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Post by littleengine on Sept 29, 2010 8:10:51 GMT -5
Interesting--an acquaintance on Facebook posted recently complaining that she'd been to four "dirty cat houses" that day (she does home visits as part of her job). She described them as dirty and smelly and "ewww." I didn't like the fact that she was posting to complain about her clients, but I thought it was interesting that a.) there were so many, b.) her friends in the same field were commiserating with her and seem to have had the same experiences--lots of "dirty" houses they've had to go to, and c.) she and her friends were not condemning the people whose houses they'd been to, they were just focused on themselves and the annoyance of having to be in these environments that they don't like. It's interesting because I always tend to feel self-loathing and shame about these issues, but these cleanies didn't really judge the home-owners and didn't focus on them, they seemed to think the people were nice people; they didn't feel that their bad houses meant that they were bad people. The dirty houses were an annoyance but it didn't go farther than that--the houses and their owners were seen as two separate entities. Which is very interesting because I personally feel so entwined with my house and if the house looks clean I feel good, and if it doesn't I feel horrible about myself. It was interesting to glimpse another way of viewing the world.
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Post by dtesposito on Sept 29, 2010 8:41:37 GMT -5
This is interesting, what field is she in? You said she makes home visits, which sounds like it could be some kind of social work? If so, I would imagine those folks are more aware of the differences in people and are not as judgmental as some others.
I hate that when there are "dirty cat houses" the cats sometimes end up getting the bad rep--non-cat people then think that cats smell bad.
Diane
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Post by messiesweetie on Sept 29, 2010 8:56:09 GMT -5
I find it interesting that so many of us messies have cats...since they do require a lot of work to keep the cat box clean. And they can make the house smell if you don't empty the litter box everyday and who has time for that?
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Post by dtesposito on Sept 29, 2010 11:33:11 GMT -5
I suppose it's possible that some messies have more cats in the same way they have more of a type of object that they acquire, the hoarding aspect. Otherwise, it's a squalor issue--the cat urine and feces aren't going to smell very much if they're contained in the litter pan and it's scooped regularly (and yes, changed on a regular basis). When a house starts smelling strongly it's because the cat is going elsewhere in the house, and the vast majority of the time it's possible to figure out the reason why. One reason could be that the pan isn't kept clean enough, and that would fit for those of us who have squalor/procrastination issues.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hijack this thread with cat talk. Littleengine's point was about people who were talking about the squalorous homes in a matter-of-fact way instead of the usual critical/shaming way. If anyone has anything else to say about litter pans we should start a new thread!
Diane
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Post by BetsyMarie on Sept 29, 2010 14:40:41 GMT -5
I wonder if hoarders have more cats to make up for lessened human contact. When you dont allow anyone in the house besides those who live there.... sometimes it's nice to have someone else to talk to.  Also, cats tend to be less work than dogs - you dont have to walk them every day. When I was in college I suspect there were hoarders living in the building. The bad odor coming from their place was horrific. They had dogs that must have been left to go anywhere in the place. My first thought the FB people in question were vets, but then I would bet a hoarder is much more likely to take the pet to an office rather than have the vet in. |
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Post by littleengine on Sept 29, 2010 17:40:00 GMT -5
She's in the medical field.
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Post by mafixit on Sept 29, 2010 18:17:15 GMT -5
I wonder if hoarders have more cats to make up for lessened human contact. When you dont allow anyone in the house besides those who live there.... sometimes it's nice to have someone else to talk to. even though I don't consider myself a hoarder, I agree wholeheartedly with this. I can't imagine not having cats in my life, in fact I prefer them to most people I know. |
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Post by dtesposito on Sept 29, 2010 19:42:38 GMT -5
This post has me wondering if maybe the Hoarders shows on TV are actually doing some good by making the subject more familiar to people. I didn't like the shows I saw because they kind of imply that you can "fix" things by sending a crew in to remove everything. And of course, they are looking for the shock value to sell the program.
But hoarders are so secretive that many people probably know nothing about the concept. Any time a program shows the human beings behind a condition it has to help.
I guess the medical field is another one where professionals see several sides of the person--maybe they are more tolerant also?
Diane
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