FOR THE LOVE OF CATS

We have seven cats. 

We used to have many more but intercontinental travel and feline politics whittled down the numbers. They're all still okay, let me assure you. By whittle down I mean - rehome amid much tearful farewelling. 

The remainder emigrated with us. 

One day, Jeremy Jinger decided to make our home his home yet little did that big soppy boy know he'd be trading the Magaliesburg terrain for the hills of Adelaide. 

To mix metaphors - cats are just the dog's bollocks. 

They all still look at me very wistfully as if to say: how the fuck did we get here? Or: better yet - where the fuck IS here? 

But they're happy. And that makes me happy. 

Never more so than late at night when the black apparition leaps onto our bed and snuggles in the crook of my arm while I try to read. Karen snoozes peacefully next to us, oblivious to the catman bonding going on just a foot away. 

This is Chakra, the most skittish and highly strung of the entire menagerie - a menace, a brat, a monster who'll hiss and bite you (emphatically but not viciously) if he doesn't get his own way. He's a cat. 

But when he climbs onto my shoulder, nestling in my arms and kisses my face amid loud, steady purring, he is pure love. He is my familiar. 

I fall asleep cuddling this cat and I'm sure at times we even share dreams. 

I love them all so profoundly - the chirpy little Shrew who tiptoes so daintily and never enters a room without announcing herself, Jeremy the Jinger Ninjer who's a quadrupedal purring machine, Beatle the butt-tickle collapsacat flopping at your feet for yet another rump rub, Jozi the manic mini marauder - claws clicking on the hardwood floors as she tears around the house dislodging rugs in all directions before attacking Chakra then complaining bitterly because he decides to reciprocate, the twins, Isis and Ozzy, brats both but pigeon pair curled up on the bed in their yin yang pose just too cute for words. Then there is my nocturnal shadow lover, Chakra asleep in my arms when he's finished bullying and terrorising the rest of the clan and is ready to settle. 

It's a magical part of my day. 

It's profoundly comforting and can be described, I guess, as contagious contentment. 

Try it. Love a cat. Or better yet - let a cat love you. They're the ones who decide after all. 

You won't regret it. Ever.