This past semester, my roommates and I temporarily homed my friend’s dad’s cat. Essentially, we were manipulated by an adorable furry face with whiskers, in the exchange for food and shelter on his extended vacation to the cities. The cat’s name is officially Sylvester, but somehow, he quickly adopted the simple name of just “Cat.”
Compared to my roommates, I am extremely less enthused with pets. Therefore, Cat quickly learned who in the household would give him the most attention (or the most food off their plates), which apparently was everyone except me. And Cat’s first impressions never changed throughout the entire semester no matter how much I tried to sway him that I was a kind human. These are the five cons of cohabiting with a cat that who strongly dislikes you.
1. He will constantly give you that side eye.
It is safe to assume that everyone agrees cats are the sassiest four-legged creatures to strut this world. Now imagine having a naturally sassy animal who also doesn’t enjoy your presence, it's four times the sass. Whenever I would talk to him (yes, we all speak to our pets) he would greet my kind words with the most obvious scowl. Okay, so to be fair, maybe my kind words were more short grunts of acknowledgment.
2. He will sit on your plants.
Cat was allowed to scurry the entire house, except for one place, my bedroom. I know that sounds harsh but having cat hair accumulate in my four-by-four room sounded far less than appealing. Yet, somehow he would find a way to sneak his way into my room and I would discover him later, literally sitting on my plants just gazing out the window (I am clearly more of plant-mom than an animal-mom).
3. He will refuse to snuggle.
One of the top reasons you decide to get a cat is so you can snuggle with them, right? Well, this cat did not even once snuggle with me, yet he would always cuddle right on up to my other roommates.
4. He will scare the shit out of you.
My roommates may argue that this was a universal characteristic of Cat that they all encountered, but I would contend that he suspiciously seemed to target me more. His best moments were when he would plop himself on top of the stairs in the middle of the night and when I clumsily made my way to the bathroom, he would abruptly appear out of the shadows. Needless to say, I would run to the bathroom after those traumatizing moments… (Maybe I should have been expected it after the third time…)
5. He will leave scars (emotional and physical).
To say Cat was aggressive would be an understatement, and not just towards me. He had this lovely tendency of looking innocent, so of course, you would reach over to pet him, and then BAM! He comes at you with a double bite and claw. All I am trying to do is show him some love but like damn, okay.
Eventually, Cat and I reached this unspoken arrangement of simply acknowledging each other’s space in return for mutual distance and respect. Yet, even though we had glaring contests and he would steal my bananas off the table after he moved out, I can honestly say I kind of miss that sassy, shedding, temperamental furball.