We adopted a Glasgow tenement cat from a lady who worked in Africa. She had named him Fujo which means “mischief” in Swahili. He was an opinionated and very independent four year-old moggy,. Despite being raised as an indoor cat in an upstairs terraced building he quickly learned how to use a cat-flap after he came to us in Edinburgh and eventually he morphed into an intrepid adventurer who patrolled the streets of genteel south Morningside. His patch always included the doorsteps of imposing houses where his pitiful miaowing would invariably result in being invited in to dine on titbits. Fujo loved food and would even sit expectantly for ages before his empty feeding bowl! On the few occasions he stayed in a cattery, the owners joked that he was the only resident cat who had not only finished all the food left for him overnight, but was actively trying to lick the pat
overall tern off the bowl too! I include a photo of us with and our first grandchild just to show you his overall size!
Fujo was also un-cuddly. He loathed being petted and would only purr on his own terms. If you tried to stroke him on your lap, he would leap off in an instant only to stretch out on the floor beside you and begin purring like an engine. In all the years he lived with us, he never did anything except what he himself wanted. He came and went as he pleased, slept wherever he wanted, ate whenever and whatever he wanted turning his nose away from the low-fat diet recommended by the vet. Despite all these foibles we regarded him as an irreplaceable friend and member of our household, shedding hot tears on his demise. Why?
Unlike other domesticated animals cats are not useful to us humans. Cattle, sheep, and goats provide dairy, horses, camels and donkeys provide transport, dogs are loyal companions. But in the thousands of years that cats have been adopted by us and have they have remained independent and inscrutable.
A simple answer as to why we love cats so much is just that they are cats!
