I’ve had a few human best friends over the years, but now my best friend is a cat.
Can we really form as close a platonic relationship with a pet, as with a human? Yes, I believe we can and often do. Human/pet relationships are obviously different from human/human relationships, but they can be just as close.
No, you can’t reminisce over old times while downing a few mugs of beer at the pub with your cat (a few bowls of Kibbles & Bits…maybe), but when’s the last time your human friend snuggled in your lap and purred (girlfriends don’t count) or amused you by chasing his tail, or a mouse? Ever try dropping your human friend from a height to see him land on his feet? Ever comfort your human friend and pat him on the back while he’s hacking up a furball? Does your human friend make you laugh when he gets the zoomies every night? Maybe yours do, but mine never did.
I have 6 cats, but Benny is my favorite. Ollie, the young bob-tailed cat is my youngest daughter’s favorite (he’s a holy mess, but funny as hell!).
As I noted in another thread, Pee Pee, a long-hair female, most annoys me. Her incessant, low-pitched, monotone, drawn out meooooooooooooooow grates on my nerves. She is, however, the most affectionate of the bunch, so she gets cat-cred for that.
Meatball, the alley cat, is my nemesis. He’s a very heavy, completely ungraceful cat who runs, leaps, skids, knocks over, and breaks things on a regular basis. And, the things he breaks are always MY things (coincidence? I think not). My fine wine glass collection is completely wiped out, among other valued things.
Coconut, the Siamese, is just chill. He hangs out on the kitchen counter all day long. I’ve tried training him to hang out elsewhere, but you know how easy it is to train cats, right?
Fish, whose mouth looks like that of a fish, is entirely passive-aggressive, and his aggression is always focused on me. His last stunt was pooping into MY frying pan when I wasn’t looking. I’m just grateful I wasn’t frying sausage links at the time, or I may not have noticed.
Benny was the first in my current cat clowder and he is my best friend. He took over that illustrious role after Tibby (my namesake) joined the cat-choir eternal last year.
Benjamin follows me all over the house and just loves to chill with me. Sure, he wants some alone time at times. And sometimes he wants to carouse with his cat-mates. But, when he’s done with all that cattin’ ‘round, he’s back at my side, or on my lap, or up to mischief.
Oh, he’s no angel, in fact, he’s quite often a little devil. I swear, at times, he gets into trouble just to get my goat—to amuse me. He’ll look me in the eye while engaging in mischief as if to say, “pretty funny, huh? Bet you can’t do this!” And, yes, I believe cats have a sense of humor. They don’t smile much, but they convey amusement in their own feline-ish way. I believe cats’ level of consciousness is very close to that of humans, more so in some ways.
Here’s my best friend. I got him from the cat rescue I volunteer at when he was a kitten. He was the one hanging from the cage roof demanding I take him home. According to the vet, he’s a purebred Korat. Very cool cat!
Do you have a best friend who is not human?
