My mom has always been a cat person. She would rescue them off the street when she was a kid. My parents got Froggy in 1973, as soon as they were out of their apartment and in their first house, 11 years before I was born. He was, and always will be, their first child. I was in third grade when he passed at age 19-1/2. We went two months without a pet and then my mom couldn’t take it anymore. She saw Fuzzy at the pet shop and had to get him. This was in 1993. He was $49.99 on sale and she put him on the VISA, hahaha…
So growing up I always had a cat. Fuzzy lived to 20-1/2. After he passed my mom said no more cats. She said her cats live too long, and she’d be too old if the next one lived 20 years like the first two.
So when I moved out in 2015, I started thinking about getting a kitty of my own. Or maybe two. Two girls. I kinda have names picked out already, haha… but I still find myself hemming and hawing about it three years later. Right now I am thinking definitely for my 35th birthday next month, but I still have my reservations…
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Cons
My biggest concern is pee. And poop. I’m sorry, I’m saying it. I don’t have a basement, so I’d have to have the litter box out somewhere. And even though I’d keep it clean, I don’t particularly like the smell of litter even on its own… sorry for going there. But it’s my main hang up.
I do have a room-sized storage closet upstairs, but then I’d have to make sure I leave the door open or put a kitty door in and I’m not prepared to do that… so it would have to be out. For a hot minute I thought I’d make my spare bedroom (currently my office/studio) into the cat room and have the litter there. But now I don’t know what I want to do anymore. Maybe just downstairs, near the back sliding doors. We shall see…
The litter is one thing, but I’m also afraid of them peeing in the house (as in, not in the litter, but on the floor/carpet or furniture, eek). If I get girl cats, maybe this won’t be an issue??
I don’t particularly like being covered in cat hair either. But maybe I’ll just buy stock in lint rollers…
And I don’t really travel much anymore, so that shouldn’t be a con, right? Given enough food, cats can be okay on their own for a day or two anyway, so if I went away for an overnight it would be fine. Or I could get someone to cat sit if I was going away for longer…
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Pros
For the most part I like living alone, or at least I don’t mind it, but sometimes I think it would be nice to have another being in the house with me. I think it would be good for me to have something to care for. I know cats do their own thing, so I wouldn’t expect them to keep me company or anything like that, lol. But I think it would be nice.
I know it seems like I have more negatives than positives, lol… the cons make me hesitant, but cats are just so stinkin’ cute that I often forget all the bad stuff that could happen! I recently realized that I follow A LOT of Instagram accounts of cats or dogs, and seeing all the adorable pictures on my feed makes it VERY difficult to say no to getting a pet of my own!
You may have a longer con list….but in my opinion are greatly outweighed by the pros. But you knew I’d say that 😹
The things you are worried about will work themselves out. You’ll find a place for the litter box that will bother you the least and a litter that will not make your home smell like a litter box. Scooping poop isn’t pleasant, but it’s worth it for the little fur babies! 😻😻
I did know you’d say that! lol
I’m willing to deal with the cons to be a fur baby mama, hehe!