Why do some people keep cats?

 

Aren't you terrified by this thing? See eyes like Ronke's own, I will never understand how some people admire and keep cats. (Photo credit: Shutter Stock)

I will always respect the place of individual differences, we all can’t fancy the same thing, we won’t enjoy same meal and we’ll most likely prefer different weathers, I respect that.

However, there are certain choices that I wonder how people arrive at and will never understand how they become comfortable with them; one of such is the will to wake up, open your wallet and bring out your debit card to order a pet online, and that pet would be a cat? How?

I have a few friends who find cats adorable, Chika Idibia is one of them and till date I find it hard to understand the obsession with a domestic animal that has weird cravings and enjoys the blood of another domestic pet (yes, some people rear rats).

Sometime in 2014, a friend I met on a BBM channel buzzed me that she needed a favor, of course in my mind I was already calculating how much I could part with because… no harm intended but when a woman says “I need a favor” it’s mostly financial;

When I finally had the courage to open the message and asked her what it was, I was shocked. She was traveling for a wedding and would be away for four days, she needed me to help her keep her cat at my place till she returns.

First, I asked myself a rhetorical question that what on earth did Glory from Festac see in me that convinced her I could be a ritualist? How did she think I’d be able to house a cat? I told her no and she took offense, aunty please go, friendship is not by force dakun.

I currently do not have a pet, there are plans for future consideration of a dog, maybe a rabbit if I have someone to tend to her but cats? No matter what I go through or what wind of life blows in my direction, that would be the last pet I’d consider, and the answer would still be no.

I know of a family in my old neighborhood, they had a parrot that doesn’t know when to keep shut, boys always cover the pet with a towel if they want to run their rackets, but how can you keep birds as pets? Are you not afraid of flying spirits?

Well that brings me to the part I need you to know that it is not illiteracy that stops me from owning a cat, I find them weird and I can’t bring myself to stay in the same room with them; from their cringeworthy sounds to their eyes that stare straight into your soul… Damn!

So a premier league footballer has been in the news of recent for kicking a cat across the room, I will never justify animal cruelty and as much as I will never keep cats or visit you if you do, I condemn Kurt Zouma’s indiscretion but the outrage over his actions were way overboard.

Not all my audience are familiar with football and the racism most black footballers have been subjected to in Europe so I won’t dwell too much on it, but it’s necessary I talk about it since the subject of the day is about cats, really those creatures do the most.

People keep different domestic animals and all of them have their cons, poultry business is one hell of a risky one, the first hand experience I had was that of my assistant grandfather, “the Lion of Babanla” who invested heavily in the business and had absolutely nothing to show for it.

From their vulnerability during the winter period to the attention you have to pay to them and the fact that they actually hurt/kill one another, in his own famous words then, “it is the business of those the village people are after”, still I can understand broilers and chickens, but cats?

People rear donkeys, horses and sheep. Most of these are for commercial purposes and you can even understand that, pigs are dirty but I hear they fetch you lots of money if you’re successful at it, but again I ask, what does it profit you to rear cats?

Maybe I’m actually mad, do you find cats attractive? Do you for any reason see them as pets you can keep? Someone should please balance me, can you own a cat? Can you keep a cat for someone while he or she is away? Please answer me.

What are your favorite pets? Please don’t mention snakes, I will stone you shoe because I know lots of you dine with the devil, snake bawo? If you must keep a dog, what breed would you like to own? What are your experiences with cats? Please drop your name with your comments, thank you.