Hi. I’ve been afraid of all non-human life since before I could remember. I got past it, mostly, but I’ve never gotten over the fact that animals can’t speak what they mean.
I know that sounds stupid, but fear is irrational and I accept my own.
Anyways, my girlfriends sister has 5 cats that she’s looking to adopt away. I’ve thought recently how nice it would be to have a cat, but I’m scared. I lost my job recently. I’m scared to adopt a cat we can’t take care of. My girlfriends scared I won’t be able to make money to survive. Hell, I’m scared about that too. I’ve been going to therapy for half a year now, and I’ve had a LOT of self discovery along the way.
I think I’m different from the afraid-of-cats-and-all-animals-including-fish-and-hamsters?!?! That I am.
Can you please teach me how cats think? I really want to get a cat, but I didn’t before I got drunk, and I am fishing for support in getting over my fear. I will most likely not end up getting a cat. Can you please teach me facts about how cats work anyways? They don’t have to be general, even just your owns. I’ve seen many cat videos, I get the gist. Kinda. They land so quick and I’m fine getting scratched, but I guess… just not dominated by an animal I can’t understand?!
I don’t know.
Cat facts please? No pressure. Thank you for writing and/or reading, I love you for either.
I can’t help you with your animal fear, but I’ll give you a higher priority reason to avoid a cat for now.
I’ll give what will probably be an unpopular opinion; cats (and pets in general for that matter) are a luxury… item. I have 3 of them, and I would never recommend one to a person who is struggling financially and/or has lost their job. Their food and vet bills are not cheap, and even a cat that seems perfectly fine can suddenly have an issue that requires an expensive vet visit. As they age, they will inevitably have health issues, which not only adds more expense, but increases the rate at which expenses accumulate. They can also damage things and ruin things, which adds further expense.
All of this is fine, if you can afford it. However I don’t think very many people actually sit down and work out the numbers. On top of food, litter, and equipment costs, IMO people should be saving ~$70/a month for the first 5 years, then maybe half that after that if you didn’t have to use any of it, to be prepared for big vet events. It sucks not being able to afford the care your pet needs.
Further, I have found that having multiple cats does not decrease the amount of expense per cat due to expected efficiencies from overlap. There are subtle things that accumulate like cleaning expenses and drain on your time and greater resources. I wish I only had one cat, honestly.
People say you can’t put a price on them because of their cuteness and company and what have you. But believe me, you can if your cat(s) turn out to be absolute dicks, but nobody talks about that either, IMO because of some kind of Stockholm syndrome, sunk cost combo. People generally gloss over the shitty parts of pet ownership.
Don’t do it. Be well-off first. Your GF’s sister is probably finding this out.