Own By The Cat

Over the last hundred years the cat has seen its way of life change radically. Pedigree cats in particular have become the pampered and cloistered representatives of their breed. Leading a more restricted and disciplined life, the show cat, if it is successful at winning medals, becomes a marketable commodity, representing financial gain.

The object of daily care and grooming, its diet strictly supervised and living in more or less restricted surroundings, there will be no unexpected romantic encounters for this cat. Its love life will be strictly supervised! Except if a breeder is trying to create a new variety by crossing, the pedigree cat will only ever mate with one of exactly the same antecedents.

The poor old tom cat on the roof who hears some beautiful Persian or Birman lady calling from her golden prison will be out of luck! Has the cat then totally changed now that it no longer has to worry about finding food and shelter and is pampered and cosseted? No -it remains what it has always been: an apparently domesticated animal whose love for its owner is such that it has to be returned.

The cat chooses its owner. Whatever the breed, they all exhibit the same attachment, some more openly than others but all to the same degree. From the Chartreuse, the "dog in a cat suit,' to the Chinchilla who follows you around "talking,' to the Siamese who is capable of letting itself die if separated from its owner, to the non- pedigree who seems to understand the slightest gesture made to it, all remain faithful to the choice they have made.

While happy to be part of a family and a mend to all in it, there is usually one person who is their favourite and can do anything with them. But the right has to be earned by respecting the cat's freedom, unlike the case of the elderly lady who spoiled her black and white moggy shamelessly and could never understand why the claws came out and the cat rejected her when she pestered it with too much petting.