What Should We Do with Cats?

For a start, you might be curious why cats? Why not dogs?  Well, aside from cats are my most favorite house pets, I created this today’s post because I have observed that many people take cats for granted. They tend to loath cats, they are scared with them well in fact, they should not be; people also make fun with cats and they were being tortured and killed with no particular and justified reasons. That’s way I am sharing this thoughts to open the eyes of the people, hoping that they would be aware that cats are not toys or something. Like dogs, cats can be everyone’s best friends too. Furthermore, the following statement below were based on my own experiences. These are the things that I did and I do with my cats and with the stray cats.

1.       
      1. Keep them clean

If you have cats in your house, keeping them clean frequently is very important. Bathing your cats everyday would keep them feel fresh and pampered, also it has good benefits to their skin and fur. However, when you bathe your cats, you should be careful because they might bite you or bruise you with their claws. Having said that, claws should also be trimmed. But warning! In cutting your cats’ claws, you should be more extra careful or else you will hurt them. Cut only the tip or the sharpest part of your cats’ nails, do not cut the whole nails of your babies, that will hurt them. Also, it is important that you clean your cats’ ears or else they would get infected because of the dirt that enters in their cute ears.  You might as well brush your cats’ teeth to make them more clean and neat. These are the things that I do with my babies since I don’t have enough resources to visit a veterinary for their grooming.

2.       2. Give them Attention

Cats are known to be the attention seekers. When your cats approach you, they might sit and/or sleep on your lap, turn around your legs, thrust their heads on you, they continuously meows, they start to bite you, and they stare at you. If your cats do that, they need your attention and comfort, because the reasons why they behave in such ways could be due to stress, hunger, worry, and they might be in pain. The best thing that you could do for them is to pet them, play with them, hug them and make them feel safe.

3.      3.  Keep them inside your house or fence.

Keeping your cats inside your house would make them safe from the strangers that could hurt or steal them. Also, keeping them away from the outside environment could keep them free from dirt and viruses. So, if you want your cats to be protected, do not let them jump to your fence and explore your neighbors’ houses.

4.       

                  4. Don’t Put Them Behind the Bars

I do believe that cats and any other animals deserve the liberty to play and leisure. Putting them on a cage might cause extreme stress, anxiety, and phobia. Before, I had exactly three cats in our house, but then they turned into a large numbers. From three they become ten because my two female cats delivered more cute kitties. My father built them a large cage at our backyard because having them inside the house is a topsy-turvy. Weeks later, my mom saw the mother of the kittens ate its baby. I was so alarmed! We feed them three times a day and I even bought a cat food for them, yet that cat ate her own baby. What I did after that is I frequently let the two mother cats go from the cage. I observed them, their behavior suddenly changed, they become traumatic and more aggressive. Days have past, the other kittens were missing and we suspected that their mom ate them, so we set these cats free. We did not put them in their cage. After school, I noticed that my cats were missing. Without, informing me, my father brought them to our farm and there, they did not come back. Now, the lesson here is that putting cats into a cage is the worst thing that you could ever do to them. So let your cats be free, play and explore but keep an eye to them because the environment outside your house is dangerous.

5.       5. Give the homeless a home

Rescued Cat: Nova (2016)

I have rescued three cats, but the most memorable rescue that I did is when I was in the 2^nd year college. It was morning, on my way to school when I saw a tricycle driver playing with something and he even throw that thing so hardly. I am so surprised when I saw this thing; it was a cat, a very skinny, and lame cat. She has a rope tied around her neck as if she was beaten while hanging. My heart shrunk when I saw that cat; I felt like I was the one who was tortured, I almost cried. The cat then ran and hid herself behind the plants. I got her, no matter how dangerous it is to get her because of the possibility that she might bite me, I still did. Even I got bruises because of the plants that she hid in, I still did my best to grab her. When I got her and hugged her even if the people around me—the passing jeepneys, the students, tricycles drivers and others were looking at me and might probably think that I’m crazy, I still saved her life. I brought her with me inside the classroom, because I did not want to just leave her somewhere inside the campus because students might hurt her. I really wanted to take her home, but I hesitated because my father will surely scold me out. So after the struggle of deciding, I decided to leave the cat in the guards’ house, so I talked to the guards and they let me put Nova (the cat’s name) in their cottage. Weeks later, I’ve seen Nova got well and seemed so comfortable.  Days later, I was about to take her home, but I did not see her. Until now, I’ve been looking for Nova inside the campus but there’s no sign of her. I really, really regret for what I did. I should’ve taken her home so I’ve watched her grow and get better. That’s why I have promised to myself that once I had a stable job, I would build a house for stray cats.

                So, the lesson that we can acquire to my story is that if ever you see cats that are being abused, do not hesitate to help them, rescue them, and give them home.

6.       
  6. Defend Them

Putting yourself in their shoes is the best thing that you could do to understand them. Some people are narrow minded, heartless, and wicked to cats. You, the owner, concerned citizens, and other organizations are the only ones who could understand and defend them from those people who hurt them. One way that you could do is to encourage and inform people that cats were not created to be battered, killed, and ate, instead cats were made to give us happiness, comfort, and relieve our sadness and stress whenever we feel so down. Cats, indeed can be good best friends. They deserved to be loved. You, people might not understand them with their language, they might not understand you as well but loving them like how you love your family or lover is a way of showing them and the world that you care, you love them, protect them, and you will defend them.

      Cats and other animals are sentient being meaning, they’re like humans too; they have emotions. Treat them the way that they deserved to be treated. Do not be so cruel to them, and do not act as if we are the only creatures that are existing and living in this world. We’re not the only ones that need and want to survive. We have to open our eyes and minds, sympathize to them and love them as true members of our family.

Autumn