In today's Guardian, Tom Cox examines the Crazy Cat Lady stereotype, explains why cat people are cool, and teaches us the technical term for "cat-lover."
An ailurophile — yup, that's the word — since childhood, Cox now has six cats. He calls the Crazy Cat Lady archetype "the 21st-century equivalent of the witch and her furry familiars," which makes being a cat lady sound pretty cool. He also says,
In my opinion, cat owners are tolerant, uniquely willing to see past the flaws of others, nurturing and patient - largely because they have been taught these qualities by cats.
He adds that cats aren't just for women (vegan advocate Jeffrey Moussaief Masson, author of a whole book on his cats, would agree) and that dog people may be a little crazy themselves:
It remains one of the great injustices of animal-lover stereotyping that there is no such cliche as the Mad Dog Person. Is it not madder to get your preparation for life's hard knocks from an animal that is a groupie for your every move? Is it not Dog People who see it as normal to keep the company of animals that cannot take care of their own excrement? Dog People who have smellier cars and houses?
An ailurophile myself, I'm happy when anyone holds up my animal preferences as an example of tolerance and psychological well-being. But really, the best part of the article is the picture, in which the gray kitty is quite obviously hacking up a hairball.
That Loving Feline [Guardian]