My wife and I made it quite a while without a large animal pet. There were Amelia and Zaccheaus, the zebra finches we had early in our marriage. We had a brief foray into hamsters when our kids were young. We had a freshwater aquarium for a few years. But Linda and I both shared a common disinterest in owning a dog or a cat or a goat or horse or any other of God’s animals that require much love and affection.
Bandwidth, aversion to pet smells, and other more nuanced reasons caused us to hold the kids at bay when they asked. (Except for a trial period with a stray cat for a couple years that proved our kids didn’t want it enough, or weren’t mature enough, to take care of it.) Linda and I still will look at each other and assign a random number to pet scenarios. It looks like this . . . We are with friends telling us that their dog recently needed an ACL surgery on two legs and then they tell us the cost of said surgery . . . Then I look at Linda and say, “reason #543”. And she knows. Or someone tells us about their dog eating its own poo. ‘Reason #622’. Watching the same dog ‘kiss’ its owner’s face . . . ‘Reason #12’. I think you get it. (And maybe a few of you are about to rage quit this blog).
So when we had the opportunity to get a cat for our middle son, we had some serious soul searching. It was clear that it was going to be his cat. He buys the food. He cleans the litter. He makes arrangements when we go on vacation.
And so Kondo the kitty came into our home on Christmas Day 2023.
And he has taught me a few things about life and myself.
1. Cats Shed a lot of Hair
I state this first because it is the most evident truth I’ve learned from having a cat in my home. He is short haired. But he is also white. His hair is super fine. It takes very little effort to clean up . . . But there is always cat hair.
2. Kondo has been so good for Luke.
My son was diagnosed with Asperger’s back when that was a diagnosis. And it has been such a joy to see the way that this cat and this young man have bonded. Luke’s smiles make me wonder why we waited so long. ‘A boy and his cat’ is the title of many pictures in my mind. Kondo follows Luke around the house meowing at him. They even have conversations together.
3. Kondo likes me (and I couldn’t have imagined that this would matter)
This is my morning routine: My alarm goes off. I make a coffee. Grab my Bible, sit in the brown chair where I meet with God. And most mornings Kondo jumps up in my lap and purrs while I read my Bible. He knows I am the Alpha in the house as evidenced by the fact that he has never even playfully bitten my hand. He doesn’t play around with me like he does with Leah or Luke. But he hangs out with me and we read the Bible together in the mornings. This is kinda nice.
4. Cats are fun to watch
Kondo has led me to look at the world just a little but different. Everything is stimuli to him. He loves, and I mean ravenously loves, watching the birds on our birds feeders. It is amazing to see what natural born-killers cats really are. They show a design for hunting that equates to a calling.
5. Kondo is an animal
Kondo is not my fur-baby. He isn’t a member of the family. He doesn’t love us. I am not eager to ascribe all kinds of silly human emotions to him. I’ve watched him enough to be able to discern significant instincts within him. He does what he does out of several preprogrammed drives. I see his pupils diliate and his ears go back when I scratch my hand on the sofa. I can initiate his hunting instinct at will. He meows when he needs food or water.
Having a cat in our home has been less painful than I thought it would be. And when I see the joy he gives to my family, I’m at peace. They say you can’t tech and old dog new tricks. But I guess you can teach an old man new loves. And I guess that is “reason #6” . . . to consider saying ‘yes’ to your kids.
