So you think you might want to get a cat?

 In sales we were always told that we need to find our why. That is what you need to do if you are thinking you might want to get a cat. There are a lot of reasons out there and it is more than likely something different for everyone. For me I didn't have time to find my why. I didn't even know that I was getting a cat I was just keeping a cat for a friend/business partner and all of a sudden it was a permanent situation. So I guess we could say my why was to improve my career. Just because of the fact that there are a lot of people out there who prefer dogs over cat's your going to get negative feedback if and when you tell people that you are thinking about getting a cat or planning on getting a cat. A common phrase from people who don't understand your why of wanting to get a cat is something a long the lines of, "there's plenty of cat's down at my granddad's farm if you want a cat go catch you one down there." It might not be along those exact same lines but they will say something like that. 

Another thing you might want to ask yourself is do you have room for a cat or any pet for that matter. My answer to that question would have been no. I was still living in my studio apartment and even though it was a pretty good sized studio apartment to me it just didn't seem suitable for a pet. I was even thinking that after we had a party at the complex and there were several people there marketing different things and one of those people working the event was someone from The City of San Antonio Humane Society. She was marketing pet adoptions from the Humane Society and how to go about doing that. I spoke with her about it, even told her what kind of pet I was interested in which was way different from what I ended up with. However at the time I just didn't think it was the right time and I didn't think my living situation would really be good for it at the time, and although I was doing great at work with my sales career I still wasn't where I needed to be financially. 

One of the issues talked about with family and friends a couple of years ago when I was wanting to get a chihuahua was the simple fact of I probably wouldn't be home a lot and as a result of that I would not be able to give a pet their desired amount of attention. However I was working evenings and the apartment I had at that time actually had a bedroom so I would have been better off having a pet at that apartment and on that schedule than I was when I actually did get a pet. I even filled out a pet adoption application online from a pet adoption center in the town that my parents lived in because I saw this cute little chihuahua puppy and one of my references did tell the pet adoption counselor he might not be home a lot because he works full time, and she thought that might have hurt my chances of being able to adopt the puppy. At that time I came to the decision it probably wasn't a good idea at the time.

If your thinking about getting a pet make sure you don't have a job where you have to travel for work. Although if you do have a job where you have to travel for work a cat would probably be your best choice just because their low maintenance. I was thinking about if things got weird and I had to take a job where I had to travel for work with me having cat's now how would I do it. My thinking would be get a huge bag of cat food lay it flat on the floor and cut the top part of the rectangle of the bag of cat food, that way the cat would have plenty of food and leave a huge bowl of water something like a mixing bowl or something. I knew someone that had a cat and actually did have a job where he had to travel for work and he did something similar to that, but he also had a family member that he trusted to go to his apartment and look in on the cat. I would recommend buying extra big bags of cat food just in case they do run out that way whoever is looking in on your cat can just tear open the top part of the rectangle part of the bag and leave it on the floor for the cat or refill the bowl or whatever the procedure is. The only thing about that is that when this friend of mine got back from his business trip he could hear that cat crying from the top of the stairs to his apartment.

I also knew a girl when I was in college I was best friends with her brother, who also attended that same university but had graduated three years earlier. She basically graduated before me and her brother had even started at that university as freshman. We started three years later. Anyway, she had two cats and she liked to travel a lot she did something similar to this and it seemed to have worked. She would just get up and go, and she actually could because she was a teacher in another city in a neighboring state. Plus she had a husband that did pretty good with his sales career, so she pretty much had it made. When I met her through my friend she was new to that city so I don't think she really her neighbors very well, but she did have a friend that lived in a suburb of that city that she had drive in and check on her two cat's while she was away so everything kind of worked out for her while she was traveling. Although these days they do have things such as pet hotels. A lot of times these are also veterinarian clinics and a lot of times they are just pet hotels alone. I don't think this friend of mines sister ever used one, even when she would travel when her husband was in another city for a few months due to a work thing because although with her travels she was a spur of the moment kind of girl she was still all about saving money and that deal that she had worked out with her friend living in the suburbs did seem to work for her. The bottom line is according the complete idiot's guide to living with a cat, make sure that for the most part you have stability in your life. I get it that things come up but if your traveling a lot due to work or pleasure the best thing to do is to wait. 

The reason that a lot of times retired people are the ideal parents for pet's is because they have the time. I mean it makes sense because they are not running off to work these odd hours and leaving their pet's alone in the house or apartment. The wrong thing to do is to assume that having an animal won't change things because it will. My mistake was taking in Tiger (my business partners/friends cat) thinking it was just going to be a week or two. That automatically changed things right there because my place all of a sudden was not as orderly as it usually was. One of the things to consider when deciding if you want a male or female cat or kitten is how often are these cat's going to be outside. If your going to let your cat outside a female cat might not be the best idea because when she get's older and starts wandering around there's a potential she will come back pregnant. A facebook friend of mine made a valid point yesterday along the lines of why people even have pets in the first place if they are going to keep them outside exposing them to harsh weather conditions. I have to agree with her. I might could understand if this is a big dog, but still I am in San Antonio and I don't know leaving a dog or cat outside like that in this heat. I mean if your afraid that the dog is going to tear up your house that is why there are animal trainers and they are available at pet smart. Cat's in my opinion are just not outside animals at all. I get it that sometimes they get out of the house by accident, and I get it sometimes they get lost by accident. Also, there are some dogs that are just not outside dogs. These are the small dogs. I am sure that all of you are probably saying yes we know this but believe it or not there are some people that keep their small dogs outside.

A lot of people think that an older retired person would probably prefer a grown cat, because they are less active than a kitten. That is actually not true because I know a lot of older people retired people who love kittens and puppies and love how hyper they are. I think it kind of helps them from the things that they are dealing with in there later years. Really it just sort of boils down to what the person wants at that particular time. Sometimes a younger person or a child will want a kitten sometimes they will want a full grown cat. Sometimes and older retired person will want a kitten and sometimes they will want a full grown cat.  Pet's in general are just really good for children and really good for older retired people, but we seem to be finding more and more ways that pet's are just good for a lot of things.