I had a cat and she was good for playing with, and she caught June Bugs. I had a dog and he would bark at strangers and good for playing with.
I was talking to a co-worker and she said her cat was TOTALLY worthless. She said “he won’t play with anyone, he don’t catch bugs or mice, and he just sits around all day looking inconvenienced.”
(I asked if he was sick, but she says no, the vet said he was fine.)
I belive if you’re gonna shell out good money for room and board, the cat or dog ought to be good for some entertainment value if not more utilitarian functions.
Funny you should mention this. Inigo and I had a similar conversation at dinner this evening about our cat Chicken. He just lays around the house, and sticks his paws in your food when you try to eat. He also likes to bite our noses while we sleep. Inigo mentioned (sarcastically) that he was a worthless cat, except that he is a good cuddler. This cat actually gives hugs. It’s really pretty cute. So, since we hadn’t expected Chicken to get a job or anything when we adopted him, we have decided that he is not worthless due to his ability to display affection.
I can’t say I’ve ever met a cat that was totally worthless. My evil cat Tigger used to be very similar to the cat described in the OP, except that she would attack anyone who attempted to enter whatever room she happened to be occupying at the moment. She has mellowed out and is actually a little affectionate from time to time since we got Chicken for her to play with. I think your friend’s cat needs a kitten.
I know two totally worthless cats. My sister’s cat back home, Noodles, doesn’t do much besides eat, crap in the litter box, and whine. When he doesn’t feel like he’s being paid enough attention, he’ll run downstairs and sit where the most traffic is and pretty much yell his head off. But if anyone tries to get close to him to see what he wants, he dashes back upstairs. He’s not terribly playful but will allow you to pet him until he decides enough is enough and starts to bite or scratch. I’ve had better cats.
My grandma’s cat is the worst cat I’ve ever come across. That thing has no redeemable qualities. We found it feral and we wonder if it’s part bobcat or something because the damn thing is so mean. After maybe two years it decided that it hated everyone besides my grandma and will growl, hiss, bat with its non-existant claws, or bite anyone who comes too close. It even bites my grandma and she feeds the damn thing! I’ve tried way too many times to become friends with that thing. It doesn’t do much besides eat and laze around, half the time it doesn’t even make it to the litter box anymore. Everyone but my grandma wants that thing gone and we all regret giving it to her. I’m afraid that it’s going to outlive my grandma. (No pic available, just imagine Satan in the form of a cat.)
I’m not sure. My oldest cat (from which I stole my doper name) is a good hunter who has killed rats near and even in our house. She has earned her keep. My younger cat (Remy) is an out and out moron. She doesn’t hunt or do much of anything besides demand massive amounts of attention. However, she’s nice to pet, which is more than I can say for Hen (who nips at you if you pet her, mostly.)
They are pets, and I love them as pets, meaning that I would be sad, but not especially devistated, if they died.
I have a friend with a cat that hates being held or touched, doesn’t play with toys, steals food from the kitchen, and while it won’t catch mice or bugs it did kill a pet sugar glider. It’s cold, aloof, and generally hateful. It doesn’t like people, dogs, cars or any other kind of machine, and it really hates other cats. It is the most disagreeable animal I’ve ever seen outside of maybe a cobra.
But it’s still not worthless, because there’s a fair bit of entertainment to be had in cuddling the shit out of an animal that despises every moment of it. Lure it in with a piece of lunch meat, make it choose between dignity and roast beef, watch the self loathing in its eyes as it succumbs to its weakness and then hug the hell out of it.
Yeah sure you may bleed a bit but that’s good times right there.
All three of our cats are worthless in the sense that they don’t do anything practical. There’s no need for mousing around here, and they suck at catching insects. They just lounge around the house, demand food and attention, and occasionally wander around outside, either by their choice or not. Still, they provide a decent amount of companionship.
My old man Bobby is getting on toward worthless even in that respect, although I hate to say it about him. He’s not cuddly; he’s far too bony and stiff for it and always has been. He never really bonded to me, since I adopted him when he was somewhere between 6 and 10 years old, and according to the shelter he was feral for most of his formative years. Although he’s friendly enough, he and I simply don’t have the connection I have with my other cat, and I’ve only had her a year while he’s been with me for four. He’s dumb, and I don’t think it’s just senility; while our other cats pretty quickly learned what is and isn’t allowed, he’s just always been utterly oblivious. He pees on anything on the floor; not the floor itself, but if there’s a plastic bag or a cardboard box or piece of paper on the floor, he’ll pee on it. Unfortunately, while we do our best to keep stuff off the floor, we don’t get everything. He doesn’t cover his poop in the litter box, which just utterly stinks up one half of the house (thankfully the girls are more fastidious and will cover it up pretty quickly), and that’s when he doesn’t just hang his ass over the side and pee right on the floor. If he goes too long without eating, he overeats and then promptly throws it all up, and never in the same place twice. My carpet is utterly ruined solely because of him, and in a cramped house like mine that matters quite a bit.
I clean up after him as best I can and tolerate it all, since he is old, and I’m certainly not going to give him back to the shelter to be readopted. I’m content with letting him live out his last few years in relative comfort and security. Although I’ll certainly be sad when he’s gone, because he’s not a mean cat, I can’t say I won’t be relieved as well. I feel like a bad person for saying that, but it is what it is and I wanted all that off my chest. :o
We have a semi-useless dog, depending on his mood. Sometimes when the doorbell goes he’s all over it, barking and generally making a nuisance of himself. Sometimes when the doorbell goes he can’t be bothered getting off his bed. Like the time my husband was out for the evening, it was dark, and it was just me home with the baby (and the dog). The doorbell rang, rang a second time while I was still trying to get to it, and I had a brief conversation through the locked door with a guy trying to sell restaurant vouchers (no idea why he thought it was a good idea to try to sell people stuff that late at night). When he’d finally gone away, I turned back into the hall to see useless dog just getting off his bed with an expression on his face like, ‘Oh, was there someone at the door?’
My dog is pretty useless. I really hate to say bad things about him since he is 17 and probably doesn’t have much time left, but this dog has never had any sort of personality. He’s just kinda there.
He lets the cats boss him around & eat his food. Never barks at anything. Doesn’t like going for walks. Doesn’t like to be outdoors, period. He sleeps 90% of the time, and the other 10% of the time he spends just wandering the house aimlessly.
Cat #1 is not worthless - she’s a good bug-catching cat, a snuggler, affectionate and, well, just plain pretty. She’s a pretty cat - it’s true.
Cat #2 is irritable, cranky, prone to theft, puking and destruction of property. He sometimes likes to be held, but not a great bug catcher and not at all affectionate. On the other hand, he keeps Cat #1 happy, so…