Recently, my cousin called me with a problem. Her two grown daughters are sharing an apartment. One of them has a 3-year-old cat; the other is allergic to cats. It isn’t working out. The cat has to go. Naturally, the first impulse is to call me.
I never intended to become a “cat lady.” In fact, I used to wonder how people could allow themselves to accumulate lots of cats and live in the resulting conditions. Now I know.
It started innocently enough. Late one night, a small gray kitten ran into my yard. The kitten was too young to be out, and it had something metallic around its neck, so I knew it was a lost pet. Around its neck was a woman’s bracelet, which was too tight, had no breakaway mechanism, and, of course, no tags.
I took the kitten into my house, gave it some food, and it curled up on my bed and went to sleep. The next day I placed a “found cat” ad in the newspaper and put up a few flyers in the neighborhood.
There was no response to my efforts to find the owner. After a few days, I was hoping there wouldn’t be. The kitten was wonderful! He was affectionate, sweet, and well behaved.
So I had my starter cat. It wasn’t long before I had another, then another, and on and on. They just seemed to come out of nowhere, finding their way to my doorstep. I soon had 20 cats, a number that has remained fairly constant even with new acquisitions and the inevitable deaths.
Thus began my experience as a cat lady. Soon, friends were sending cat jokes. I became the recipient of cat earrings, cat mugs, cat guest towels and other such items. I guess it was inevitable that I would become the solution to all their cat problems: “I’m moving and my new apartment doesn’t allow pets.” “I’m allergic.” Or my favorite: “I already have a cat.”
I wanted to reply: How about looking for an apartment that allows pets? Could you take allergy medication? Instead, I usually took the cats, solving their problems and adding to my own.
Having so many animals has not been easy. When I retired, my income took a dive. Veterinary care for my cats has become a financial burden. My knees self-destructed and will soon have to be replaced, and housework has become extremely difficult now that some of my older cats ignore the litter pan.
I have no idea how much money I’ve spent on food and veterinary care in the years since starter cat came my way. It’s thousands of dollars, that’s certain. I no longer invite guests to my home. I bring packaged items from a deli as my contribution to potlucks — I don’t want anyone looking for cat hair in my casserole!
I know I have also become the target of criticism. How can I live like I do? How can I spend so much money on cat food and cat litter? But even as some people criticize me and wonder aloud how I can “live like that,” they still pick up the phone and enlist my help for any and all cat problems. I guess they think that because I already have so many, another one or two won’t matter. Yet they seem to feel that they have a right to a manageable number of pets and a home environment free of cat hair.
Spay-neuter programs abound, but there are still thousands of unwanted kittens born every year. Some are lucky enough to find homes, but many more are not so lucky and die horrible deaths from animal attacks, car accidents, starvation and disease. Sadly, even when spaying and neutering programs are offered for free, people don’t take advantage of them and let their animals reproduce.
Being the cat lady is time-consuming and many times heartbreaking. It’s also true that I’ve enjoyed the companionship of the cats, their distinctly different personalities and their many eccentricities. I’ve nursed them through illnesses and grieved for them when they died.
But these days, I worry that there will be no one to care for them if something happens to me. So I did not offer to take my cousin’s cat. I’ve started saying no. I’ve begun providing foster care only until permanent homes can be found, and I’m determined that, as my older cats die, I won’t acquire new ones. Maybe someday I, too, will have a home free of cat hair.
Jeannie Pomeroy is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). She lives in Raton, New Mexico.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
