Did Your Cats Wish You A Happy Mother's Day?

Mother’s Day reminded me of the many terms we use to describe our relationship to our cats (or dogs). Common descriptive words used today include “owner”, “guardian”, “caregiver” and “pet parent” – for the human side of the relationship – and “animal”, “cat”, “pet” or “kid”– for the cat – or simply by a specific name we’ve chosen for the cat – often human like “Susie” or “Charlie”.

Does it matter what words we use to talk about our relationship to our cats? Sapir and Whorf’s theory of linguistic relativism holds that the language we speak both affects and reflects our view of the world.

If you are making a lifetime commitment to your cat, you may refer to yourself as a “mom” or “pet parent” or “guardian” and call your cat by a specific name or something like “my baby” or “my kid”). Your bond is apt to be strong enough to help you deal with any problems that arise in the relationship -- medical and behavioral -- much as you would deal with similar issues with in human children.

Instead, if you refer to your cats as “your animals” and yourself as their “owner”, you may have a more objective tie to your cats – one based on the principles of property ownership. When their utility to you wanes – or when they become high maintenance through chronic illness or behavioral issues – you’ll be more apt to trade them in for a new kitten (much like replacing your car periodically) – even knowing that the cat may die as a result of your decision.

As our relationship to cats evolves – and it is – the number of people treating their cats as family members will increase and the numbers treating them as property will decrease. We’ve traced this evolution on our web site in A Historical Perspective of Cat Welfare in the United States. In our ever-changing world,most of the stages of this evolution are simultaneously in play – and people may move from one to the next as they become more enlightened or bonded to specific cats.

As we move away from treating cats as property, our tolerance for animal shelter euthanasia will be replaced by more humane alternatives to control cat populations such as proactive spay/neuter for all cats – living indoors and out -- and by the utilization of vehicles like pet insurance to defray the costs of providing lifelong cat care.

In Defense of Animals, of Mill Valley CA expresses this aptly in their famous quotation: “They are NOT our property… We are NOT their owners. A just and compassionate world for animals begins with our language and our actions.”

Happy belated Mother’s Day to all of you with cat kids in your home.