20190127.0430

I had occasion to look back over some of the things I've recently posted in other places than this, and I note a strange association between cats and writing in some of the images I've used. I know there's a common coincidence of cats and humanities scholars and creative folks of various sorts--English majors and their cats are commonplaces in meme culture--but I've never really understood the association. I'm not a cat person (though my wife very much is), and I never really have been; I have a cat now, true, and I've had them in the past, but I don't have the devotion to the animals that many do. I'm not a cat fancier, by any stretch. (And, in truth, though I grew up with dogs, I'm not a dog person, either. I have a dog now, and, as with the cat, I take care of and appreciate the animal, but I'm not quite so...enamored of the beasts as many people seem to be of theirs.)
I well understand the issue of attachment. That's not what I'm confused about. What I am and long have been confused about is the specific association of cats with those in humanistic study and endeavor, particularly of the literary variety. Why readers are associated with cats, why writers are, is what eludes me. I understand not having dogs; they require a fair bit of attention, which distracts from both reading and writing. I've not had a dog urinate on my books, though, as I've seen happen to many cat-havers, nor yet have they tried to eat my feet, as cats have done to me. And I think I am not alone among those who have spent much of their lives immersed in reading and writing in thinking that the world already disdains such things enough; I do not know why folks who feel so would devote themselves so much to an animal that often gives the impression of disdain and disregard for me.
I imagine that, if I get responses to this piece, they will be of the "no, cats are love" variety rather than the "I have a cat because" variety. That's fine; as I note above, I well understand that people are attached to their animals in ways I am not, and that I do not share a feeling does not necessarily mean I condemn that feeling. (In some cases, yes, I do condemn the feeling and the acting upon it, but not because I do not share it, but because it transgresses consent.) I do take care of the animals my family has, and I do have some affection for them--which I show with treats and time spent paying attention to them. Again, though, the issue I puzzle over is why there is so strong an association between cats and reader/writers--as opposed to say, hamsters, which require less attention than even cats; fish, which would also seem to do so; or other pets that might make for more interesting stories, like the hedgehog someone I went to grad school with had, or an iguana. Something.