Hey everybody, I’ve heard from the big talking screen that mummy and daddy watch that this week has been a difficult week for many people. Mummy says that there is a lot of fear and hatred in the world at the moment. Fear of the nasty virus that is still being spread and hatred of those who are different.
I understand fear, I experienced it a lot when I was on the streets, fear of something attacking me, fear of being left behind, fear of losing my sight, fear of strange noises, fear of humans who might hurt me. There were so many things to be afraid of, it’s a feeling that I have been glad to have never felt again since I arrived at my furrever home here with mummy and daddy. I have been scared since then but never afraid. The word hate I didn’t understand and I had to ask mummy to explain what hate was. She explained to me that it was when you really, really don’t like something. She said that some people hate other people just because they are different and they can hate so much that they sometimes hurt or even kill the other person. I’ve heard of humans treating animals badly, I heard about this when I was on the streets and my clowder was always wary of humans in case they hurt us. I don’t know why they might hurt us just because we were born into life on the streets rather than born into a home. I guess I was lucky that the humans I met were there to help us, they fed and cared for us and as you know when they found me and knew I was poorly they took me and made me better. They then found me a home where I could live out the rest of my life surrounded by love (and food and toys).
I had never before heard that human people would hurt other people just because they may look, act or behave differently. I was shocked by this as it isn’t something that us cats do.
Even with everything that has gone on in my life so far I haven’t ever hated anything or anyone, it’s just not in my nature . I take everyone at face value, I don’t judge, I don’t hold grudges, I just live in the now. Yes cats argue and fight from time to time but it would never be to the death, it’s only to resolve our issues at the time, once it’s done, it’s done. I often fight with my siblings but it’s nothing serious, even when we bite each other’s legs or paw one another round the head. With Millie and Angelin it’s more about teaching them the skills to hunt and defend themselves just in case they ever need to but we all know not to take it too far. I would never hurt them.
Sure cats kill things but not each other and only for food. Yes, I confess, we might play with our food before we eat it but that’s just us showing off our hunting prowess. Hey everybody look what I’ve got for dinner, look what an amazing hunter I am. Even when hunting we only catch what we can eat, we don’t catch extra. Firstly it’s very tiring hunting so why would we (being lazy creatures) hunt for extra and secondly, we’ve got nowhere to store it till we’re hungry again. I might try to fight something that is attacking me and I might hurt it in the process but that’s just in self defence and even then only if I can’t run away. I can’t think of any other reason for killing or hurting another animal.
How different would my life have been if mummy and daddy had said no Jenny you’re blind, you can’t go for walkies outside, you can’t climb trees, you can’t climb up onto the window sill, chase the birds or hunt the insects. They didn’t treat me differently, just because I can’t see and they don’t treat Millie differently just because she only has three legs, they let her run and jump and be the completely crazy, mad cat she wants to be. I think I’m very lucky to have found a family who are all about spreading the love and celebrating how we are, not everyone is so kind and tolerant.
In cat society it’s the same, when I was on the streets I wasn’t seen as any different to any of the other cats. Sure, sometimes they cats might take advantage and steal my food when I wasn’t looking but they would do that wether you were blind or not! Cats are just opportunistic and that’s just normal behaviour to us. If I’m better at something than another cat I’m not beaten up for that, I’m not picked on, I’m just expected to help the others who aren’t so good. My hearing is better than others so I have the advantage of hearing any sounds of danger earlier or finding prey quicker. This benefits everyone as the whole clowder act on the instincts of each other. Cats just accept each other for what we are, long fur or short fur, black, white or multicoloured, male or female, fluffy tail or skinny noodle tail, sighted or blind, four legs or three we’re all cats.
I don’t get any special treatment and I don’t get allowances made for me, when Peppar plays with me he doesn’t take it easy on me because I’m blind, he doesn’t play with me differently to how he used to play with Mia, he just plays with me the same way he would with any other sister.
I’m a love cat, I’m all about spreading love, peace, understanding, tolerance and compassion. I love that I have friends and family who are all different. All lives matter if we spread love and respect instead of hate and fear and the world will be a better place for all creatures great and small. Maybe people need to be a bit more cat.
Jenny’s Story 