Cats and Dogs.

Are you a cat person or a dog person? For pretty much my entire life, I was neither. I grew up not really being an animal person in general, mostly because I wasn't a fan of (a) getting contaminated by the germs on those things and (b) possibly being on the receiving end of any form of bodily harm. Animals did fascinate me to a certain extent, however, as I used to enjoy observing them and learning about them; just not enough to to make me want to touch them.

I had a pet fighting fish when I was seven, which had been given to me by a teacher in school. It wasn't long (probably only a matter of days) before I found it floating upside down in the jar it was kept in, though. Apparently you shouldn't seal the jar shut if the lid doesn't have any air holes, no matter how concerned you are that the water might spill out. I've never had a pet since.

I grew up not liking cats, which is probably down to my experiences with strays at outdoor/open air food joints. I didn't like their incessant mewing and begging for food, how they would suddenly just rub up against your leg, and that they were dirty and germ-infested. House cats were cleaner, of course, but I still refused to touch them or be touched by them. I also never quite saw the point of having pet cats in the first place, as they pretty much give you nothing in return for you taking care of them.

I always thought dogs were more practical - they keep you safe and can understand instructions. Having said that, Muslims in this country don't typically keep dogs as pets (we're not allowed to unless they're for protection), and Malays here generally have a pretty negative outlook on the things. There's also the matter of dogs potentially being able to bite your arm off and being pretty noisy regardless of their size, so as someone who would rather keep his limbs and eardrums intact, I wasn't a big fan of dogs either, though I could appreciate their practicality.

As time went on, I met more and more people who had cats or dogs as pets, and they loved them like they were their own flesh and blood. A friend of mine's cat died once and she was really upset about it; it was difficult for me to empathize given my not-very-fond feelings towards cats.

It wasn't until my trip to France a few months ago that I finally softened my stance towards cats. The house I had stayed in while in Toulouse had a cat that belonged to (or rather, was taken care of by) my friend's housemate. I was given a couch in the living room to stay in, which happened to be the same room the cat would usually hang out in if it wasn't outside. I tried avoiding it at first, but it kept coming towards me for whatever reason - I was told that it hadn't been getting enough love from the guys who lived in the house, so maybe it just wanted some attention and affection.

I eventually decided that resistance was futile, so I allowed it to come up to me, rub itself on me (getting fur everywhere in the process), and even climb onto my lap. I figured I might as well just try petting and scratching the cat while it was at it and, well, I found myself sort of liking it. The cat (which didn't have a name, by the way) and I got along just fine for the rest of my stay there, as you can tell by the above picture.

I wouldn't say I love cats now, but I am able to tolerate them. I was at my cousin's school the other day and there was a cat in the warden's administration office; I took the time to pet it on my own accord. If that does not signify progress, I don't know what does.

I very recently broke down my personal barriers against dogs as well. I flew to Singapore last Friday and, as my flight was quite early in the morning, I spent the night before at a friend's place in Nilai - the thing was that he had five dogs at home. One was a large Doberman kept outside in a cage, while the other four were a family of toy poodles.

I was greeted at the entrance by a whole load of barking, and I could see the poodles poking their little heads through the gaps in the gate, seemingly ready to pounce. My friend's mom opened the gate and they rushed out towards me. I panicked at first and tried to get away, but I eventually calmed down as I realized that they weren't going to bite me. Sure, their saliva got on me and probably my clothes as well, but I just had to wash it off later, which I didn't think was really a big deal. I later tried my hand at petting the dogs, and I found that, like I had experienced with the cat some months earlier, it really wasn't so bad.

I got back from Singapore on Sunday, just before lunchtime, and the same friend (as well as his girlfriend, whom I'd met once previously) picked me up from the airport and took me back to his house for lunch. His mom's cooking was excellent and the time I spent there before heading home to Ampang was enjoyable, but most significantly for the topic of this blog post, I just want to say that I quite liked being around those little dogs again. I enjoyed chilling with them (the one in the picture above is named Lucky) and seeing them do tricks. My friend later said I can I just come over and hang out whenever; I might just do that to see those dogs again (...and to see him, of course).

So do I love animals now? Well, I wouldn't go as far as to pet stray cats, but my perception towards them is now much improved. Animals are God's creatures too, after all, and deserve the same levels of love and respect afforded towards human beings.