This picture gives me the chills. Just as if someone was running their fingers down a chalk board. Now I have to admit, I have never been a cat lover. Or even a cat liker for that matter. For one thing I'm very allergic to them and I don't enjoy the sniffling and sneezing. The itchy, scratchy eyes and throat I suffer from whenever I am near one. I also think they are extremely self serving and pompous. Which are not character traits I admire in the least. But in the past I have managed to tolerate them. Well, this last weekend I had a very unpleasant experience that I guess you could say has kicked my dislike for cats up a notch. Maybe that's an understatement. I can't even watch cat food commercials anymore with out totally creeping out and wanting to take a shower. I think it's safe to say the I suffer from Ailurophobia. A fear of cats. If you were to ask me which was worse, spiders or cats? I would have to ask you... There's a difference? For me, it's seriously a toss up. So, what was this horrific experience you ask? Well, here are the heinous details. But remember. You asked. It all started with car trouble. Our Suburban has been acting up. It just got new tires and this week spent two days in the shop. Not cheap. But we have been blessed. We were given an opportunity/job that would cover the cost of all these repairs. The job, was to clean out an apartment. Now who's apartment it was is a story for another time, perhaps. I'm still trying to come to terms and make sense of some very sad things. Anyway, there were five cats living in this apartment. And they had been there for awhile. Now my dear sweet husband was with me. I don't think I could have survived this whole ordeal without him. We started cleaning. And I honestly have never seen or smelled anything like it in my life. Okay, that's not true. I saw and smelled stuff like it on my mission. But I never had to try and clean it up. It was almost beyond description. The smell of cat urine and feces was so strong that there were several times I started gagging, and I would have to run outside to catch my breath to keep from throwing up. We had to get rid of all the furniture. We decided to start with the couch. When we moved it, I kid you not, there was about a 6 inch pile of petrified poop that ran the length of the couch. Oh, GAG!! Cat poop is so foul. It's not even normal poop. It's all sandy and grainy looking. You know cats carry disease. You aren't even supposed to touch cat poop if you're pregnant because it can mess up your unborn baby. HELLO!!! Doesn't that tell people something. Dog poop is safe. Rabbit poop. Hamster poop. Give me a big ole' pile of horse poop any day. Over a nasty, disease infested, sandy turd from a cat. Heave!! Anyway, back to my story of heinousness. Bless Mark's heart. He told me he would take care of the petrified poop and I could get started in the bedroom. And if I may point out, Mark had to chisel that poop off of the floor and wall. When he was done, it like stirred the smell up or something because it was even worse, if that were at all possible. It was like he had breathed new life into this entity. Meanwhile I'm in the bedroom, with rubber gloves on mind you, throwing bedding and clothes that are covered in cat hair and fresh urine into big black garbage bags. I had a terrible allergy attack that even after multiple doses of benedryl lasted for two days. I have seriously never seen so much cat hair. It was everywhere. On the stove in the kitchen. In the fridge. The cupboards. You name it. I wanted to cough up a hair ball. Which, by the way, have to ask, what other animal does that? Besides a nasty cat? So we are busy cleaning. And we had been told that the cats were most likely not there anymore because nobody had seen them for days. Oh, but they WERE there. Hiding. Lurking. I remember thinking to myself, "How can these clothes feel wet, could a cat maybe still be in this closet?" Gulp. Little did I know, I was about to find out. So there I was, busy working on the bedroom closet. Chucking clothes into garbage bags as fast as humanly possible. When, out of nowhere, (cue the scary movie music) pounces a gray, hissing cat. I screamed bloody murder. I'm sure I've never screamed so hard in my life. I don't think I've ever been so terrified in my life. Now I admit I've had cause to scream at the occasional spider. But spiders don't lurk. Spiders don't hide. Okay, maybe they do. The point is the stupid cat scared me to death. Mark ran to my rescue and got rid of cat number 4. Yeah, cat number 4. Did I happen to mention that 3 other cats had pounced out at us at this point? Each one of them scared me and got a scream, but not like terrifying, evil number 4. It gets better. Or should I say worse. Now remember that there were 5 cats. Cat number 5 was still lurking. Still hiding. He hid while we made two trips to the dump. Hid while I cleaned the bathroom. Hid while I swept the floor. Hid and plotted. Finally I started cleaning out the pantry. There was a box of boots. I start to pull out the box. All I can are see are boots. I think it's perfectly safe. Then when it's right near my face this. . . oh, my shattered nerves. (My heart is racing even remembering it.) This.. BIG BLACK CAT from the depths of @#&! Jumps out of a boot, right at me! In the darkest corners of my mind, I'm still screaming. I'm sure people in the next time zone heard me screaming. And now. I can't even watch a cat food commercial. Don't even THINK about litter box commercials. Go there, and I'll need a padded cell. I see a cat, and my skin starts to crawl. I can actually smell that apartment again. Shivers run down my spine. I'm afraid I will never be the same again. Frankly, cats freak me out!! So, I have to ask you. After reading my story. Honestly. How can you say that cats are anything but horrific? Disgusting, at best?
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Ailurophobia - Fear of Cats
This picture gives me the chills. Just as if someone was running their fingers down a chalk board. Now I have to admit, I have never been a cat lover. Or even a cat liker for that matter. For one thing I'm very allergic to them and I don't enjoy the sniffling and sneezing. The itchy, scratchy eyes and throat I suffer from whenever I am near one. I also think they are extremely self serving and pompous. Which are not character traits I admire in the least. But in the past I have managed to tolerate them. Well, this last weekend I had a very unpleasant experience that I guess you could say has kicked my dislike for cats up a notch. Maybe that's an understatement. I can't even watch cat food commercials anymore with out totally creeping out and wanting to take a shower. I think it's safe to say the I suffer from Ailurophobia. A fear of cats. If you were to ask me which was worse, spiders or cats? I would have to ask you... There's a difference? For me, it's seriously a toss up. So, what was this horrific experience you ask? Well, here are the heinous details. But remember. You asked. It all started with car trouble. Our Suburban has been acting up. It just got new tires and this week spent two days in the shop. Not cheap. But we have been blessed. We were given an opportunity/job that would cover the cost of all these repairs. The job, was to clean out an apartment. Now who's apartment it was is a story for another time, perhaps. I'm still trying to come to terms and make sense of some very sad things. Anyway, there were five cats living in this apartment. And they had been there for awhile. Now my dear sweet husband was with me. I don't think I could have survived this whole ordeal without him. We started cleaning. And I honestly have never seen or smelled anything like it in my life. Okay, that's not true. I saw and smelled stuff like it on my mission. But I never had to try and clean it up. It was almost beyond description. The smell of cat urine and feces was so strong that there were several times I started gagging, and I would have to run outside to catch my breath to keep from throwing up. We had to get rid of all the furniture. We decided to start with the couch. When we moved it, I kid you not, there was about a 6 inch pile of petrified poop that ran the length of the couch. Oh, GAG!! Cat poop is so foul. It's not even normal poop. It's all sandy and grainy looking. You know cats carry disease. You aren't even supposed to touch cat poop if you're pregnant because it can mess up your unborn baby. HELLO!!! Doesn't that tell people something. Dog poop is safe. Rabbit poop. Hamster poop. Give me a big ole' pile of horse poop any day. Over a nasty, disease infested, sandy turd from a cat. Heave!! Anyway, back to my story of heinousness. Bless Mark's heart. He told me he would take care of the petrified poop and I could get started in the bedroom. And if I may point out, Mark had to chisel that poop off of the floor and wall. When he was done, it like stirred the smell up or something because it was even worse, if that were at all possible. It was like he had breathed new life into this entity. Meanwhile I'm in the bedroom, with rubber gloves on mind you, throwing bedding and clothes that are covered in cat hair and fresh urine into big black garbage bags. I had a terrible allergy attack that even after multiple doses of benedryl lasted for two days. I have seriously never seen so much cat hair. It was everywhere. On the stove in the kitchen. In the fridge. The cupboards. You name it. I wanted to cough up a hair ball. Which, by the way, have to ask, what other animal does that? Besides a nasty cat? So we are busy cleaning. And we had been told that the cats were most likely not there anymore because nobody had seen them for days. Oh, but they WERE there. Hiding. Lurking. I remember thinking to myself, "How can these clothes feel wet, could a cat maybe still be in this closet?" Gulp. Little did I know, I was about to find out. So there I was, busy working on the bedroom closet. Chucking clothes into garbage bags as fast as humanly possible. When, out of nowhere, (cue the scary movie music) pounces a gray, hissing cat. I screamed bloody murder. I'm sure I've never screamed so hard in my life. I don't think I've ever been so terrified in my life. Now I admit I've had cause to scream at the occasional spider. But spiders don't lurk. Spiders don't hide. Okay, maybe they do. The point is the stupid cat scared me to death. Mark ran to my rescue and got rid of cat number 4. Yeah, cat number 4. Did I happen to mention that 3 other cats had pounced out at us at this point? Each one of them scared me and got a scream, but not like terrifying, evil number 4. It gets better. Or should I say worse. Now remember that there were 5 cats. Cat number 5 was still lurking. Still hiding. He hid while we made two trips to the dump. Hid while I cleaned the bathroom. Hid while I swept the floor. Hid and plotted. Finally I started cleaning out the pantry. There was a box of boots. I start to pull out the box. All I can are see are boots. I think it's perfectly safe. Then when it's right near my face this. . . oh, my shattered nerves. (My heart is racing even remembering it.) This.. BIG BLACK CAT from the depths of @#&! Jumps out of a boot, right at me! In the darkest corners of my mind, I'm still screaming. I'm sure people in the next time zone heard me screaming. And now. I can't even watch a cat food commercial. Don't even THINK about litter box commercials. Go there, and I'll need a padded cell. I see a cat, and my skin starts to crawl. I can actually smell that apartment again. Shivers run down my spine. I'm afraid I will never be the same again. Frankly, cats freak me out!! So, I have to ask you. After reading my story. Honestly. How can you say that cats are anything but horrific? Disgusting, at best?
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11 comments:
Okay, now that I have stopped laughing, do I dare ask, "What did you do with the cats????"
Robs. This comment is for you, I'm betting cat #5 was "Blackie." What do you think??
Maybe it was the people who owned them who are horrific and disgusting. Cats are usually clean creatures if their cat box is cleaned out. Otherwise they will refuse to use it and where else are they supposed to go when they are locked up. It sounds more like a case of neglect to me. If it was dogs locked up in a house they would have done the same thing.
Nope. Sorry Anonymous, I'm not buying it. Cats ARE horrific and disgusting. Not going to change my mind on that one. And dogs have the sense to use the bathroom in one place. By the way. Who are you?
Hey "anonymous," I've got the answer to "what else are they supposed to do when they are locked up." They could walk up to their owner, bark or whimper, and then walk over to the door, wait for a leash walk with their owner to a grassy area, then deficate where it can be cleaned up without leaving an amonia smell. Oh wait a minute, that wasn't my idea, I got that one from dogs. Here's a web page to think about. http://www.vetcity.com/files/CatsvsDogs.htm
Love the comments you have gotten on this post.
Ya, I think the cat that jumped out of the boot was Blackie. Maybe Blackie wants to come live with me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just have to say. I don't have anything against people who like cats. I just don't like cats.
Owls. Owls also cough up hair balls.
WOW! You hit a nerve on some cat lover. I have a neighbor that has two cats and they are always pooping in my garden. It is disgusting, smelly, and irritating. My garden is one gigantic litter box. Not too fond of cats myself. I tried to rescue the cats several weeks ago but they wouldn't have a thing to do with me or my offerings of good cat food. They do belong in the wild, and I think that's where they are now!
Okay, I like dogs, but any animal is scary if it jumps out at you like that! Cats are gross though.
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