So on International Cat Day, I decided to introduce a special someone in my life that not everyone knows about, her name is Mulan,  she is a Persian half breed with a squished flat face. She is supposed to survive and thrive in the desert so can go a few days without drinking too much water. She is incredibly emotionally astute, intelligent, sometimes a little too human, unnervingly so! At times I feel she is speaking to me, no, like literally saying my name, she often gets caught up in incredibly odd behaviour that none of us can really explain with nothing online to help aid our intrigue and concern. She likes chasing nothings in the house for hours, licking plants only, and plans mini escape plans to the garden, only to find she can’t survive as a house cat when she finally makes it out, so meows until one of us comes to save her from getting eaten by foxes. She is incredibly socially awkward finding it difficult to socialise normally with other cats that are bigger than her. She often sleeps on her back flat looking more human than I do, and has been in heat longer than I  imagine is healthy, and hasn’t gotten pregnant since. So I guess shes incredibly eccentric, but it got me thinking, cats are incredibly unique, my cat isn’t an animal in our house, she is a living breathing soul, another member of our family, like my parents, fully have 5 kids instead of 4. Cats are also incredibly central to our faith, as one of the Prophet SAW companions was called Abu Hurayrah, meaning “father of the kitten.”  he was called so because of a small kitten that he used to feed and care for and carry with him in his sleeve everywhere he went.

It got me thinking about the respect we should give them, and it got me thinking about if Mulan could speak, I wonder what on earth she would tell us. So here is a little explainer as to what cats are actually thinking based on an interview I conducted with Mulan recently to clear up any misconceptions people may have about her. Here are 11 misconceptions she would like you to know.

1. We often get bad press and are made to feel like ‘Divas’

2.We live with humans and are often expected not to act like them

3. We feature in a lot of human entertainment to make them feel better about life

4. We cultivate relationships just like everybody else

5. We don’t have thumbs but we can fully use your phones if need be

6. I can get a little jealous at times too

7. We lose all concentration when there is string or fish around- apologies- can’t help it

8. We know our kids are cuter than yours, no offence

9. We get back problems during old age too

10. We are extremely hard workers

11. We have our own kind of music that calms our anxiety- yes we have anxiety