Why I Love Being a Cat Mom
If you follow me on any social media, especially Snapchat, you are aware that I have a cat. His name is Camden and he is incredibly cute. I rescued him through The Animal Rescue League/Western PA Humane Society back in September 2016.
When I adopted him, his name was Marlo but that quickly changed to Camden to reflect my home in London. Camden will be three years old in January and he has a stubby little tail from a previous injury. Whenever I see a cat that isn’t Camden, I get confused by its long tail. I truly forget that my little guy is “abnormal” in the tail department.
So, Camden was given up for adoption by his previous owners after a little debacle. His owners had him and then they adopted a dog. The cat was afraid of the dog so they decided that it would be okay to keep the cat locked in the basement. How fun. A cold place with no human interaction. After whatever length of time they decided it was unfair to keep the cat living like that so they gave him away. Poor Camden lived in a cage at a pet store that often saw dogs coming in for cleanings and he cowered in the corner. It was very sad to see. But alas, Kyle came with me to the pet store (since he is a seasoned pet owner) and little Marlo made his way to Squirrel Hill to begin his life as Camden.
Below are the reasons why I personally love being a cat owner:
Coming Home to Something
I don’t like people enough to have a roommate, plus, when I moved back to Pittsburgh for my current job I was not about to move in with random people I’d never met. It was a bit lonely coming home to an empty apartment but now I always have Camden waiting for me. He is very loud and talkative for the first few minutes when I get back from work and he lays on his back waiting for some belly tickles (we call it Belly Tickle Time).
Cuddles
I am a very touchy-feely human and Camden is a very touchy-feely cat. He doesn’t necessarily like to be held but he loves to lay on me on the couch or right next to me in bed. He always lets me scoop him up and hold him like a baby but after about 30 seconds he gets tired of it and starts squirming and making a fuss.
When I’m laying on the couch with my laptop and Netflix I can be sure that at some point Camden is going to climb on me for a nap. I rest my laptop on the extended couch footrest so that I can lay there with Camden dozing on my chest. Honestly, it is really precious.
Camden Is Me in Cat Form
Not gonna lie, sometimes Camden is annoying. He can be loud when he is hungry. He will sometimes claw at the bed annoyingly while I am sleeping so I have to aggressively pull the sheets away and tell him to stop. He can even get a touch annoying when he climbs on my laptop enroute to my chest and steps on the keyboard and pauses Netflix.
Camden can be full of energy or he can just want to lay around doing nothing. He has weird spurts each day where he runs from the living room to the bedroom, jumps up on my bed, hops onto the windowsill, jumps back down to the floor and runs from the bedroom to wall behind the living room couch. No idea why he does it. He had a different variation of it at my friend Julie’s when she cat-sat him while I was in Australia.
He’s a weirdo. I’m a weirdo. He’s cute but annoying. I am cute but annoying. Therefore, Camden is me in cat form.
Mental Health
I do think it is true that animals can sense emotions better than humans. When I was recently anxious and feeling lonely, a purring Camden climbed onto my chest and let me lay and pet him. The gentle vibrations of his purring really helped me calm down and hugging something warm and alive alleviated some stress.
There is scientific evidence that owning a pet can decrease blood pressure, cholesterol and feelings of loneliness. I cannot attest to the first two but I can assure you that Camden definitely alleviates loneliness.
Cats Are Cute
Simple enough but cats are cute and I love having one to bond with whenever I want.
Feel free to follow Camden's Instagram: @natscat17
