Are you a crazy cat lady?

Answer 1

Well, I am a lady. And I kind of inadvertantly developed an expertise in cats. And I have been called crazy. You be the judge.

Twelve years ago I had a Job experience (that's not job as in j-o-b; it's Job pronounced with a long o, like the guy in the Old Testament.) Family was probably the source of the experience, but they were gone. Friends vanished, as did work, just everything. It is a story I have never told anyone because it is not believable, but it is a horrible story, one I do not want to know or tell, like someone who has been in a war and seen awful things. Sometimes silence is best.

In any event, I could see that my life was headed down the toilet, and I had exhausted all my resources trying to prevent it without success. My home was the next thing, and that began to go too. I thought the best course was to throw in the towel, and was trying to bring myself to accept that on a chill drizzly October night, when I heard a baby screaming for his life. I looked out back and there was the tiniest 3-week-old kitten abandoned. He would have died in a few hours. So I rescued him.

I had no money, but I sold the furniture I was about to lose anyway for veterinary care, and I sold the computer I could not lug through the streets to buy him food. In return, he fluorished and became happy and beautiful. I had no idea how badly I had needed just to love somebody, to not be alone. These little furry creatures we bring into our homes and spend, collectively, billions on each year, often do more to "humanize" our lives and ourselves than even the closest people who are given us by blood or proximity. His was the tiniest spark, but it warmed my heart and saved my life.

We lost our home, and moved into the streets. I read, lots of books about lots of things to keep from going mad. I read every book about cat care in the public library and B&N cover to cover, and developed an inadvertant expertise. I just wanted to make him as comfortable as I could.

People called me crazy; some had credentials and were more specific about it and used more sophisticated terms. I was obsessive/compulsive; narcissistic; a pervert; a molester; antisocial; a sociopath; a little girl clinging to her doll.

The streets are the trash can of society; I had been thrown into the garbage. I was called garbage and I was treated like garbage. But I clung to hope with one hand and faith that I would be able to live and be the person I am, with the other hand, and I carried that little cat in a bag on my shoulder and I nurtured a dream, of a small place with a window at treetop height that I could stock with neat kitty things and make into a palace for my little guy. At night I would walk by tenements and highrises and look at the windows glowing, and believe, just really KNOW that one of those windows could be mine, ours really. That I could -- would, if I just persisted, get a small job and then a home and that window for my boy.

One evening, some men asked me, kind-of insisted, that I go get something 30 feet away around a corner. So I did, and while I was gone, in less than a minute, they killed the little cat who had saved my life. He bled to death in my arms.

Within 6 months I had a job and in a little over a year, I had the home with the window at treetop height. Compensation from the people who had done the dirty deed.

But you know something? I can't move on without closure. I can't explain that to anyone. And it has made me enemies. I am called new psychiatric terms because of it (well, the best defense is a good offense). But it is the truth I find in myself, and I cannot turn from it. I simply cannot. I don't ask anybody to understand that; but I don't think it is unreasonable to ask others to respect it. Had they had a modicum of respect in the first place, this situation would never have come about.

So, now, you tell me: am I a crazy cat lady?

Answer 2

Hi, I know the feeling. Try to get these all fixed as soon as poss or you will start getting overrun. I currently have 13 and that's about the limit ( but I'm a sucker for a real emergency ) Make sure you have enough litter trays ! BTW a crazy cat lady lives round the corner from me - last I heard she had 63 cats and kittens, an airlock arrangement with external doors and a conservatory just for them. In the hottest weather she keeps the windows shut to stop them getting out and none of them are neutered.

Answer 3

Without a doubt, lol! I crossed the line about a month and a half ago, by adopting one more kitty. My boyfriend and I now have six cats!:) But what definitely qualifies me as crazy is....if my boyfriend did not say no, I would probably adopt even more. I can't help but feel bad for all the homeless animals out there. Every time I see one up for adoption, I feel like I should take it home and give it a better life, lol. But my boyfriend says six is enough and I have to be rational. I love my kitties and it would not be fair to them to get yet another animal. Six is my limit!

Answer 4

No. I firmly believe in not having more pets than I can afford to get reasonable veterinary care for, have the energy to clean up after, have enough room for. At this time, two I have two cats. If we ever get our basement finished so that it would be appropriate to let the cats down there, we might have comfortable room for a third cat, but we still wouldn't get one unless we had more room in our budget for the care and feeding of a third cat. And my boyfriend would have to agree to clean the litter boxes sometimes, cuz I don't want to clean *more* litter boxes than I already do.

Answer 5

A little, I guess..I have five cats and I feed and Advantage 4 of the neighbor cats. Cats are more appreciative than some humans.

Answer 6

Nope....I'm a crazy dog lady. It's dogs all the way.

Answer 7

EVERYONE SAYS I AM...A FEW YRS BACK I HAD TO GO TO COURT BECAUSE SOMEONE TURNED ME IN FOR MY CATS DIGGING IN THEIR FLOWER BEDS AND DOING THEIR JOBS THERE...SO I WENT IN FRONT OF THIS JUDGE AND I TOLD HIM THEY REALLY ARENT MY CATS THAT I FEED THE CATS LIKE I DO THE BIRDS....HE SAYS HOW MANY CATS DO YOU FEED..I SAID LAST I COUNTED WAS 28....HE LAUGHED AND WE CHATTED A BIT AND HE TOLD ME IT WAS MY NEIGHBOR..AS IF I DIDNT KNOW WHO COMPLAINED...ANYWAY HE SAID HE WASNT TO TELL ME THAT.. AND I LAUGHED AND SAID I PROMISE I WONT SAY A WORD TO HER...LOL...ANYWAY I STILL DO THE CAT THING AND NATURALLY THERE ARE KITTENS HERE AND THERE...AS A MATTER OF FACT I JUST HAD 2 CATS HAVE 12 KITTENS BETWEEN THEM....WE JUST LOVE CATS AND THEY HANG AROUND AND I FEED...BUT I ALSO FEED THE RACCOONS AND EVEN A POSSUM SHOWED UP A FEW TIMES FOR DIN DIN...AND WHEN I SAY RACCOON ISHOULD SAY 5 RACCOONS...LOL....THEY ARE SO FUNNY TO [e-mail]

Answer 8

nah, crazy dog lady

Answer 9

Not yet, but when my children are grown and out of the house and I'm a widow, THEN I will be.

Answer 10

I have been in the past (up to 9, now have one), and probably will be again in the future....