A Man and His Cat

New York Times ^ | AUGUST 1, 2014 | TIM KREIDER

[nickcarraway]

I LIVED with the same cat for 19 years — by far the longest relationship of my adult life. Under common law, this cat was my wife. I fell asleep at night with the warm, pleasant weight of the cat on my chest. The first thing I saw on most mornings was the foreshortened paw of the cat retreating slowly from my face and her baleful crescent glare informing me that it was Cat Food Time. As I often told her, in a mellow, resonant, Barry White voice: “There is no luuve … like the luuve that exists … between a man … and his cat.”

‘You’re in love with that cat!’ my then-girlfriend Margot once accused me. To be fair, she was a very attractive cat.

The cat was jealous of my attention; she liked to sit on whatever I was reading, walked back and forth and back and forth in front of my laptop’s screen while I worked, and unsubtly interpolated herself between me and any woman I may have had over. She and my ex Kati Jo, who was temperamentally not dissimilar to the cat, instantly sized each other up as enemies. When I was physically intimate with a woman, the cat did not discreetly absent herself but sat on the edge of the bed with her back to me, facing rather pointedly away from the scene of debauch, quietly exuding disapproval, like your grandmother’s ghost.

[doorgunner69]

As much as I have tried to be a good daddy to our two boys, they are very much momma's boys. I am treated like a large cat that is useful for opening cat food cans and doors, belly rubs, and a few other things.

For all important stuff, mommy is the source. There was no altering the bonding it seems.

The wife made a point to pick up the youngest when he was a kitten and liked to lie on my chest while watching TV, saying, "You are not going to steal this cat from me"

Not sure what that was about, other than our terribly missed Siamese seemed to have bonded with me more than her?

[Slings and Arrows]

Kitteh: “Y U HAZ SKWERLS ON CHIN?”

[Slings and Arrows]

More will find you. Betcha a nickel.

[Gefn]

Your two pictures are beautiful.

[Slings and Arrows]

You need a “Daddy’s kitty.”

[Daffynition]

Pravda

[Daffynition]

Thank you darling....I have a small file of *Old Men & Their Cats*..images I have found in my internet travels.;P

[Gefn]

I could only date a man who loves cats.

The cats I’ve known were very good judges of character.

I’m currently cat less for the first time since I’ve graduated college, and I hate it. I hope I have a kitty soon.

[Slings and Arrows]

:^) Are Mama and the rest of the litter in there too?

[mountainbunny]

Awwwww. You sound like me. I have six girls and a boy - he won’t allow any other boy kitties around.

We have one dog, turtles, parrots, and fish, too.

We lost our shepherd in May, and have lost a cat to old age every year for the past four years. Wouldn’t change having them for the world, miss them more than I can say when they are gone.

[Daffynition]

Be careful of what you wish for....

[Daffynition]

Build a better mouse trap and the world will beat..............................you to death.

[Slings and Arrows]

Kitteh looks critical of his technique.

[RichInOC]

“Are you going to eat all that?”

[a fool in paradise]

Maybe this cat man should meet a cat lady...

[Lady Jag]

Give a hand

[Slings and Arrows]

I know, Kitteh, I know.

[Lady Jag]

I don't know how they do it.

[Slings and Arrows]

Nor I, but I’m glad that they do.

[Lady Jag]

They grab you hook, line and sinker. And you LIKE it!