What Tina Fey Wants Nothing To Do With, I Can't Live Without
I never want to live without this pet in my life.
Helena Lopes | Canva, Kathy Hutchins | Shutterstock I admire Tina Fey — she’s funny, talented, and brilliant — but something about her prevents me from loving her wholeheartedly: her dislike of animals. In Bossypants, she writes, “I have no affinity for animals. I don’t hate animals, and I would never hurt an animal; I just don’t actively care about them.”
Huh? I can’t understand that kind of thinking. Although I know it’s possible to live without pets or have any contact with animals in your daily life, why would you want that? Animals add so much to our lives. Think of the musical background that birds provide with their songs or the lessons we learn from animals about patience, empathy, kindness, and resilience.
Cats are especially important to me — I never want to live without them. There have been brief periods when I didn’t have any cats, like when I lived in the UCLA dorms for a year. Those lack-of-cat days were dark indeed. My cats entertain and comfort me when I’m blue, teach me how to care for beings other than myself, and show me unconditional love.
Is having pets all fun and all the time? Not at all. They fight and get sick, and as independent as cats are, they are dependent on their caregivers to feed them, clean their litter boxes, brush them, and take them to the vet. No matter how much work my cats are, I benefit from their presence in my life.
My friend Dana was living alone with her beautiful, pure white Alaskan Klee Kai dog when several debilitating health conditions took control of her life. It was difficult enough to take care of herself, let alone her full-of-energy dog, Snowy. Dana knew she didn’t have the energy or ability to be a good dog mom and had to give Snowy up. When she told me her decision, it broke my heart, and I’m sure it was a devastating decision to make. Dana found Snowy a wonderful home, continues to get frequent updates about his life, and has even visited him in his new digs.
She handled the whole situation maturely, sensibly, and with grace. I don’t think I could ever give up one of my cats or go without pets entirely. I’m lucky; I have a partner who loves our animals just as much as I do and is younger than me, so if my health ever gets so compromised that I can’t care for them, I still know they’ll be provided for.
I have friends who hate cats, but like dogs, so they’re not completely irredeemable. However, not liking cats or being allergic to them would be a dealbreaker for a partner. You won't like the answer if you ask me to choose between you and my cats. Maybe it would be different if I had children, but I don’t. Our hearts as human beings are large, and there’s enough room in them to love both animals and humans.
My mother had cats and dogs for her entire life. And it wasn’t only her pets that gave her pleasure; she enjoyed watching the wild birds gorge themselves from the multiple feeders in her backyard, the squirrels hoarding peanuts, and even the moles burrowing under her lawn. When she died, her dog and cat were on the bed with her. This is how I want to go, but since I’m a cat person, I’d prefer only cats snuggled up next to me.
When it comes to animals, I’m more like Taylor Swift than Tina Fey. “I am a very passionate cat person; I adore having them around me. I couldn’t care less about the criticism from the haters. Cats bring me joy, and that’s what matters.”
Taylor, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Christine Schoenwald is a writer, performer, and frequent contributor to YourTango. She's had articles featured in The Los Angeles Times, Salon, Bustle, Medium, Huffington Post, Business Insider, and Woman's Day, among many others.