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I’d have thought that even if you’re a ‘new’ reader to I’m NOT Disordered, you can easily see that I’m a cat person! I mean, I regularly talk about the cats that have – and continue to – play a huge part in my life; the cat I grew up with for twelve years – Saffy, the cat that was my recovery goal - Dolly, and the latest addition to the home – Emmy! Each cat has meant something different to me and has subsequently had a different impact on my life.
To fit in with Cats Protection’s new campaign; More Than Just A Cat, I thought I’d take the opportunity to talk about what an impact your pet’s ill health can have on your own mental health. There’s so many people out there who begin sentences with ‘I know it sounds silly but…’ and I think having your pet’s health impact your own is one of those things whether individuals are afraid to talk about it because they worry that it sounds ‘silly.’ But if everyone just spoke up about it then maybe we’d all realize that there’s a lot of us out there feeling this way.
The first cat we had, Saffy, ended up being such good company during the abuse. Being threatened and developing the belief and conviction that no one would believe me and that even if they did, they’d think I’d deserved it, meant that Saffy was the only one I could talk to. The only one I could be my true self around. I could cry and I could panic at the thought that it was never going to end. I could tell her what he was doing, what he was saying and that I was considering that the only way of putting a stop to the abuse would be if I committed suicide. I honestly think that if I hadn’t had that small release, that outlet – regardless that it was a cat – I might not have made it.