Growing up in an African community cats are believed to be a tool for demonic mischief. This set of animals are domestic species of small carnivorous mammals with a very sweet nature. They have two beautiful eyes situated by the sides of their small head, whiskers at the sides of their big mouth, an adorable nose, a tiny waist line depending on the species with their whole body covered with furs, having four legs with paws and paws. Cats are highly sensitive to sounds and they have a very sharp sense for smell. They are not usually large eaters so because of these features this animals are perfect pet companions for some people and they are responsible and capable for dealing with their own exercises and cleaning of themselves with extremely strong nocturnal eyesight.
Generally we have quite a large numbers of cats species around Africa ranging from the wild cats to the domestic cats but for the sake of this story we are going to be focusing on the domestic cats, Research has shown that there are over 45 breeds of cats existing some of which are the Persian cats, the maincoon, Siamese cats, British Shorthair, Ragdolls, Sphynx cats, Munchkin cats, Bengal cats, Scottish fold, and the American Shorthair, e.t.c. Though only a few of these breeds are seen around Africa and Nigeria at large for example the Ragdolls, the American Shorthair and the British Shorthair.
Though Nigeria is known for a lot of good records but we all can agree that it is as well known for it many superstitious believes many of which over the years due to the influence of development and the wild spread technology and cultural imperialism some are already being forgotten, remodeled or even abolished, But this notion about cats remains static which is “cats are tools for diabolical activities”. Viewing this stereotypes from the religious aspect I could attest to the fact that cats in their nature are more gullible than other creatures, they are easily penetrated due to their attached and curious nature, rather than being fully loyal like dogs for examples cats are dominator this character is seen in the nature of the lion, they enjoy ruling. Cats see their humans as their subjects and they have a mind of their own meaning they are not as loyal as dogs so because of this nature it becomes difficult to train a cat to do tricks but not impossible.
Being a cat lover I personally own a cat which I named Khaleesi, from the series Game of Thrones, I choose this name because I loved how that character went well with my cat’s nature, Living with my cat has been a wonderful adventure though challenging initially because of the period of trying to potty train her, yes cats can be potty trained and understanding her eating preference but other than these challenges my cat is currently more than just a regular cat, she’s practically family she listens, understands and plays in general she makes me very happy and in our society of today getting hold of true happiness is rare so it’s best to simply hold on to whatever gives us a glimpse of that happiness.
Cats have nine lives is one popular old saying people are familiar with, but the truth is cats earned this saying because of their longevity, an average cat can live up to 12_15 years with all of the turbulence of life and they are difficult to kill, what could easily kill other animals when same thing happens to a cat they’d survive. The most easy approach to kill a cat is to simply chop off its head if you can lay hands on them and get them to trust you or you could hit them on their heads.
Note: cats are not to be feared but loved they are just like other regular animals we have around us, they are not as terrible as the superstitions about them say.
– Elijah Chubiyojo Divine Mercy
Mass Communication Department,
Prince Abubakar Audu University Anyigba, Kogi State
