We love cats. We’ve always had at least one, and frequently more than one. Occasionally many more than one. We’re down to one, Molly, and we’ve decided we won’t replace her when she joins her clowdermates. At least, not immediately.

Cats are wonderful pets. Pretty self-sufficient: they need food and water and a place to go, and prefer the last one to be cleaned on a regular basis, but aside from that, they can pretty well entertain themselves. Just be sure you know that in a cat’s mind, everything’s a toy. Level surfaces are places to lie down, even shelves, and if there isn’t room, they’ll knock whatever is in their way onto the floor. They differ from dogs in that dogs are pack animals, where cats are individuals. You might find two cats sleeping peacefully together all afternoon, then one wakes up and swats at the other.

Everybody loves…