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Crazy Cat Ladies (The strange and strong bond between women and cats)
Forbes ^ | 10-15-09 | Kiri Blakeley

Posted on 10/18/2009 6:58:40 PM PDT by Dysart

Courtney Kistler is a 28-year-old single gal who lives in New York City. She's sociable, outgoing and attractive. But that hasn't stopped Kistler's mother from worrying that her daughter, a freelance marketer, will never catch a husband--because she owns three cats.

"[My parents] think it's a little weird," she says of her multiple cat ownership. In fact, Kistler's mother has been known to ask her cat-loving daughter: "What if you want to bring a guy home? What would he think?"

While Kistler's last boyfriend wasn't too fond of her felines (he refused to pet them), the two men she dated before that (who both grew up with cats) were fine with them. Still, her mother worries. Says Kistler: "She's bought into the stereotype, and what am I going to do? I can't deny it exists."

Laura Adamson, a 23-year-old graduate student in Gainesville, Fla. recently learned some of the negative responses that can befall a single woman with a cat. After she adopted a kitten that had been tied up in a pillowcase tossed to the side of the road, Adamson began telling people her new pet's miracle story. Instead of being awed, some of her listeners called her a "crazy cat lady." She adds: "Usually they follow it up with 'Do you take the cat for walks?' or 'Does it eat at the table with you?' "

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Pets/Animals; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: cat; compassionate; crazy; kind; kittyping; mothers; nuturers; women
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To: Outlaw Woman

You’re welcome, and likewise.


81 posted on 10/19/2009 8:05:51 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows ("When France chides you for appeasement, you know you're scraping bottom." --Charles Krauthammer)
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To: Fawn

As much as I love cats, they can - and sometimes do - fart. My dear Misty has been known to peel paint off the walls.


82 posted on 10/19/2009 8:13:18 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows ("When France chides you for appeasement, you know you're scraping bottom." --Charles Krauthammer)
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To: Dysart

I can’t handle inside cats......fur, fur, fur....and SweetBaby is soooo allergic to them.
We can’t go into a house with them having been there, that he doesn’t automatically start sniffling and sometimes it goes into a full blown flu-like reaction.


83 posted on 10/19/2009 8:40:04 AM PDT by LadyPilgrim ((Lifted up was He to die; It is finished was His cry; Hallelujah what a Savior!!!!!! ))
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To: Dysart
I have four cats (7 yr, 4 yr, and two 10 weeks) .. all female, all ferals, all adopted as 2-4 week old kittens abandoned by their mothers. Mitzi, my 7-year old, was abandoned on my front patio with her eyes still closed and too young to walk. I got up in the night every two hours to bottle-feed her and carry her to the litterbox. She was a lifesaver when my wife of 25 years died four years ago. Her presence there in the house kept me sane.

The Thanksgiving after her death (four years this one coming), while out on the front patio with friends, I heard a kitten crying in the darkness. I called and out trotted Gracie, galloping to my ankles and crying to be picked up.

My two newest kittens .. SaraMichael and Rhiannon .. joined the family this summer in the same manner.

I grew up around dogs and always thought of myself as a dog person. But there's something about the independence of a cat and its ability to blend both affection and aloofness at the same time.

84 posted on 10/19/2009 8:57:45 AM PDT by BlueLancer (I'm getting a fine tootsy-frootsying right here...)
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To: Dysart

I have two of the fur-covered $h*t factories and would not trade them for anything. They are as faithful as any dog I’ve ever had and much lower maintenance. They greet me at the door like my last dog did, like to sit in my lap like the dog and attempt to edge me out of the comfy spot in bed like the dog did. They also seem to prefer me over my wife, just like the dog. As much as I love dogs, when the last one died there was nobody at home during the day to properly train a new one and the doggy smell, regular trips outside and chewing on everything is long gone. And yes, cats do rip off some nasty farts, but usually only when they are old or sick.


85 posted on 10/19/2009 8:58:12 AM PDT by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: Dysart

And, for the record, my kitties are all indoor-only. I have a latticework enclosed back porch which they have free access to through a cat-flapped back door whenever they feel the need to “return to nature”. They are completely safe there from all outside threats and can’t get out to annoy the neighbors. With their litter boxes out there (along with some industrial-strength orange/lemon deodorizers), we’re all happy.


86 posted on 10/19/2009 9:06:22 AM PDT by BlueLancer (I'm getting a fine tootsy-frootsying right here...)
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To: Fawn

“...you are giving them diseases. Do you do the same for your dogs?”

In my original post it says 30 dogs since 1975.

Riiiiiight, we killed off 30 dogs giving them the cheapest Chinese food we could buy, and all these cats around here are dying of horrible Chinese diseases.

Yer strange.


87 posted on 10/19/2009 9:36:48 AM PDT by rockinqsranch (Dems, Libs, Socialists...Call 'em What you Will, They ALL have Fairies Living In Their Trees.)
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To: brytlea
LOL I would not trust a cat with my brain, however.

Let's face it... If our sizes were reversed, we wouldn't be the cats' loyal staff... We'd be lunch (after an appropriate amount of "play time.")

There have been many times I've had a feeling right out of a cartoon... Where the cat is looking at you, and you just know he or she doesn't see you, but a T-Bone steak!

Mark

88 posted on 10/19/2009 10:57:41 AM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: shibumi
Any man could learn to love cats, with the right sort of motivation .....

A coworker of mine used to talk about how cats were a waste of perfectly good fur, and how he hated them, and had no problem with kicking cats if he got the chance, or shooting them with a bb gun... Then he got involved with a woman with a cat. He wasn't crazy about the cat, but she eventually grew on him. The two are now living together, and they now have 3 cats, the original plus 2 from a Ragdoll rescue group. And he's constantly telling us about the cute things HIS cats have been doing lately...

Mark

89 posted on 10/19/2009 11:04:26 AM PDT by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: Girlene

Maybe it was Mrs. Heene!!!


90 posted on 10/19/2009 11:33:17 AM PDT by lilycicero (Poor kitteh....nasty lady.)
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To: Dysart

Oh no! Is this me!? Am I a crazy cat lady!? I’m 28 years old, and I also have 3 cats. Yikes!! (not to mention, I’m also single...).


91 posted on 10/19/2009 11:44:10 AM PDT by sistabrista
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Ping for later


92 posted on 10/19/2009 12:00:44 PM PDT by zlala
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To: sistabrista
This Cat Betrayed His Girlfriend
93 posted on 10/19/2009 12:30:14 PM PDT by Dysart
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To: lilycicero

Now’s there’s a thought.....hmmmmmm.


94 posted on 10/19/2009 4:12:48 PM PDT by Girlene (Nasty doesn't even begin to describe it........)
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To: Slings and Arrows

Wonderful cat article and us ladies who have them. I have 4 cats!=^..^=


95 posted on 10/19/2009 5:17:32 PM PDT by Biggirl (I believe in THE BOOK that promises VICTORY OVER THE WORLD!:)=^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^=)
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To: Biggirl

Only three here (and not a lady), but no doubt more will find me.


96 posted on 10/19/2009 8:39:03 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows ("When France chides you for appeasement, you know you're scraping bottom." --Charles Krauthammer)
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To: Mila; I Buried My Guns; Slings and Arrows
Please don't take this personally, but, unless you live on a farm out in the middle of nowhere, cats should NOT be allowed to go outside. An outdoor cat's life expectancy is 5 years compared to an inside only cat's 15-20 years. Much of our problems with feral cats and overpopulation, resulting in disease (which is rampant) and death, is because of people who don't spay or neuter and who allow their cats outside. BTW...my adorable hubby loves our two kittehs as much as I do!

Please, if you love your kittehs, keep them safe inside. If you have a cat(s) that already go outside get them fixed and vaccinated and DO try to keep them inside (some actually get used to it after awhile). If it's a new baby, keep it indoors, they will never know the difference. We should all do our part to protect these sweet gifts from God. kthxbye!

97 posted on 10/19/2009 10:12:02 PM PDT by boatbums (Pro-woman, pro-child, pro-life!)
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To: boatbums

I agree entirely. Of my three kittehs, two show no signs whatsoever of wanting to go outside, and one lost the urge after bolting and staying out for ten days.


98 posted on 10/19/2009 10:34:59 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows ("When France chides you for appeasement, you know you're scraping bottom." --Charles Krauthammer)
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To: boatbums

One cat, that I was going to adopt late last year, who was a senior, 15, and was abandoned, by her family, I was going to adopt because I was the one that was feeding her, as she would come to the front door of the no-kill cat shelter that I volunteer. She had passed on from cancer, but I had adopted another older cat, who is no 11, right after that. A female jet black cat. The one that pass, was gray and white female.


99 posted on 10/20/2009 3:01:45 AM PDT by Biggirl (In Memory Of Jasper Howard (1989-2009),RIP UConn #6 =^..^==^..^==^..^==^..^=)
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To: Slings and Arrows

I see the blame game goin on here ;)


100 posted on 10/20/2009 5:48:17 AM PDT by Fawn
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