I have now been living with a cat for 36 hours. Here are some initial thoughts on what it's like to live with a cat.
Firstly, somehow I felt it made the apartment a bit cramped. Which is weird, because, y'know, it's a cat - it's not that big. But its presence feels bigger than its physical body. At the same time, I don't quite regard it as a person. When I'm alone with the cat, I'm not quite by myself but I also don't have company. It's unsettling. It's like there's a ghost in the room.
Second, cats smell. I don't like the smell, and it seems to stick to textiles, which unnerves me. I'm a bit freaked out to touch anything which smells like cat, even though I'm not that freaked out to touch the cat itself, which makes absolutely no sense.
Third, it's kind of adorably dumb. That part I like. Despite how I suck at reading the body languages of animals, cats aren't terribly complicated. They mostly care about food and sleep. Interacting with a cat puts me a bit in the same mindset, which is somehow kinda soothing. I guess that's one reason why people have cats. They're not very judgmental because they have absolutely zero ambitions themselves.
Fourth, it has an impact on the people I live with. They get a lot more shouty. The cat does things it's not allowed to do, and then they shout at it. It's really weird. I'm not used to shouting. It's a good thing I'm not taking care of the cat myself, because I don't think I would be very good at shouting at it, and apparently that's important.
These are just the first few reflections I've made. Maybe I'll change my mind regarding some of them, or all of them. Maybe there'll be other things I haven't considered. So far it's very strange though.
