People, Cat Persons and Mental Disease

First of all, you simply must watch this video to understand what brought up this topic. And because it's entertaining! The person in the vid, (Debbie) talks about her interests (the plan is to find a date) and when it comes to her love for cats, she suddenly bursts into tears. And this is the remix of her odd ramblings... enjoy!

I saw it yesterday, and even though the whole setup of her speech may be fake (the Youtubers seem to think so) the underlaying sentiment sure isn't and I am convinced that there are many people out there, the so-called cat enthusiasts, who are able to partially relate. Let's just say thinking about cats made this Debbie-person very emotional and the thought of not being able to hug every cat on the planet even made her cry. You might think that maybe she's a little crazy!

I have two cats myself, and according to this standard I must be crazy as well, because last week I told someone in all seriousness that I think that my cats have very lovely noses. I don't remember how the topic came up and unlike Debbie, I wasn't overcome by tears when I said it, but I really do think that felines in general have that aesthetic quality about them.

Now, as I watched the video and Debbie started talking about whiskers, ears and noses, my heart started beating a bit faster. Exactly how crazy am I? And then I started getting really angry! Yes, deflect!

How come having cats in general, especially for women of a certain age, most of the times unmarried (whew), childless hags (oh dear), oftentimes loners (oh deary dear) is associated with some sort of mental disease? This notion seems to be big enough, even the Simpsons picked up the stereotype of the crazy cat lady... but why only cats?

Dog enthusiasts don't seem to have any kind of stigma, except to be considered outdoorsy, nature-loving people. That's not bad! Cat owners on the other hand are considered excentric, socially awkward people, who are supposed to gradually lose every interest in hygiene! Why do cat-persons get all the bad stuff?!

I thought it may have something to do with the fact that dogs have always been more compatible (in terms of social habits) with the human kind, whereas cats don't have those kinds of comparable hierarchic structures. So therefore, people are considered strange when forming bonds with creatures outside their social custom range.

But the general notion about cat lovers not being able to see the difference between a cat and a fellow human being, that is a really diabolic insinuation. And a perfect example for speciesism! Yes, look it up! Just because we love them, and we want them... in a basket... on a rainbow...not crazy!!