In it for the Squee

She showed up for food and stayed for good.

Last spring, a tiny white-and-orange cat started tagging along with the big black tom cat the family had been feeding. She was small, cautious, and clearly unsure about people. Meals became the bridge. Day after day, the husband and son put food out and gave her space. Slowly she stopped running so fast. They named her Scottie because of her butterscotch patches, and the name stuck as she started showing up like clockwork.

She made every decision herself. First she ate in the yard. Then she decided the garage was safe enough. The door to the house stayed open, but nobody pushed her. Some days she stepped inside for a few seconds and bolted. Other days she stayed a little longer. When the weather turned cold, she chose warmth. By the time snow arrived, she was sleeping inside like it had always been the plan.

There were already two orange cats living there, so Scottie fit in almost suspiciously well. She's still tiny and glued to Thomas, the big tabby she decided was her best friend. The family didn't set out to add a third cat. Scottie simply moved in and made it official. Now the house belongs to three orange cats, and nobody's complaining.

Sometimes it feels like the world is burning down, and in cases like that comforting cat memes rush in to save the day! 

If you feel like the world is burning, like the future is so terrifyingly unknown, like you can't handle anymore bad news, then it's the purrrfect time to luxuriously scroll cat memes. Why do you think everyone is harking back to 2016? The past always feels simpler, and through the eyes of nostalgia things will look rose-colored from afar. There's a strange cultural gravity pulling people towards the past, towards their nostalgic enjoyments from times that felt bereft of the certain climate we live in now. Scroll through social media and you'll see those grainy festival photos, early Instagram filters, and memes about simpler times. It's a very specific type of nostalgia, it's the rapacious longing for a year that holds a feeling. Part of it is psychological. Nostalgia tends to romanticize periods that felt stable, formative, or socially cohesive. For many people now in their early to mid 20s, 2016 is when adolescence thrived, where you were old enough to feel independent and form your own story of good memories and childlike fun, but young enough to feel carefree and unburdened of responsibilities. Memory softens the rough edges of adolescent awkwardness of confusion. 

So if you're feeling down, confused, or like you're too worried about the direction the world is shifting in, loosen the edges of your worries with these silly, hissterical, and purrfectly comforting cat memes to really drive you into ultimate distracting bliss. 

Life has a funny way of paying us back for what we do – like getting a "package" from a customer when you're a delivery driver and meant to be the one delivering goods. 

Off on the road, a long list of addresses ahead of you to dispatch the respective goods at homes who have ordered something. We all know the joy of receiving a package after making an online purchase, but in the story below, the deliverer comes out with a surprise gift. He delivers a certain package to a home, but before he can drive away, he notices a little kitten right under his car. He tires to get her to budge, but it's no use. He speaks to his customer, and she gives him the thumbs up to take the cat and enjoy her. He comes home with a gift himself, a little kitten to love furrever. 

Gaining the trust of a stray cat is hard. Gaining the trust of an abandoned asthmatic 8-year-old cat is way harder. 

Abandoning a cat is a terrible enough thing to do. Abandoning an asthmatic 8-year-old cat after you were the ones who caused his asthma in the first places… we could not hate people like that more. We could never imagine doing that to an animal. And yet, despite how unthinkable it is, some people actually do it. Some people decide that these innocent, adorable animals are more trouble than they are worth. And instead of looking for a different home for them or for someplace to take them, they just abandon these cats, leaving them to fend for themlseves. 

Gaining the trust of cats like that is no easy feat. And still, some people - some genuinely good people - try. They work hard, for months, to slowly coax these cats close, to get these cats to trust them. And then they work even harder to get them used to living indoors. They do it because they know it is the right thing for these cats, that it will give them the best chance at survival. They do it because they know these cats are worth it - every second of it. 

Every cat has their own weird little habit. If you haven't encountered your cat's yet, then you will. 

This is true for all cats. They all have something weird that they are obsessed with. You might not know what it is yet. Heck, maybe they don't even know what it is yet. But they will eventually, and so will you. One day, during a completely normal moment, you will bring something into your house, or you will make something, or you will drop something, and a dormant part of your cat's brain will awaken. Without any warning. 

You might find out that your cat is obsessed with snap peas, and it will thenceforth be your duty to constantly buy them. Or maybe you will find out that your cat loves sitting on puzzles, and will not give up any opportunity to do so. Maybe you will find out that your cat loves to watch The Grinch, and will demand that you turn the movie on over and over. Or maybe your cat will do what this one does, and every single time that you open the fridge door, they will sprint - at top speed - toward it, sit inside, and screaming. Maybe. You don't know until you know.