Observations on social trends

A friend of mine recently told me that she had become a godparent. To cats. I don't have godparents myself, but I was under the impression that the role of the godparent, besides buying a charm for the child's bracelet each year (if it is a girl), is to oversee spiritual upbringing, act as guardian if something happens to the parents, and buy the child its first pint. My friend with "godcats" hasn't yet bought the cats a charm for their collars, or a pint. But she has taken on responsibility for looking after the cats if anything were to happen to their owners. "It's the first adult thing they'd done other than get married," she said, "and they suddenly thought: Oh no, who would take care of the cats if something happened?"

Although my friend doesn't think that the cats are child substitutes as such, she does think they are possibly a trial run for children. Another friend agrees. "I might get a cat before I have children," she said. "That way, if I forgot to feed it and it died of neglect I'd know that I'd make a dreadful mother." Similarly, it's a trial run for the cat godmother: "I haven't got any children or nieces or nephews, so I quite like the idea of having two little charges - but the idea of being a proper godmother is a bit scary."

It is very important that your attitude to animals is similar to that of your partner. Shortly after getting married, my grandfather brought home a dog. My grandmother was having none of it and gave him an ultimatum. It was either her or the dog. The dog went.

But this doesn't always work. My aunt, definitely not an animal lover, was adamant that she did not want pets. Shortly after they got married, my uncle, who had always wanted a cat, took her on a drive into the countryside. They happened, "by chance", to drive near an animal shelter. My uncle suggested they drop in, and found a particularly cute kitten. My aunt said there was no way they were having it, until my uncle told her that if they didn't take it the kitten would have to be put down. For the past 25 years, their household has always had at least one cat.

My aunt still claims she would be more than happy if an adoptive parent were to come forward to take the cats off their hands. However, she has not gone so far as to arrange godparents for the animals. "Perhaps if they were dogs they could have dogparents," said my uncle. "But only if the dogs were dyslexic."

Post your comment

Please note: you will need to login or register before you can comment on the website