You know you’re a cat person when…

These days I am very much a cat lady. But seeing as I only had a pet dog growing up, I didn’t realise how much I was a cat person until they came into my life. Not only is ‘crazy cat lady’ my Halloween costume of choice (as it’s not such a stretch), but my life largely revolves around my two cats.

Are you also a cat person? If so:

You’ve reconsidered your place in the household hierarchy

The often repeated phrase that “dogs have owners, cats have staff” has truth to it. While this saying doesn’t take into consideration how loving and affection cats can be, I’d be kidding myself if I thought I was top of the household hierarchy. My eldest and alpha cat is at the top, our younger cat second, and then my partner and I fall into third or fourth place, depending on who fed them that day or scooped out their litter trays most often.
You’re a proponent of ‘catfulness’

Cat lovers know how relaxing felines can be. Sleeping for most of the day, just watching their ears gently twitch and their bellies rise and fall can put us into a trance. A cat’s purr is known to relax humans and is even believed to have a healing effect as it’s a great stress reliever. If you slow your breath down to match your kitty’s purrs and meditate together, you’re truly a cat person.

You’ve made peace with never having fancy furniture

While this one isn’t 100% true, as of course there are cats who don’t scratch everything within reach, I’ve come to realise that I will always regret buying a fabric couch. Nine times out of ten my cats know to use their (multiple) scratching posts, but sometimes the lure of a weave fabric is too difficult to resist digging their claws into.

You slow blink at people

Ever since I learned that a slow blink to a cat signals you mean no harm, I’ve noticed myself doing this all the time to get cats and kittens to trust me. And I have also started slow blinking at passers-by and when meeting new people. So far I’ve not received a slow blink back from a human (only strange looks) but when I do, I’ll know that they too are a cat person.

Written by Sam Allemann, Cat Lover and Cat Foster Carer