Having a pet can make you smarter research suggests.
Well, that’s good, I say to myself, after all I have three pets. I have three cats who live with my wife and me in our little house at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac.
We’ve always had cats while we’ve lived here but we haven’t always had three of them. Until a few years ago, 2 cats was the most we had. Of course, in having any pet you are going to experience sad times, especially when a pet passes away. You are then left with the difficult choice of replacing that pet or not. Over the course of time we have had several pets die, mostly from old age or illness but also one which died from an accident.
After the loss of one cat which was killed on the road, we were left with only the one cat; an elderly cat who was no longer the playful bundle of fluff he once was. So we, well the wife, started looking for a new cat. Ity is always difficult to find a new cat, mostly because you have to take into account whether the new cats will be compatible with your other cat(s).
Imagine if you will, my surprise when the wife called me at work to say that she had found a new cat …. pause …. actually she has found 3 cats and the cattery did not want to split them. So what could I say?
The three cats, kittens, turned up at our house and were a total bundle of loving and caring!
However, things didn’t last long before issues started arising. One at a time, each of the new cats started having health issues, which entailed expensive trips to the vet. Then there was the issue of the three new cats getting along together and also getting along with our other cat.
Our other cat was older and bigger but did feel out of place and unfavoured in the presence of the other cats, who simply demanded so much of our attention.
But (can you start an new paragraph with ‘but’?), the relationship with our other cat would not turn out to be the biggest issue we faced. As they grew up, it became clear that one of the three cats was being bullied by the other two. It was my wife who first noticed it and it was she who first raised the issue of returning him to the cattery so that he coiuld be re-adopted into a safer environment. This cat, though, was my favourite.
My wife returned the cat.
Now we have just 3 cats. I know some of you will say that is still too many. Today one of our cats, the oldest one, is looking poorly and has done for a while. He is not eating and has grown quite thin. We took him to the vet, who gave him an injection and, for a while afterwards, he seemed to be eating better. However, he now seems to have gone back again to not eating.
Now tell me, am I smart to have pets? Considering all the worries they have brought, the expense of keeping them fed and healthy, the struggle of giving them each a warm and happy life? Am I smart, considering the pleasure and companionship they have added to my life?
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