They’re smart, they’re sensitive and they have unique ways of letting you know you’re the most important person in their lives. Every day, Jayanthi Kamalaratnam’s rescued cat Tuffy curls up on the sunshade next to her gate, and waits for her to come home, so he can jump down and greet her when she arrives. “It’s a ritual with him”, she says. “I’ve heard people remark – if you think that animals aren’t expressive, just look at this cat”. She adds that Tuffy stayed by her side when she was bedridden during an illness. She adopted her second cat Leo after he lost his leg to an injury. Today, Leo darts back and forth on three legs cheerfully, often hoisting himself up to demand a pat on his head from his rescuer. Her third and oldest cat Shrek, is seventeen years old, and even though he has no teeth left in his mouth, she jokes that he has more spirit than any other cat she’s met. “I can’t imagine a life without cats”, she says. “They add so much to your life, and take away any emptiness there might be”.
Arun Menon vouches for their intelligence. His rescued cat Kimba has a minor health condition that needs to be managed with daily tablets, and he often finds that his feline friend is one step ahead of him when it’s time for the pills. “When I enter with the capsule, he just takes one look at me and runs away”, laughs Arun who says that the best thing about cats is that they teach you the virtue of patience. Arun finds them to be very low-maintenance, and marvels at how each of them has a distinct personality.
Rescuer Sukanya Ramanujan endorses this view. “Cats are like people”, she says. Sukanya recalls how her cat would always be by the door in time for her father’s return before anyone else was aware that he had arrived. Sukanya observes that they form deep attachments to people and miss them dearly in their absence. “You don’t own them…they own you”, she says, speaking for all cat people. “It is a privilege to be loved by a cat”.
