{"id":1783,"date":"2016-03-25T07:43:26","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T02:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=1783"},"modified":"2016-03-25T07:43:26","modified_gmt":"2016-03-25T02:13:26","slug":"the-trials-of-owning-a-cat-and-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=1783","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m a Cat (and Dog) Person"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\u00a0\n

C<\/span>oming back home these days, is an exercise in mathematical exactness. I walk up to my door, and the arithmetic begins. As soon as it opens, I have to divide my affection equally between my two pets, so as to not trigger a hissy fit. To a lot of my friends<\/a>, this scenario is nine parts adorable and one part absurd. \u201cBut how can a dog and cat coexist in harmony under one roof?\u201d they often ask. If I\u2019m being totally honest, they don\u2019t: Their coexistence isn\u2019t harmonious by a long shot. Yet, our combined affection is multiplied.\n\nMy dog, Zippy, has been with us since 2008, and is a senior dog at this point. She loves her leisure time and enjoys cuddles more than cardio. So when my mom decided to adopt and then hand over a sprightly kitten to me two years ago, it was an overwhelming experience for ol\u2019 Zipps. The very sight of the kitten seemed to bring out the aggressive Zippy from days of yore where she\u2019d gained a notorious reputation of terrorising watchmen and <\/span>delivery boys<\/span><\/a> alike. Her atavistic transformation reminded me of Shekhar\/Tiger\u2019s from <\/span>Hum<\/span><\/i>. <\/span>\n\nEven as she snarled at this tiny feline, I could tell from the look on her face that it wasn\u2019t so much rage as feeling threatened by the idea of having to share the affection she\u2019d only enjoyed herself all these years. In a way, Zippy was suffering from the doggie version of first-child syndrome<\/a>. <\/span>\n\nBut there was little time to cope. My mother had already christened the little guy, \u201cNeedy\u201d. \u201cZippy, Needy, and Jackie! What a fun household,\u201d she chirped. (What can I say about my mom\u2019s obsession with absurd two-syllable names?) \u201cI\u2019m sure Zippy will warm up to the cat just fine. Just look at his cute little nosey-wosey and scruffy little belly-welly.\u201d It was official: My mom had turned my house into a little zoo. <\/span>\n\nAfter two years of living with both Needy and Zippy, I\u2019ve realised the sound logic behind the reason why people choose to be either cat or dog people: Keeping the two separate is simply better for human peace of mind. Like in the initial few weeks, Zippy began to mark her territory by \u201caccidentally\u201d sitting on Needy\u2019s toys. This obviously irked the little feline who responded with scratching her long, cocker-spaniel ears, which is also about the time I noticed that this meme-worthy kitten with the cute little nosey-wosey was actually one wily tomcat. Needy extracted his revenge by eating out of Zippy\u2019s food bowl. Never before had I seen a cat scarf down so much Royal Canin and never would Zippy dare to sit on Needy\u2019s toys again.<\/span>\n\n

“I suspect getting me a cat is my mom\u2019s elaborate ploy to reduce my chances of premarital sex.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nLiving with a cat and a dog is like being the referee at a tennis match. Actually, scratch that, it\u2019s like being the tennis ball, that gets lobbed furiously across the net. <\/span>\n\nIn the confusion of this glass menagerie, it dawned on me that getting me to adopt a cat was my mom\u2019s ploy to drastically reduce my chances of premarital sex<\/a>. I know how it works out for other people with cats and dogs — their stock on <\/span>Tinder<\/span><\/a> explodes. I, on the other hand, have been cockblocked numerous times by my furry siblings, who choose to wreak havoc in my living room at the precise moment something momentous is about to happen in my bedroom. Having to leave in the middle of getting hot and heavy is bad enough. But then separating them by the scruff of their necks and coming back with animal fur all over me is enough to kill any decent woman\u2019s libido. \u201cLet\u2019s just catch up from where we left off?\u201d I offer eagerly. \u201cYeah, no, you know, I was thinking, let\u2019s just watch <\/span>Stranger Things<\/span><\/i><\/a>?\u201d is the answer.<\/span>\n\nOver time, living with each other began rubbing off on Zippy and Needy. This is especially true for Needy who has picked up the peculiar, canine habit of running to the door when the bell rings and unlike any other cat, wagging his tail at the sight of people he likes. This was much to Zippy\u2019s chagrin since greetings and running to the door were solely her domains. She would race, unsuccessfully, with Needy to the door, ending up furious at being beaten to the punch. It was worst for cynophobic delivery boys: Not only were the poor sods goaded into petting an unusually friendly cat, they were then taken by surprise by a livid dog rushing towards them. I\u2019ve had to dole out many a fat tip to make up for their behaviour. On the bright side, Zippy is surprisingly more active than most dogs<\/a> her age. <\/span>\n\nYet, an uneasy peace now abides in our house. <\/span>\n\nOver the last couple of months, things have changed; somewhere between the feline vs canine battle, the two have silently and begrudgingly made peace with each other. Little white flags like Needy scooting over on the couch to give his canine counterpart some space to laze; more collaborative activities like Zippy nudging open doors that her cat companion has trouble opening. I\u2019m lying. They\u2019ve actually united over something they hate: birds. All I need to do in order to get them to stop horsing around is to start cawing loudly. This leads both of them on a combined witch-hunt for this non-existent crow. Unbeknownst to me, my neighbours once witnessed this frenzied cawing ritual. Elevator rides with them haven’t been the same since.\u00a0<\/span>\n\nI\u2019ve made peace with the fact that my cat and dog will never fully get along. There will always be subtle undertones of envy in a room, especially if I am in it. And of course, on certain days I want to scream bloody murder. <\/span>\n\nBut then again, it\u2019s all worth it when I see those two wagging tails waiting for me at the door after a 12-hour work day. All the careful arithmetic in the world is worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve realised the sound logic behind the reason why people choose to be either cat or dog people. Living with the two is like being the referee at a tennis match. Actually, it\u2019s like being the tennis ball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":1784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[3514,3515,56,3516,3015],"class_list":["post-1783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-animals","tag-cats","tag-conflict","tag-dogs","tag-pet-owner","tag-pets"],"yoast_head":"\nI\u2019m a Cat (and Dog) Person<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019ve realised the sound logic behind the reason why people choose to be either cat or dog people. Living with the two is like being the referee at a tennis match. 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