Why Cats?
By Elona Baron as told to Laurie Baron
SAN DIEGO−Until I was adopted by the Barons, I didn’t know much about cats. To be sure, when I was on the street, I saw more of them than stray dogs. While I couldn’t wait to find a home, the cats who prided themselves on being feral relished their freedom. The Barons owned two cats, both of whom ignore me. Their vacant stares can only be described as catatonic.
But then it dawned on me! I had to work a lot harder to please the Barons than their cats did. I took long walks, fetched toys, snuggled with them in bed and on couches, batted my eyes, licked their faces, tilted my head, and wagged my tail to affirm my love for them. In contrast the cats sometimes deigned to sit in their laps or rub up against their legs, but most of the time they slept as if they were afflicted with narcolepsy.
The one thing cats can do that I envy is purring. Barking can grate on the nerves of humans, but purring soothes their souls. Purring is the cat’s alternative to tail wagging. That’s probably a good thing for the cats because I still can’t translate what the various positions of their tails mean. Cats cultivate that ambiguity. They don’t really ever want you to know what they’re thinking. In that sense, they’re more mysterious than dogs who are incapable of concealing their feelings.
There are more cats in the United States than dogs, but the percentage of families that own dogs is greater than those who own cats. Cat owners tend to have several cats; whereas dog owners are more likely to be satisfied with one. I submit that as proof that single dogs can meet the emotional needs of their owners, but it requires several cats to fulfill that role. These are just my observations from my short life—I have no intention of being bitchy or catty.
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Elona resides with Bonnie and Laurie Baron. The latter is professor emeritus of history at San Diego State University. He may be contacted via lawrence.baron@sdjewishworld.com. No animals were harmed in the writing of this column.