Ugly Little Kitty

Ugly Little Kitty - photographer: Sasyl (Flickr)

What an ugly little kitty. In our short sighted world of quick fixes, the appearance of a cat beats character. In other words in a rescue center a young, beautiful, white, long haired cat will get re-homed much more quickly than an old, short haired black cat, for example. Even if the character of the old cat is a thousand times nicer than miss glamour puss.

We do, as a species, tend to be attracted to appearance and the more bling the better. And white is a very attractive color to women (this is not being sexist). Or any light color is attractive to women and is it far to say that it is the woman of the house who usually gets involved in selecting the kitchen, the color of the car and the cat? Not sure. That wasn't sexist, either.

We do, as a species (male or female), tend to be drawn to the beautiful and that is understandable. But the most enduring of all beauties is often invisible on first sight. In fact, something quite ugly, after time, can take on the appearance of sheer beauty. This is because we stop seeing the appearance in a two dimensional way and start seeing the person or cat in the light of her character. The character colors the appearance. The classic case in the human world is of the older more experienced woman who was but is no longer beautiful (and who has had no, and I mean no plastic surgery) but who is educated, wise and sensible with a fine character. She is truly a beautiful woman.



When we next go to the animal shelter, let us try and look well beyond the glossy appearance of the cat or dog. In fact, let us go to the most neglected cat or ugly little kitty in the center and take her tenderly in to our care. The rewards will be so much higher.......for us. Did I say appearance of a cat beats character?



Appearance of a Cat beats Character to feral cats

Photo: the photographer Sasyl labels this photo "Ugly Little Kitty". I am sure she finds her adorable though -- photo published