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Valentine’s Day serves as an annual reminder that I will likely, one day, turn into a cat lady. This concerns me for a couple of reasons, the most important being that I despise cats. If their condescending, territorial stares aren’t enough to detract from their appeal, then consider that they’ve been known to eat their dead owners’ bodies. Valentine’s Day might incite oozing feelings of passion for some, flowery declarations of love for others or even just a general indifference. Whenever Valentine’s Day swings around, I usually think of myself not alone, per se, but surrounded by two dozens of cats all feeding on my decaying body. Happy Valentine’s Day, indeed.
Perhaps you'll spot the obvious flaw my brain tends to miss when it conjures up these imaginary soap operas. If I don’t like cats, then I don’t have a problem because I’ll never actively decide to own a cat in the first place–let alone two dozens. No one sane would, which is maybe where the parasite Toxoplasma gondii comes into play. T. gondii alters rodent neural systems so that a rat becomes attracted to the scent of cats (specifically, cat pee) and is more likely to get eaten. Once in the feline digestive system, T. gondii can happily complete its life cycle. That’s not all: T. gondii has also been shown to use humans as hosts.
Although largely asymptomatic in humans, some have suggested T. gondii is to blame for extreme ailurophilic (cat loving) behaviour. The more cats you own, the more waste they produce and the greater the likelihood of T. gondii infecting your brain. It’s a very convoluted kind of feedback, and without any empirical evidence, hard to accept as anything but a conspiracy theory. Along with the cats comes the “crazy”: despite the minute number of historical cases, studies of people with an acute T. gondii infection show they exhibit psychological symptoms that resemble schizophrenia.
The association of female cat owners with the “crazy cat lady” stereotype only reinforces the unequal perception we are trying so hard abolish: that a person’s worth based on their achievements ... cannot compare to the worth of someone who has established a committed relationship.
A pseudoscientific basis for the “crazy cat lady” phenomenon, however, still fails to explain its inherent association with a pathetic and fornlorn soul, particularly one who lacks enough social skills to find a significant other. My friend recently recalled an instance where she had been playing Neko Atsume on her phone, a highly addictive game where the player purchases products to attract and collect a variety of virtual cats. When her brother saw this upon passing by, he commented (I imagine, in a snarky “you should punch me in the face” tone) on it being good preparation for her real life.
No one denies that my friend's story made for a good laugh, but her brother's association of a cat lady with spinsterhood, and ultimately, failure, is proof that a stigma still exists surrounding solitary living.
Yes, the world has come a long way in terms of recognizing that a woman can be successful in both self-acceptance and her career, even if it means she is not romantically involved, but it is essential that we continue to move away from outdated ideals as a unfounded basis for criticizing other people.
The association of female cat owners with the “crazy cat lady” stereotype only reinforces the unequal perception we are trying so hard to abolish: that a person's worth based on their achievements, such as someone who puts their career first, cannot compare to the worth of someone who has established a committed relationship. Everyone is unique, and as we all have different ideas of what makes us happy, it is far from our place to judge someone by the traditional standards of a fulfilling life.
When I say Valentine’s Day serves as a reminder of my probable future as a cat lady, what alarms me is not literally being forced to live alongside domesticated animals so much as the irrational fear of growing old and dying alone. With Valentine’s Day approaching, we tend to forget that we are constantly surrounded by the people (and pets) we love. So love the things you love without reserve. Love yourself (although not in the way Justin Bieber suggests). If that makes you “crazy,” then so be it. All the best people are.
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Esther Chatul is not your typical MSU Presidential candidate. Despite having more likes on Facebook than two of the candidates in the running this year, she is not on your presidential ballot. This is not because she doesn’t have a platform, but because of blatant speciesism. Esther Chatul, to put it simply, is a cat.
In The Silhouette’s one-on-one interview with Esther, we learned a lot about the feline behind the non-human equity movement sweeping the campus. For an animal so vocal on social media, Esther is incredibly quiet and shy in person, burying herself in the lap of her human assistant. Perhaps this is because the five-year-old domestic long hair has had a rough upbringing. She has half a tail after an accident early in her life, and has been through three foster homes before finally being adopted from Pride Rescue by her current owner.
Her owner, Sophie Geffros, helps run Esther’s social media accounts, and translated Esther’s meows into English during the interview. Esther’s human assistants are very committed to the cause, helping her with day-to-day life, and doing everything from taking Esther on the bus to scooping litter boxes. After all, not having opposable thumbs in a world for people with opposable thumbs is very difficult. “We raise her voice, because there’s nothing wrong with being a cat. It’s not that she is any less of a qualified candidate than any of the human candidates. It’s that the world is simply not built to accommodate cats,” said Esther’s human assistants.
Esther’s troubled past, however, has not deterred her from pursuing the presidency. Her ambitious platform includes leveling the entire campus to make it accessible. On this controversial platform point, Esther purrs, “The one thing we don’t know is just where the [expletive] we’ll have classes. It’ll be very difficult to accomplish, but definitely worth it once it happens. It’s sort of like building another student centre that you swear is totally going to get done.”
While her opponents have pigeonholed Esther as solely fighting for non-humans, this is not true. Another pillar of Esther’s campaign is to close the demon portal in the basement of KTH to protect humans who have classes there. Cats can see the demons, but cannot be affected by them. “It’s a bit of a tricky situation where the only animals who can blow the whistle are not in fact the victims of the situation. So it’s really important for me to speak up in these situations. I believe very strongly in responsible whistle blowing. [Upon learning about the demons], students became very distressed so I decided to include providing services for survivors of the demon portal in my platform. I believe in demon portal survivors.”
Esther’s critics have also drawn attention to the fact that the feline inclines to use profane language on Twitter. In response to these criticisms, Esther pawed angrily, “It is inappropriate for people in positions of privilege to tone police me. When you are not in a position of privilege it is your right to make your voice heard in whatever way you can. Before I started using more profane language, I simply wasn’t being heard. It’s unfortunate that it took that much for people to recognize my concerns as legitimate.”
Esther struts with the compassion of an animal who has experienced injustice borne from being a cat in a world made for people. She also has the strength and aggression borne from being a cat. Esther Chatul may not have claws, but her “claws” are out in the fight against injustice.
#EqualityMeow
In her words…
Most ambitious platform point
Leveling campus
Sandwich she would make you
Tuna & gravy
Candidate platform you are critical of
Devante’s washroom improvements
“The fact that people can continue to ignore the need for gender neutral litter boxes is very distressing.”
For or against VP Referendum
For
Opponent you would vote for
“Sarah Jama”
“She actively recognized non-human equity.”
Website
Photo Credit: Jason Woo/Lifestyle Editor
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“I thought in your lease, there’s supposed to be no pets,” says Enid Pagnini, an 87-year-old Westdale resident, surrounded by her five adopted cats.
Pagnini contacted us not long ago about the stray problem she’s noticed in the city. The former teacher, cat rescuer and 42-year-strong Hamiltonian finds it difficult to understand how so many students have pets to take care of, when they already seem to have enough of a challenge taking care of themselves.
Hamilton is not immune to the issue of stray animals, a growing problem across North America. Cats and dogs alike are known to wander neighbourhoods and forested areas, causing alarm to local residents and forcing these same residents to jump to conclusions about where these animals are coming from — in particular, irresponsible student pet owners.
Students have been known to abandon pets in the neighbourhood, but they are not the only group contributing to the problem. Stray animals have been an issue in the city for years, and its citizens across the board contribute equally to the matter. According to a 2013 study by the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies, shelters across the country brought in a total of 103,000 stray cats and 46,000 stray dogs in one calendar year.
While students may not be at the root of the issue, we are still contributing to it. Should certain precautions be taken by students and the university to ensure that we are not adding to this growing municipal issue?
In regards to Pagnini’s earlier comment about having pet clauses in leases, according to the Ontario Residential Tenancies Act, it is illegal for a landlord to stipulate that pets are not allowed. While animals may seem like something forcefully preventable for student house renters, a landlord can only request for the removal of a pet if they are a danger to other tenants. With this in mind, it then becomes solely the responsibility of the student tenant to ensure that they are responsibly taking care of their animal.
Pagnini, along with other longtime Westdale-Ainsliewood residents, has seen numerous students over the years acquire animals and mysteriously part with them before graduation.
“They get their pet, while they’re still living at home, and the parent really takes care of the cat or dog. And then the child goes to university and the parents say, ‘take the cat!’” said Pagnini. “And then they dump them. And that bugs me, that really, really bugs me.”
According to an independent survey conducted by The Silhouette, only three percent of survey respondents admitting to “dumping” their pet outside, whereas a majority 82 percent of respondents claimed to have hung onto their pets long-term.
“It’s not nice to see a starving cat. It’s a very, very sad picture.”
While Pagnini’s anger towards the abandonment of animals is justified, there is no way to identify where these strays are directly coming from and who is to blame for the animals she sees in her neighbourhood.
Who takes in the strays?
Karen Reichheld, the manager of Animal Care and Adoption at the Hamilton/Burlington Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, has been working with strays for the last six years and has seen a pattern in the types of situations that lead to the surrendering of animals to the HBSPCA, as well as the situations that lead to adoption.
“Typically we’ll see people bringing animals in if their animal is having issues or they may not be able to take care of them, and then they would surrender,” said Reichheld.
“We bring in 1,000 animals from Hamilton animal services each year.”
As of the end of October this year, the HBSCPA took in 651 surrendered animals, and found homes for 1,738 of their animals.
“We have many different people come and adopt from us. It could be younger people with their first place, it could be families, it could be a single person in the community just looking for a companion…. Definitely it would include students,” said Reichheld.
At the SPCA, there is a standard adoption process that ensures animals are going into homes that will adequately care for them.
“When students arrive at our doorsteps, we do want to counsel them,” said Reichheld. “Anyone who adopts needs to have a plan.”
The counseling service offered by the SPCA is part of their “Meet Your Match” program, which gives future pet owners the option to learn about an animal’s personality before deciding on which one they will take home.
According to our survey, only 36 percent of student pet owners acquired their pets from family homes, whereas a larger 44 percent made the choice to adopt their pets after moving into their student houses. It seems that students are consciously making the choice to care for these animals, and with the SPCA’s precautions and training in place, these adoptions should theoretically be long-term solutions for these formerly stray animals.
In addition to their adoption service, the SPCA also offers foster care programs for people who are interested in taking care of an animal, but may not be prepared for a lifetime commitment. The foster program is a great alternative for students who want to have an animal, but are worried they won’t be able to take care of the animal after they vacate their student house.
“You have to become a registered volunteer of the HBSPCA. You come to an information session, you tell us what you’re interested in, we counsel you, provide food, medical care,” said Reichheld. “All you have to do is provide the space and the love.”
Where the wild things are
If students are doing a good job taking care of animals, and the SPCA is helping those who aren’t, what’s the problem?
The issue with stray animals is that they are not a problem that will simply be solved overnight, and even those of us who do not have pets already in our student houses should be taking precautions to reduce the impact we have on wildlife and stray animals.
“If somebody finds a cat, and believes it has an owner, don’t feed it, don’t let it come in. Even just petting it and encouraging it to come by, don’t do that, it’ll likely go home,” said Karen Edwards, the Animal Services Advisor for the City of Hamilton.
35 percent of student respondents from our survey confessed to having fed stray animals that they found outside their homes. While caring for stray animals may seem like a good idea at the time, allowing them to become dependent on you can prevent previously owned animals from returning to their homes.
The SPCA sheds a more positive light on animal adoption, but the City of Hamilton knows that it is simply not feasible for all stray pets to find homes or live a safe life.
“We deal with stray animals. So with regards to dogs, we will go out pick them up on the road. We don’t pick up cats anymore, because there are a lot of unowned cats roaming, and we are ending up with far more than we can handle. So in order to lower our euthanasia rates, we stopped picking them up on the road. We will pick up anything that’s injured, ill or deceased, but alive and healthy, we don’t want to have them coming here,” said Edwards.
“We do also take owner surrenders, they pay us a fee and we will take the animal. We do not promise adoptions. Because we don’t even have an adoption program, we rely on our partners. We work with them as much as we can, but there’s no guarantee because we aren’t responsible for their program.”
In an effort to reduce the number of stray animals, especially cats that are found in Hamilton, the city is working to develop a cat-licensing program that will require owners have the same responsibilities they would with a dog. They also passed a bylaw that makes “outdoor cats” illegal, to avoid owned cats from mixing in with strays.
“We’ve reduced our intake so it may seem like there are more out there. It’s not an easy, measurable thing. It’s not an uncommon thing, it happens all across North America, it’s not just a Hamilton thing, even though a lot of people think it is just a Hamilton thing,” said Edwards.
A number of the stray animals we see in our community are tacked onto the issue of an ongoing wildlife crisis across the country. That is in part true, but many strays are still found sporting signs of previous ownership like declawing and neutering.
As student residents of this city, it is just as much our responsibility to ensure that we take care of the animals we own and do what is best for strays.
We may not all be able to take in five cats or care for a foster, but efforts should be made to ensure we are able to care for our animals. Regardless of whether it’s in our leases or not, committing to a pet is a contract.
Photo Credit: Jon White/Photo Editor
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By: Daniella Porano
I’ll admit it – I’m a lifelong dog owner who previously thought cats were selfish and spiteful creatures without the capacity for love. That is, until I found myself adopting an unbelievably cute ball of fur with beautiful gray tabby markings and a tail that rivals any squirrel.
Away from home, I missed my dogs. Being around animals since the second grade made me realize that no home is complete without them. Home is where the fuzzy babies are – or something like that. Unable to take care of a dog because of inconsistent school and work hours, a cat was the next best option. So there I was, peering into a crate and picking out my new kitty best friend.
When I first laid eyes on him, he was being pushed around by a larger kitten in his litter. I knew then that he would be my cat. As I walked out of the adoption centre with him, my heart fluttered with excitement and hands shook with nervousness. I had no experience with cats and I felt vastly unprepared for this three-pound kitten I had just adopted.
My fears were calmed as soon as I brought him home. On the first day, he came and snuggled on my lap while I did homework and fell asleep. Although his lap-snuggling days are long over, he still comes to sit beside me while I work. Sometimes, he just sits directly on my work. The nature of the beast, I suppose.
There’s a lot to love about cats. I respect their selectivity, something I think dogs and humans alike should learn from our feline counterparts. Cats have this impressive way of making themselves regal. Somehow my cat has convinced my family and I that he is a king. He’s now over a year old, and is the sassiest, most hilarious, and most adorable companion I could have imagined. Cats are the funny and smart. They’re independent, but also bossy. My cat loves to be around people, until his naptime requires him to go into my bed alone.
He is the best companion because at the end of a long day, there is absolutely nothing better than coming home to a waiting cat, with their tail in the air and their fuzzy head rubbing into your waiting hand.
By: Rachel Devitt
There are two categories of people: dog people and cat people. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I am a dog person. My distaste for cats may have begun with my allergy to them. My aunt had a cat when I was a child and I came home with the puffiest, itchiest face my 8-year-old self had ever experienced. From there I knew I had to say away from cats. Also, I am still haunted by the Siamese Cats song from the Lady and the Tramp. Even listening to it as an adult gives me the heebie-jeebies.
I remember one time in grade 7 I tried to befriend a cat and when no one was looking, it climbed up my whole body in an attempt to eat the slice of pizza I had in my hand. Not only did I drop my slice in the process, but I also received a scar on my foot from the evil demon.
My opinion on cats is not exactly welcomed in my peer group. I have a roommate who will pet stray cats on the street because she loves them so much. It boggles my mind that she will risk her health and safety just to approach a strange animal on the side of the road. Sometimes when she shows off pictures of her cats at home I feel bad because my entire being prevents me from cracking even the tiniest smile to reassure her that they’re cute.
It also seems like cats have completely taken over the internet in the past few years. There’s some sort of unwritten rule for twentysomethings that watching cat videos on YouTube is fun and cute and part of the zeitgeist. I can’t scroll through Tumblr without seeing about a dozen pictures of funny cats, cute cats, any kind of cat you can imagine. But cats remind me of 15-year-old teenage girls who are being too sassy to their parents. I swear I can see my dog smiling at me, and the only look I ever picture coming from a cat is an eye roll.
I understand that people really do love their cats and they somehow feel like their cats love them back. My allergies and near death/pizza-grabbing experience with a cat might have ruined my possible deep love for felines, but in this life,
Dogz4eva.
Leah Flanagan
The Silhouette
About 4,000 cats and kittens are euthanized in Hamilton each year as the population of stray cats grows out of control. As of the writing this, there are 593 felines, mostly kittens, “free to a good home” on Kijiji in the Hamilton area canadian meds viagra and thousands in foster care and shelters. Many McMaster students living in the student housing area will feed a stray for the school year, but where does it go afterwards?
Young adults are the most likely to move from home to home in very short amounts of time and in the process, a lot of homed cats become homeless when their owners move out. Being a school with such an intelligent student population, developing a solution should come as naturally as a kitten playing with string.
Every female cat older than five months can reproduce then give birth to over 30 kittens a year if they aren’t spayed. The cats in shelters that are scheduled to be euthanized need good homes but education on proper care for a cat is just as important in stopping this problem. Gail McGinnis, a member of the Kit Cat Club says, “You can’t just give a kitten to a child and say ‘here you go.’ We need to educate people how to care for these babies, because that’s what they are, babies.”
The average domestic indoor house cat can live to be over twenty years old. That’s twenty years of love, for better or for worse.
McMaster could introduce a program to promote proper care for pets as well as developing a unique a solution to the adopt-and-ditch norm of off-campus students. For people who are looking to adopt, are there other ways to have a pet and not take care of it for its entire life? Many charitable organizations for stray cats, such as SPCA, HAS, Kit Cat Club and Organization for the Rescue of Animals, are always urgently looking for homes for foster care. This means taking in a pet for a certain length of time and providing it with care, food and shelter. If students volunteered to be foster homes, they wouldn’t be faced with the decision of whether to abandon their pet. It could also give the students the opportunity to see if they are responsible enough to care for another.
Caring for a cat without the financial support of an organization’s help can also be costly. The average cat owner can spend about $900 per year on its basic needs such as food, vet care and litter and the initial essential supplies cost about $300. Most students have loans to pay.
A program should be made at McMaster for adopting a good number of cats and passing them on to the next student as years go on. This would create more jobs during the year and in the summer for placing the cats in homes and doing check-ins to know they are in safe hands.
The cats and kittens should be under contract in a partnership of the school and the shelters to make sure that the animals are returned safely at the end of the year rather than abandoned to increase the student’s responsibility.
Of course, not every student is pet-savvy. Volunteers from shelters should come in to speak to people interested in having a pet and give them a basic training course. This would include teaching them how to properly hold their pet, how much food they need, the overall responsibility, as well as the benefits to having a pet in university or even over a lifetime.
The operation to spay and neuter cats could be a good substitute for medical student’s first surgery. McGinnis says, “We need a really low cost spay/neuter clinic in the area.” With one not in sight for a two-hour bus ride, the likely chance of students actually taking the time is little to none.
The cats could also become part of a research project to see if they help reduce depression in university students. Cats have also been known to help depression in moderate to mild cases, or at least help people cope with their mental state if it is more severe. With 24 per cent of all 15-24 year old deaths being related to suicide, the theory of cats being “happy makers” could benefit both stressed and depressed students.
The City of Hamilton doesn’t have a solution yet, but the Marauders could be it.
By adopting a large number of cats into a school program, neutering and spaying them through the school curriculum, raising money through events to give back to the community and cover the cost of supplies needed to house the cats through fundraisers, the cat community, Hamilton and McMaster can finally be a cat-killing-free community.
