Kitty Nicknames

On 4/5/2017 6:32 PM, Joy wrote:
On 4/5/2017 3:17 PM, Bastette wrote:
jmcquown wrote:

That's cute! My father didn't like cats at all. He always felt there
was something sneaky about them. No cats allowed!

Mom & Dad's neighbor (now my neighbor) had two black cats, Fedders and
Schwartzie. I used to cat sit them. When Dad was still alive he
would
see the cats walking around behind the house he'd say, sotto voce,
"Those cats listen to everything we do."

Need I mention Dad suffered from dementia? But even before that he
never liked cats. He always thought they were sneaky.

Wow, it's horrible when someone's dementia makes them paranoid. I've
heard
about people who became very delusional in that way, and their life was
miserable. On the other hand, I've also heard of people who were really
unhappy and nasty throughout their lives, but when they got dementia,
their
personality totally changed and they became calmer, warmer, and just
plain
nicer. Maybe their dementia destroyed the memories that made them
miserable,
so they didn't have those feelings anymore. That's a mercy! It was a
mercy
for their kids, too, who had terrible relationships with their parent
until
the change in personality.

These were all parents of my friends, btw. That's how I know about them.

Back to cats:

I don't understand how someone can't like cats. They're so cute.
They're pretty. They're soft! They purr!

I said this once to a friend. We were talking about how some people have
a phobia about cats. I didn't understand why. Being afraid of big, mean
dogs I do understand, but housecats aren't very dangerous, except in rare
cases. She said it wasn't a rational fear like that, it was more a sense
of revulsion. She likened it to how a lot of people feel about bugs - a
"don't let that thing get near me!" kind of feeling, even toward harmless
bugs. There isn't any real danger, and you can't reason people out of it
because it's an irrational phobia. I understand about those, even if it's
hard to imagine feeling that way about cats. I've been a cat-lover since
I was a year old!

Joyce


You can't reason someone out of a phobia, because phobias aren't
reasonable. They just are.

Joy

You can't reason someone out of dementia, either. I have no idea why my
dad thought the cats were spies. He told me the neighbor cats were
spying on us. Oh dear. Really? They were just walking around out back.

Jill