Our furry friends

When we moved back to India from the U.A.E, one of the things my brother and I insisted on was having a pet. We were moving into an apartment and so didn’t think it would be fair on a dog if we were to get one and we didn’t really want to keep fish so, we decided to get a cat….and a black one at that! We were thrilled when we heard a family friend of ours had a cat that had just had two black ones among her larger litter of kittens. My mother, for some reason, wanted a female kitten. So, when we went to pick our newest addition to the family, the guy who had the cats picked up one of two little black kittens, turned it upside down and said, “Here, this one is female.” So we christened our little one Buffy (after the vampire slayer 😉 ) and brought home our new pet…

It was a couple of weeks later when we learnt that she was indeed a he. But, by then, he was Buffy and to this day, ten years later, Buffy he remains. We, my husband and I don’t have a pet here because we travel back and forth from Bangalore to Mangalore so much but, if we could….I would love to have a cat or a dog…and I’ll tell you some of the reasons why:

1. A pet loves you unconditionally. You can yell at them and ignore them for a while and even discipline them when they do something you don’t like but they will never hold a grudge. They will still come to you to be petted. I remember that every time I’ve been sick at home, Buffy would come and lie at the foot of my bed to keep me company…he is a cat, and he still worries about me…. 🙂

2. He is the ultimate stress-buster. There aren’t many things more de-stressing than playing with a pet. There is just something about them which helps ebb away all the tension you feel after a hard day. I’ve cried to Buffy when I’ve been sad and he has allowed me to squish him and cry on him without protest until I felt better.

3. You can sound off your most ridiculous ideas to your pet and he or she will NEVER laugh at you…just look at you and listen to you patiently. It’s a confidence booster to have someone listen to you like that…really!

4. There are studies that say that children who grow up with pets, grow into more responsible adults because they learn how to take care of another living being and other studies that say they are less likely to develop allergies too.

5.  They force you to get outdoors and take in some fresh air…okay…maybe not so much cats as dogs. Dogs will beg and plead till you take them outside and in today’s world where we spend most of our time in our air-conditioned offices, thanks to your pet you get the fresh air and vitamin D your body needs!

6. People who have pets are happier than those who don’t…I’m not making it up. There is research to back me up! 🙂

7. Finally, they protect you! And I don’t mean just dogs for this one. Cats will protect you…or at least try to protect you too! Buffy, our cat, bites the ankles of anybody he doesn’t know if he sees them moving things around our house. He is like our little watch-cat. We literally have to keep an eye on him if we have workers in our house otherwise one of them is bound to end up a little injured.

Thanks to this post…I now really miss Buffy….sigh… 😦

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I am taking part in The Write Tribe Festival of Words 1st – 7th September 2013.