When I found out that I was going to live in an Acland this year, I was thrilled. My roommate and I talked excitedly about how close we were going to be to Peirce, how we would likely be able to park right outside, and how excited we were to meet the housemate we didn’t know yet. “And she has a cat!” my friend who had secured us the housing excitedly added. Cue squealing brake sounds in my head. A cat? I had never lived with a cat before. I had never particularly liked cats. In fact, they almost killed me when I was little, since I used to be quite allergic. I was no longer allergic, though, and the prospect of an Acland with my friends overpowered my hesitation towards living with a cat. Living in an Acland has been phenomenal, and I absolutely love all of my housemates. The cat though? Well, that’s been an experience. Here are some thoughts I’ve had over the past several months of living with a cat for the first time.
1. “What on earth are you doing?”
I have this thought several times a day when I see Tigger, my housemate’s cat. I just do not understand most of the things he does, from randomly sprinting across the room for no apparent reason for playing with the weirdest things lying around. Who knows what amuses cats?
2. “Oh my god, you just scared me half to death.”
Tigger really likes to appear out of nowhere and make my heart stop, especially when I’m walking through the house to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. Why does he have to be so sneaky?
3. “Why do you want to go outside?”
Every time somebody opens the door, Tigger peers his head out like he wants to go outside. This is normal behavior for a dog, but a cat? I know he doesn’t really want to go outside, it’s cold and wet and even with my limited cat knowledge I know cats don’t like getting wet. So stop trying to escape into the snow!
4. “Why are you nocturnal?”
I do not understand why anyone thought it would be a good idea to make a nocturnal animal a pet. Dogs will go to sleep when you do, maybe waking you up once to take them outside. Cats, though, will sleep all day and then run around the house at night while everyone is trying to sleep, knocking things over and waking people up when they want food.
5. “Don’t bite me when I try to pet you!”
Cats are so persnickety about being pet. Tigger will come right up to you, nestle himself against your leg, and then when you try to pet him, will nip at your fingers. I don’t understand. You came up to me, cat. I don’t want to pet a cat if he’s going to bite me if I do so.
6. “Why are you obsessed with people?”
I don’t know if this goes for every cat, but Tigger is incredibly social, and he hates not being around people. So if I’m the only one in the house and I’m in my room with the door closed, you better believe he’s going to come scratching at my door, begging to be let in. Which brings me to my next thought…
7. “How did you learn how to open doors?”
Tigger has learned how to open our doors. He has somehow learned how to keep jumping up and down until he gets the door handle and pulls it down enough to open the door. I don’t know how he learned to do so, but that cat is too smart for his own good.
8. “Why is everything a scratching post for you?”
I knew that cats like to scratch things, but I didn’t realize that they like to turn everything into a scratching post. The sofa, the chairs, you name it, Tigger tries to scratch his nails against it.
Living with a cat for the first time has definitely been a learning experience for me. I can’t say that I’ve become persuaded to get a cat of my own one day, but I am glad that Tigger makes my housemate happy. For now, though, I think I’m staying a dog person.
Image Credit: Feature, Writer’s Own