The Case for Cats
In Praise of Felines
Before my spouse and I married four years ago, we made an important pledge: From that point on, there would always be at least two cats in our household.
As our marble tabbies, Calvin and Hobbes, can soundly attest, that promise has so far survived, and our relationship with it. We are Cat People and unafraid to share it. My spouse wears a large pin to work that implores his (human) patients to “ask me about my cats.” Since joining The Atlantic just over a year and a half ago, I have taken every opportunity to write about felines; no other animal, apart from us lousy humans, has commanded more of my attention since. Our apartment is cluttered with cat toys, our clothes coated with a patina of gray and black fur. We cuddle our cats nightly, plan our vacations around them, and sometimes—okay, often—abscond from social events early to spend more time with them at home. My spouse and I sing to Calvin and Hobbes, and our list of absurd nicknames for them stretches dozens and dozens long. And … yeah. We brush our boys’ teeth three times a week.
Life wasn’t always this way. My spouse and I both grew up as die-hard dog people, but now, in the clear light of adulthood, we’re a pair of cat converts. For me, at least, it’s tough to say exactly why. It’s possible that I’ve ingested a parasite that’s invaded my brain and fueled my feline obsession. But then again, I see many reasons to favor the feline. Part of it has to be their luxurious fur; their super-silent, bean-padded paws; their fluid-like flexibility. Their vertically contracting pupils, their scritchy-scratchy tongues, their pleasantly pointy ears. Their love for laser pointers, their fear of cucumbers, their affinity for boxes. I’m also probably lured in by cats’ mysterious, melodic purrs—a form of communication that most other animals can’t mimic and that humans struggle to parse. And I’m definitely gobsmacked by their ability to right themselves within a second or two of falling and so often survive, even when the plunge is many stories high.
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/10/the-case-for-cats/671655/?utm_source=feed