You find yourself constantly dodging death
Even if there is no cat in sight, whether you are walking up or down the stairs, the cat will find a way between your legs or under your feet. My black cat loves to take naps on the stairs at night when it is dark.
You lose a lot of sleep
I do not have babies. I should not have to wake up to crying at night. I get about of bed and go downstairs to find a cat sitting in the middle of the floor meowing. I pick him up and carry him to bed. And if you have kittens just forget it. I recently adopted two kittens at the same time. When they were very little I confined them to the basement at night and I slept on the couch. I woke up every 15 minutes, counted the kittens to make sure they were both alright and went back to sleep for another 15 minutes. It was exhausting.
You worry
The worrying never stops. Every time I leave the house I worry about them. I worry because I see how bad they are when I am home and I can only imagine how much worse off they are when no one is watching. I have only been truly scared twice in my life, the kind of scared that leaves you shaking. I owe those experiences to my two little Siamese littermates. One decided to walk on a second floor banister and slipped. He was hanging from it and I caught him just before he fell. The other fell out a window. I have never run so fast. I knew that even if he were okay he would be scared and most likely run out into my busy street.
You cannot go to the bathroom alone
Sure you can try but seconds after you shut the door the cat will be knocking. I cannot even take a shower alone. My one cat likes to keep me company; however, he is afraid of water so he likes to sit out in the hallway and just stare at the shower curtain. If I do not go to him and say it is shower time and I just go up and shut the door, I know he will be sitting outside looking betrayed when I open the door at the end of my shower. When I take a bath he will venture into the bathroom and put his paws up on the side of the tub and look in at the water. Then he looks up at me as if I have completely lost my mind.
What’s yours is theirs
When I got my latest kitten I barely ate. She finished all of my meals. When I got my boys, they ate everything including pizza and cheesesteaks. I once had a cat that would only drink her milk from a glass that I had taken a sip from. I have another cat that loves to drink water from my glass but if he is not thirsty he will just stick his paw in it.
Taking them to the vet is just as scary for you as it is for them
They are scared. You hate that they are scared. My one cat’s feet sweat when he goes to the vet. He clings to me covering me in fur and kitty sweat. I hold him tight and worry that he will hate me for handing him over to the vet. My other cat hates the drive. He throws himself against the side of the cat carrier and makes me feel like a horrible person for putting him through such an ordeal. But the worst part is that you always have this fear in the back of your mind that the vet will find something tragically wrong with them and want to put them to sleep on the spot. Or there is that time when they tell you the cat needs a bazillion dollar surgery or it will die. Oh but wait, there is a chance that the cat might not even survive the surgery. So there you are just sitting there waiting to hear is they made it through or not.
They have no concept of personal space
They have a face. You would think they would understand faces and that you just do not like them sitting on your face or sleeping on your face or walking across it, but they don’t. They have no problem just sticking their paw in your eye.
You cannot work from home
Books are a great place to sleep. Oh you are writing on that piece of paper? But that’s where I want to sit. Also I'll be taking that pen. Thanks. Knitting and crocheting—just forget it. Yarn is a cat’s toy and when you wiggle it around while you work they just think you are trying to play with them. And sewing? It is not even an option. My cats will eat thread and when I sew I am constantly counting my needles and pins. I am terrified that they will eat them. They cannot be that dumb right? Well, you would think but I actually caught them trying to eat a toothpick the other day. It is extremely hard to be a crazy cat lady.
