 2 decades. Before that i just had cats. They are vastly different but equally delightful species,i cannot imagine living without at least 2 of each. I have 3 cats now,and 6 dogs,of which 2 dogs and 1 cat are my constant companions,they prefer to live inside,and literally almost never leave my side.Also my inside dogs and my 3 cats get along really well. The outside dogs also do not hurt or hate my cats.I honestly could never choose between dogs and cats,each just have too much to offer,too much wonderfulness in their own way

a reply to: KansasGirl
Ah, thank you for your brilliant cat tales!
I wish we had loads of outdoor cats mooching around my area, I'd feed any which came to me door, tragically though Molly is fiercely territorial so even chases big ol' Tom's away she's that nuts.
Oh, she prefers to drink water from the dripping tap in my bath as well lol

a reply to: InvisibleLady
16 years is a good age, I bet that was a harsh loss when they departed, all those years together.
And yes haha, if Molly is sleeping by my chest I cozy up with her but it's always a danger if she's by my legs, I fidget and have kicked her out of bed a few times, but a furry purr machine next to me is heaven.
...Emotionless Mike, lol you remembered

a reply to: katerinaGrace
Iguana's & Giraffe's haha! Yes I guess, different style of relationship for sure, and I'd love a dog but I wouldn't feel right leaving it just with the cat when I'm at work. Molly is fine, she does her wandering cat thing so any dog would probably be on it's own all day.
3 cats and 6 dogs, wow, that's quite the tribe you have there, I bet it's hard work but lot's of fun.
You always gotta watch those cats though, if they were the size of a large dog they'd eat you!

This always makes me smile...

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

OMG LOL Toe beans

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Our main housecat,the ol' calico cat always sleeps between me and hubby. She loves me but she Adoooores him,she bites him just for the helluvit Sweet dainty loving bites,well sweet and loving from Her perspective, i have seen him sit there gritting his teeth and making little sounds like a woman giving birth whilst she nips,but he doesn't have the heart to easily chuck her off his lap

a reply to: katerinaGrace

I know!!
I do it all the time to Molly, even with a stupid rhyme "This little toe bean went to market, this little toe bean stayed at home, this little toe bean had roast beef..." and she gives me a WTF look as I'm doing it, but when I go "Weeee, all the way home!" with a full bodied massage with my hand under both her armpits the purr machine goes into afterburner mode!

a reply to: katerinaGrace

Hahaha!
I'm glad my Moll's doesn't do that
We play chase the finger though, where I go for it with rapid hand movements tapping her paw in like a mini jousting thing, see who is the fastest. She pulls her claws back, never scratches, it's like she knows the game is who was fastest, not to hurt each other.
Honestly, when she's done me, or I've done her tapping the top off her paw the eye contact is funny communication, like laughing that "Ah, I got ya!".

Cats are amazing, they attach themselves to us humans and choose to be with us. It's why I love my Moll's having freedom to come and go because when she comes back I know she's more mates with me than anyone else in her territory.

They've reached the highest levels of power in the UK as well, check out Larry the cat who is the current 'official mouser' at Number 10...


Even number 11 Downing Street has an official cat (the house of the Chancellor of the Exchequer), but doesn't get on well with Larry...

Afterthought, I mentioned dogs in the OP and to give them a shout as well I have to say I love five in particular, but they are not mine.
2 English bulls, a Black Lab, and a couple of mongrels. All different but all magic relationships and I love them all.
My circumstances may be unsuitable for me having a dog but I can enjoy my mate's dogs.

a reply to: CornishCeltGuy

Cats, the next best thing to having a dog

Ahem, better than having a dog.

Another afterthought before going to bed, my Molly cat is as good a guard as any dog, not in defence of course but in hearing. If I think I've heard a noise I look at her first because she is right every time she's looked up, someone opened the gate or whatever.
I can put the headphones back on if she hasn't noticed anything. Cool as cat.