It’s the tenth anniversary of our video, “That’s What Cat Moms Do”. Every year cat people return to watch it again. The video did well that first year and continued to be shared each year afterwards. It was posted on Facebook in 2015 and a video sharing site called Rumble in 2016 and combined the video has close to twenty million views on facebook, making it our most popular video for Furball Fables. (Watch the video is at the end of this post.)
The video was created after reading a Catster Magazine post by Dorian Wagner of Cat Lady Box called “Pet Moms are Real Moms”. Dorian was responding to a woman named Susan Maushart who wrote a Huffington Post article called “Pet Parents aren’t Real Moms”
Susan Maushart did not feel pet parents were real parents and even called pets stupid. I was as angry about it as Dorian was. I wrote and posted the video a few hours later.
Which brings me to the question “Are Human Cat Moms Real Moms”? Yes! Yes, of course we are! Why is that? Because my cats are family! And I am not the only one who feels that way which is why this video strikes a chord with so many women like me. As cat parents we do a lot of the same things that human parents do.
The video begins with my youngest cat Buddha asking “Who’s our Mother?” My Russian blue cat, Yogi, who passed away suddenly last summer replies, “ we don’t have a mother” and the video takes off from there with all the other Furballs explaining all the things I do that moms do.
It was fun to revisit my original four pages of notes for the video. Also looking through the thousands of comments was a blast!
I can think of a lot more reasons today that proves human cat moms are real moms. Here is my list of examples! Some from the video, some from my notes and some new ones I have learned in the past 10 years.
Yes human cat moms are real moms – I adopted all five of my cats. I named them. I have raised them since they were babies. I meow AND purr! I am always covered in fur.
I spend more money on cat food than on food for myself. When I leave the house, I kiss them goodbye and promise to return. I tuck them into MY BED at night. I allow them to hog the blankets, sleep on me, crawl under the covers and basically wake me up all night.
I dress them up for halloween. I buy them birthday gifts and Christmas presents and spend countless hours looking for fun, cool cat stuff they might like. They even have their own yoga mats. I give them Easter baskets and have egg hunts on the Catio. Yes, I basically spoil them rotten!
They have ten cat beds throughout the house. I buy them expensive designer furniture. And usually there are an assortment of cardboard boxes for them scattered around our home.
They have their own outdoor Catio and cat garden where they can lounge in the sun, nibble on cat grass and get buzzed on high quality catnip. And of course I only buy the World’s Best Cat Litter with no thoughts of the price. I buy or make toys for them which are everywhere and I spend quality time playing and entertaining them. Yes they live the life of luxury! And it’s worth every penny!
In addition to being a catmom, I am also a teacher of wrong and right, cat servant, housekeeper, bathroom attendant, caregiver, nurse, nanny, referee, laundry service, massager and entertainer.
Oh and I don’t want to forget I am their purrsonal photographer and videographer. Yes I love to share pictures of my cats on my phone to anyone who will look and tell stories of their latest antics to anyone who will listen.
I let them take over my bed, steal my favorite chair for themselves, sit in front of both the computer and tv, blocking my view, preventing me from getting any work done or watching the news.
They are my office assistants and quality control supurrvisors. I let them inspect any new items I bring into the house. They have their own ipad loaded with cat games and they love cat tv. Basically their wish is my command!
I have made a lifetime commitment to these precious felines. Now that they are in their senior years I am making more and more trips to the vet and ER. I have spent thousands, sat in the car for 8 hours at the ER more than once recently. I worry when they are sick. When my naughty, sassy Yogi died suddenly last summer, it changed my whole life to go through his unexpected death. I still miss him so much and cry for him still.
When my youngest, Buddha was diagnosed with cancer this year I was beside myself, not knowing what to do or who to turn to. I have never cried so much in my whole life. I turned to the Furball Fables community, cat parents like me, for help. Teambuddha was created, and they prayed for him, made donations and helped me save him! They comforted me, gave me advice, shared their own purrsonal stories and sent pawsitive messages. This has been one of the most amazing experiences of my whole life.
“He’s just a cat”. Can I tell you how many people said this to me about Buddha? “I wouldn’t try to save him”, “That’s way too much money to spend on a cat” someone else said to me. That attitude” it’s just a cat” is still around. I understand “those” people don’t get it. They are not part of my cat tribe.
These Furball cats are my family. I will do whatever I need to do to take care of them. I love them with all my heart. They have given me so much joy and love also. So let me shout out to the world, “I am Cat Mom and proud of it!” Happy Cat Moms Day to the millions of others, male and female, who are proud to be pet parents, just like me. They understand the things I do for my cats, because they do those things for their cats too!
