Happy Cater, uh, unday!
We’ve got no immature cat humor for you today, but I thought PITB readers might be interested in this essay from The Conversation, which despite its ominous title actually goes into some detail about research showing the positive effects of bonding with a cat.
Affection between you and your feline friend results in a burst of oxytocin — the happy brain chemical — for both of you.
But crucially (and here’s where I feel validated for constantly preaching this), your cat enjoys the benefit only if the little one is securely attached and is not forced into interaction.
I’ve said it so many times, I feel like a broken record, especially because the web is saturated with articles that ask “How Can I Make My Cat Like/Love Me?“
And the answer, of course, is that you can’t.
That’s part of what makes cats so awesome. We have to earn their trust and affection, and a major part of that process is respecting our cats’ feelings. That means we let them come to us, we stop petting them when they’ve had enough, and we don’t prevent them from leaving when they decide they want to lay on the couch or the floor instead of our laps.
Cats grant us benefits beyond oxytocin boosts, of course, and the linked article goes into that as well. It’s well worth a read, even if you’re an old pro at cat whispering.
President Buddy: Not Funny!
It’s obvious I model President Buddy’s behavior after a certain someone in addition to dialing his own traits up to 11, but in the wake of recent news, a story I’d written no longer feels funny.
Not because it was offensive, but because satirizing current events just feels inappropriate with all that’s been going on, from our extreme polarization and political violence, to the sad state of global affairs.
At the same time, I spent quite a bit of time making another denomination of Cat Dollars, and since there’s no longer any satirical story for it, I figured I’d share it here.
President Buddy sure does like seeing his portrait everywhere. This time I skipped the powdered wig and gave him a more modern appearance:
Meowster Money and Meowster Delicious are the treasurer and secretary of yums, respectively. A thousand cat bucks is a lot of cans! (Or snacks.)
In the meantime I’ve been working on some designs I hope to turn into t-shirts and possibly other things like prints. They range from a regal-looking lion to a jaguar roaring in the night with a retrofuturistic feel. Watch this space for more details in the near future!
Pain In The Bud 
How to have purring on your devices any time you want it. Adjustable to your preferences: I have this as a pinned tab. https://purrli.com/?ck_subscriber_id=3196176748&utm_source=convertkit&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=A%20simple%20trick%20to%20beat%20procrastination%20-%2018652429
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I clicked on it when Bud was less than a foot away and he was like “Uh, what’s going on, dude?” But then I rubbed his head and realized he was purring too. For such a loud and talkative cat, he somehow has a silent purr.
Good idea from whoever made that app. I thought it was going to be recordings, but the ability to adjust it is great. Thanks for sharing!
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This is fabulous! -when Bella is not near purring for real I play it – thanks for finding this
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I love Purrli and have it as a bookmark at the top of my browser.
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Ahaha, love the Buddy currency! While I do like puppy dogs, gaining a cat’s affection can be a real diplomatic accomplishment!
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Especially people like you who take in strays and ferals, patiently giving them space and earning trust until they’re comfortable.
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Please explain to me why President Buddy is not funny. And like i said ALL POLITICAL VIOLENCE IS WRONG. That being said you should hear the crap that came out of that mans mouth. A woman nearby and her trans child showed me one video. They live close by synagogue where Patriot Front put stickers on there and other places.I saw one of those stickers on a telephone pole. She bought a gun for thier safety and so did a lot of her Jewish neighbors. They are afraid they will show up a THIRD TIME.
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I wrote a satirical story about President Buddy authorizing attacks on the catnip cartels, a la Trump, but he just wanted to steal their ‘nip and snacks, not bomb them.
Still, it doesn’t feel like the right time for satire.
There will be more President Buddy stories in the future.
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Great article and I have no doubt that oxytocin is alive and flooding my brain right now as she is purring away on my lap (quite a rarity for her to sit on me) and it so true that the affection has to be earned with trust and love ( and snacks of course!!!) for her to reciprocate.
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It’s good to get more confirmation in the form of hard proof that there’s nothing quite like petting a cat.
Bella is rewarding you for good service.
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Yes, the world is so awful that it’s beyond satire. It satirizes itself.
But I still want Buddy to be President of the Americats.
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President Buddy will be back! He’s just taking a golf trip right now, and probably devouring food at the clubhouse after the 9th hole.
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The old presidential golf trip!
I remember Eisenhower’s golf trips. It seemed like every time there was another crisis, he would be off golfing.
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Sorry. I disagree. I thought it was funny.
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Well, you know how it is. I’m probably the least qualified to objectively judge if a post here is funny because I’m writing it.
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Cat trust is a beautiful thing. You may recall that Gypsy had a rough life before coming here. I got her trust when I brought her upstairs away from Angel who was taking all of her food. But when we opened the rest of the house to her, she got very skittish again. She is finally in a good spot. An elderly friend was over yesterday for dinner, and Gypsy spent the whole visit in her lap. It was awesome.
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I don’t know her whole backstory. Is there a particular post where you go into detail? I’d like to read it. Gypsy and Sarge are unique and very photogenic, but I like your “Queen of the Night” and the rest of the gang very much too.
It’s amazing to see so many cats with so many unique personalities get along and divvy up territory (mostly) peacefully. You have an awesome pride of kitties.
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I don’t think I went into great detail anywhere. Gypsy’s first humans kept her in a cage. When my daughter and her ex-husband got her they were in a trailer with three other cats. Her ex said that Gypsy wasn’t allowed around the other cats because she was mean so he kept her in the bathroom. She started out in the sunroom here, but then I discovered that one of the other cats from my daughter’s house was eating all of Gypsy’s food. I brought her upstairs, but I wasn’t sure that I wasn’t too late. She blossomed upstairs. But when we totally opened the house to let them all have free run of the floors, she got traumatized again. I think she’s finally comfortable. Thank you for the kind words.
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Poor Gypsy. She deserves to live her best life and you’re giving her that opportunity. I can see how it would be overwhelming after a cage was her whole world, but our little friends are resilient.
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I’ve said it here before, and will say it again. Cats are people, and we need to treat them as people and not as property. Respect them, and they will return the favour. Love them, and they will love you back. Forcing them to do anything against their will is futile, as well as needlessly cruel.
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Words of wisdom and absolutely true. Also a good reminder that just because some aspects of an animal’s personality are not immediately apparent to us does not mean they don’t exist, as so many people have assumed about cats
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