Fuzzy Logic  

It's all the cat's fault. Still, I should have thought about the potential problem when I bought my suit.

Grey cats and black suits don't mix. No matter how hard I try, no matter how enthusiastically I use the defuzzer and the lint brush, someone always finds at least three cat hairs stuck to my suit whenever I go out.  Friends, colleagues and even complete strangers can't resist the temptation to pluck a hair or two. Yes - the cat's silver hairs beckon the picker's pluckers like a beacon.

I'm even becoming accustomed to my video and computer repair technicians. They mumble away to themselves about the felted wads of cat hair that glue the bowels of my electronic equipment into an unworkable bio-mass of electronics.

But that's the nature of pet ownership - the little sacrifices that pet owners endure on a daily basis in their own lifestyles to accommodate their pets.

Non-pet-owners - the 'unfuzzed ones' - don't know what they are missing! Where's the joy in a pristine yard devoid of doggy-loggies and malodorous bone discards? How can life be full and rich without sticky nose smears on the back window of your station wagon or pet hair tumbleweeds avalanching down your hallway?

While new research has thrown doubts on previous claims that pets reduce blood pressure, we fuzz-enhanced people know that our pets are good for us. To us, our pets are part of the family and have the same ranking as a child. In fact, for many, a pet is a child substitute.

Pets are particularly important for the elderly. With longevity in humans becoming the norm, many senior folk are looking for something to 'parent', to spoil and to give affection to.  For seniors whose kids have long since left home, a pet really is an important substitute child.

Of course DINKS (Dual Income No Kids) are often into pet ownership. A pet is a lot easier to manage than a child, but therein lies a problem.  If a DINK is a SNAPO (Sensitive New Age Pet Owner) then he or she will do all they can to ensure their Fuzz Factory at home is content and happy while they are working their extended hours.

That's where the guilt can start. For some, the thought of their Fuzz Factory being alone for long periods will be enough to persuade them to spend more time at home. In America, 48% of pet owners state that they spend more time at home because of their pet. Many will be doing that because they enjoy their pets' company but some pet owners can fall victim to their pets? overt attention-seeking behaviour. Their pets rule their lives and they won?t go out. Some owners will refuse employment because of their pets. I don't think that is good for the owner or the pet.

To keep their pets happy, absent owners will usually leave food and water, and so they should. Sixty percent of owners will also leave fans or an air conditioner on if the pet is inside the house. To improve their pets' contentment further, 50% of pet owners will leave toys out for their pets, and one third of pet owners leave a radio or television turned on.

I often feel that cats are a better pet for Sensitive-New-Age-Pet-Owner-Dual-Income-No-Kids people than dogs. Cats tolerate periods of aloneness more readily and are cleaner and cheaper pets. In addition, with new housing systems on the market, comfortably confining cats in a combination outdoor/indoor enclosure to keep them safe when your not home is quite possible.

When it comes to trends in pet ownership, I often look to America for a glimpse at our own future. There, the trend is towards smaller pets. In 1991, 11 million birds were kept as pets in America but in a 1996 survey this had increased to 12.6 million. Small animals such as ferrets, rabbits and exotic animals were also on the increase. By comparison, a reduction of almost 20% occurred in  the number of pleasure horses owned - from 4.9 million to four million.

When it comes to cats and dogs, while we battle with the tumbleweeds of fuzz left by almost four million dogs and 2.7 million cats, this is nothing but a splash in the water bowl compared with America. There they cope with a vast 53 million dogs and 59 million cats. Isn?t it interesting that the number of cats outweighs the number of dogs in America? Is this because dogs don't 'fit' into the condensed and crowded American housing tenements?

As the housing density in Australia rapidly increases, we, too, can expect a change in the types of pets we own.

Dogs in high-rise accommodation is very much on the increase in Australia and that brings problems with it - but they are mostly solveable.

So, the shrinking back yard and the shrieking computer age will have far reaching effects on our fuzzy friends. Pet ownership beyond 2010 will be a challenge for us all.

Perhaps we should be promoting Pet Rocks as companions - but many would still take them for granite.