My mom picked me up from preschool. It was a pretty spring day. Bright blue skies, birds chirping. And I was riding my little scooter on the way to my mom’s car.

“I have a surprise for you,” my mom said. “What is it? What is it?” I was so excited.

She said, “You’ll find out on the way home.”

We took a different route home that day. And we pulled up to a barn. Then my mom said, “We’re here to pick up a kitten!”

We brought her home, and I named her Whiskas. Because I was such a clever 5-year-old!

I remember Whiskas was so small and just curled up on the couch with me.

whiskas cat

Whiskas and I grew up together, and we were best buds. She’d meet me on the driveway every morning on my way to school. I put my hand over her head, and she’d hop up to get some petting before I went to the bus.

Eventually, we brought Whiskas indoors, and she lived in my room. We played together, and she cuddled in bed with me every night for some petting.

One day, Whiskas couldn’t move her back leg.

She was dragging it along while she was walking. I was so nervous! Especially because I had to leave for college the next day.

My mom took her to the vet, and it turns out Whiskas had a stroke. So Whiskas was on medication, and my mom took care of her while I was at school.

I visited my parents a few months later since school was on break. Whiskas was still on her medication, and she seemed to be doing fine.

tabby cat and english bulldog in bed

But during the week, I was woken up in the middle of the night by a loud shriek. I had no idea what it was, but it scared me.

The next morning, Whiskas wasn’t in bed with me. Very strange since she cuddled in bed with me every night.

I tapped on my bed and called her name. But she didn’t come. Then I remembered the loud shriek.

I told my brother what happened and asked him to look under the bed. He came back up and shook his head sadly.

Whiskas was 16 when she passed away. We don’t know exactly how she was feeling or how the medication affected her.

But it’s amazing and extremely heart-warming that she waited for me to come back home before she passed on. Whiskas waited for the opportunity to say goodbye to me.

I’ve had so many other cats in my life who become my best friends. From working with cats professionally as a cat sitter to neighborhood outdoor cats. They run to me when they see me and hear my voice.

cat cuddling with person on lap

Because I play with them, give them some petting massages, and we become best friends.

And there’s even a study that proves why this works!

Study shows cats prefer human interaction

Cats are often misunderstood in the industry due to a lack of feline research. However, a study with 25 pet cats and 25 shelter cats shows that cats prefer human interaction to all other stimuli including food, scents, and toys.

Some of the cats in the study did not complete the full assessment. But 19 within each category did.

They did this study because people think cats are untrainable and don’t care about us. But it’s just that we’re not using the right tools!

catsplay scratcher
Jericho loves his CatsPlay scratcher

The stimuli categories were social, toy, scent, and food. Cats were given free choice within each stimulus.

Of course, every cat is an individual and has individual preferences.

But overall, the highest stimuli response was in the social category at just under 20. The second highest was food at just under 15.

Playing was the highest social stimuli that cats preferred. And the second was petting. Petting was still preferred by over half the cats in the study.

Cats showed the highest preference for a movement toy within the toy category (vs a toy that does not move on its own).

cat amazing food puzzle toy

So that shows us how important it is to play with our cats! Additionally, cats prefer the unpredictable movement of these toys.

That’s because the indoor version of hunting is playing! And prey movement is unpredictable.

But the important thing here is that it has to be on your cat’s terms.

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