I wonder about cats and litter boxes. My housemates have gone to India for a month and while they are gone I’m obliged to look over the cat. I wonder about cats and litter boxes because in the absence of my housemates, I am to clean the litter box once a day. This is a very strange task; and the concept of a litter box is even stranger. Why is there such a thing? Do we or ought we to hold other creatures to such strict and tiresome standards.
I worry that it has something to do with the creature’s nature. Unlike dogs, cats are roguish and do not respond to their master’s beck and call. We fear this feline quality. We argue and squabble over its implications for feline v. canine intelligence, which is absurd. However, I fear that our inclination to train domestic cats to relieve themselves in small rectangular boxes is both ridiculous and unnecessary.
Training any animal to defecate and urinate in one’s house is silly, no matter how clearly defined or designated that place be. Also, excrement will always look and smell like a duck, no matter how much sand and grit is piled on top of it.
It is unnecessary to train an animal to use a litter box. This does not need an explanation. It is simply the case. It is also the case that animals do not need beds to sleep on; nor do they need the warmth of a lover’s embrace; nor any other human luxury that we may be so fortunate to enjoy. Of course, the argument can be made that animals deserve some level of comfort and/or luxury. However, such arguments hinge on the notion that animals have such a thing as rights, and that those rights entitle them to certain standards of living. Animals have no rights; animals merely have the concern of those with rights.
6 comments:
Very true trage. Did we ever train our cat to poop in box or anywhere for that matter? No. Has it been a problem? Maybe once or twice has she shat or peed inside. And she's old, too. And she's not smart, either. She has a walnut sized brain, and that's part of what makes her so adorable.
Animals, especially cats, DO have rights. The right to be snuggled!
Okay, that was totally gay.
you know what I find disturbing about litter boxes is how some people put them in the bathroom next to the toilet. That weirds me out because:
a)I keep thinking about how I like to go to the bathroom barefooted, and I wonder if residents of houses with litter boxes in the bathrooms go barefoot because there is obviously litter on the ground and that gross' me out.
b)Animals shouldn't be treated the same as a HU-man, it's socially acceptable for animals to do their business anywhere. Giving them a room to do it in, especially the one I would take showers in, goes way past anthropomorphism and borders on furry fandom.
oh dood, it's gross. I will say that Caroline is really really good about brother, which is awesome cause there isn't ever litter on the floor when she's around, taking care of him. but the idea is still weird, it kind of makes me think of having sex with someone while your dog is in the room, which is weird. Also, you should make a comic about a person and a cat; they sleep together, they eat together, they shit together. It would be perfect.
SOMEONE'S been watching cesar milan.
i am house sitting for my sister because she has a cat. i like this because
a) i get to kick it in a beautiful beach town and drink beers while listening to live jams ripped from the internet.
and there is no b.
i think the crux of this argument can be taken into the master-slave realm. we as humans, wanting to believe ourselves to be above the rest of the animal kingdom, think that by 'owning' an animal, and subsequently domesticating said animal, have actually succeeded in becoming useful. this, i fear, is yet another of our blind delusions. whether the cat shits in a box or not we are still responsible for one of two jobs. either we are in the field of custodian, in the case of box maintenance, or as gatekeeper, in the case of responding to the whims of the cats walnut sized brain, and subsequent bladder control, and are therefore restricted to the animals beckon call (proper usage?).
i don't know about anyone else but i find it hard to sleep when a cat constantly wants to come in or go out between three and four in the morning.
i guess it all comes down to whether or not you can handle the smell of duck more than you can handle not sleeping through the night.
i conclude that sleep is for the weak with a strong sense of smell.
'beckon call' or 'beck and call' the expression is understood (I just 'googled' this term and the findings are inconclusive). We are, by some degree, undeniably attached to our creatures and their needs. Sleep deeply, dear Witte, and remember that our virtues and our philosophies give, just as they take away.
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