While I was growing up, I didn’t have much experience with cats. At home we had dogs, and the few cats that family members/friends had were anti-social creatures. To me, they were creatures that existed for no other purpose than to demand food and poop in a box. ( Ew. )

My eyes have since been opened.

Over the last few years, I have learnt that while cats are temperamental and mercurial creatures who live up to the reputation of uncaring and snobby, they also surpass it in incredible leaps and bounds. Of any pets, I have found them the most likely to possess personalities that are individual and unique – and they have an exceptional ability to make me laugh.

They can be, in the same moment, snobs expecting the royal treatment and caring companions.

I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have read an Authors Bio only to come across something like “Lives in the arctic circle with wife and seven cats.” I once would have worried about their sanity, and now I look at this with longing and wonder if that might possibly someday be me. (Minus the Arctic bit.) And not just because if I’m in an Author bio at the end of a book, it means I’m published. ;)

Why Cats and Writers are Meant to Be

1. If you get lost in your fictional world for three days and forget they exist– the cats will be fine. They won’t have expired from loneliness, they will probably have enjoyed sleeping without being poked and prodded. No guarantees that the significant other will feel the same way.
2. They will sit on your laptop from time to time and remind you that the real world does in fact exist. They might accidentally send messages to friends and family members, which will prompt you to apologise for your cat’s behaviour, and thus remember that other humans are part of this ‘real world’.
3. They are creatures of contradiction, they are filled with grace and fluidity, and yet they can accidentally throw themselves into walls at the sight of a cucumber. In other words — their madness is inspiration.
4. If you need to create a unique personality. Mold your character after your cat. Depending on the day of the week, the characters will all end up completely different. See the following for examples:
   • Lazy, cares only about food, will bite if looked at the wrong way
   • Playful, needs attention, is obsessed with laser pointers
   • Demands love, bites you, demands love, bites you, demands food.
   • Willing to give massages at any time of day, sucks on blankets when happy, follows you around and waits at the bathroom door when you go for a pee.
   • Wakes you up at 4:45 every morning for snuggles. Ignores you when the sun is up.
   • Desperately wants to meet every cat that walks by the window, but runs in terror when you bring a real kitty friend home for him to meet.
   • Waits until you’re asleep and then brings you toys. Yells at you when you ignore him.
5. They give us insight by showing us that it’s not always an item’s monetary value that gives it worth. They shun our carefully purchased, feather-bedecked toys and instead play with a plastic milk ring for three days without stop.

See what I mean? Cats and writers, they are meant to be. They can put up with our moods because we can put up with theirs, and they are faithful companions that will always be there when we finally look up from the glare of the computer screen.

If any of the points in this post seem to be contradictory, please recall what I said about cats being mercurial — they are masters of ignoring you and demanding attention in the same moment. There is no box for cats. Or, well, that is to say, there is no metaphorical box that all cats fit into. Physical boxes are a different matter entirely…

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an Edward that needs pets. Whether he wants them or not.  ^_^