For the love of cats
• I think my husband is jealous.
• He says I pay more attention to my cats than I do him
By ONUOHA UKEH
Saturday, April 5, 2008

Dr. Mary Brown, a United States citizen, who lives in Chicago, loves domestic animals, especially cats. If you think she is a veterinary doctor you are wrong. She is neither a medical doctor nor in any field in the medical profession.

The 46-year-old mother of four works is a chief financial officer at a public school district, in Evanston, Illinois, United States, where she supervises the district’s finances and manages a budget of about $105 million a year. However, she is so passionate about cats that she looks out for stray ones, takes them home, cares for them and thereafter gives them up for families to adopt. She loves to see cats being taken good care of.

The bond between Dr. Brown and cats is so great that she treats them as she does human beings. She confesses: “I talk to my cats when I come home from work.” She also said: “I enjoy petting cats and listening to them purr. It is very peaceful feeling and sound. I know when I hear them purr that they are happy and relaxed.”

Owing to the love Dr. Brown has for cats, she feels sad and devastated if anything bad happens to any of them. At one instance, she and her daughter were upset when one of her Siamese cats, about 16 years old, died. She said that the cat was so ill that it had to be euthanized. While the cat was dying, she said: “My daughter, Kim and I were so upset. We were holding Simon (the cat) while we cried and petted him as he died. I still miss him. I feel empty and sad when my pets die.”
What do other people think about Dr. Brown’s love for cats? Her children have also imbibed the same feeling, as they also care for cats. What of her husband? Dr. Brown gives what would pass for a bombshell: “My cats like to sleep with us at night. They enjoy eating and being petted…I think my husband is jealous of my cats because he says I pay more attention to them than I do to him. He would prefer not to have any pets.”

The story of Dr. Brown and cats is that of love, devotion and family. It is a story, which touches the heart, as while Nigerians find it difficult to adopt babies, people in the United States are adopting animals.
Dr. Brown spoke with SATURDAY SUN from her Chicago, United States base on her passion for cats, her family, work and her feeling about Africa and Africans.
My growing up
Since my parents were both teachers, we were considered to be middle-class. Teachers did not earn very muchmoney, so my parents had to watch and monitor what they spent.
Now, teachers earn more salary than they used to. The average starting teacher salary is $35,000/year. Teachers with many years’ experience can earn $100,000. For summer vacations, we would go camping, which was an inexpensive way to travel around the country. We saw most of the state national parks this way. Wealthier families would have flown in an airplane, stayed in hotels, and eaten in restaurants. However, we enjoyed driving, sleeping in tents, and cooking our meals over a fire or with a propane stove. My husband and I go camping. In fact, we met on a church canoe and camping trip. For our honeymoon, we went camping in Alaska. We have camped in Colorado (our favourite state), and Wyoming (Yellowstone National Park).

I always knew that my parents loved me. They raised us kids with the expectation that we would go to college and work professionally. My dad died 32 years ago, but I know he would have been proud to know that I received my doctorate degree (the first in my family) and that I am holding a very responsible job, and most importantly, that I love the Lord Jesus and that I care for other people. Although my family did not have much money when I was growing up, I saw my dad take food and clothing to needy families. I also saw him care for stray animals. He was a very caring and generous person. My dad was 60 years old when my twin sister and I were born, so he retired when we were in kindergarten. This was very unusual.

My mother, who was 25 years younger than my dad, worked as a teacher. I became closer to my dad since he was home most of the time. All of the kids I knew growing up had younger dads who worked and most of my friends’ mothers stayed at home. It was unusual that my dad was so much older than my mum and that he retired. It was equally unusual that my mother worked outside of the home and in professional capacity. Now, some wives and mothers work professionally, while some still choose to stay at home.

Going to school
I attended the public schools from kindergarten through high school (12th grade). The public schools in the US are free and they have to take all children living within their attendance boundaries. I attended Oakton Community College (a junior college) and graduated from De Lourdes College (a private Catholic college) with a Bachelor’s degree in English, Business, and History. I received my Master’s degree in School Business Management and my school principal certification from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, Illinois (a public college).

In the US, students have to pay to attend colleges and universities. The public colleges and universities are less expensive. Today, it costs about $18,000/year for public college school tuition and $9,000 per year for room and board expenses. Private colleges and universities cost around $40,000/year for tuition and $10,000/year for room and board. I received my Education Specialist (Ed.S.) degree, which allows me to work as a school superintendent, and my doctorate (Ed.D.) degree from Northern Illinois University (NIU), a public university. NIU is the university where a gunman recently shot and killed four students. It is sad that school violence seems to be increasing.

Official duty
I work as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for a large public school district in Evanston, Illinois. Our district is very diverse. We have students from all over the world, with a large population of African Americans and Hispanic students. Family incomes range drastically from the very wealthy to the very poor. I am also certified as a school principal and school superintendent. In the last school district, where I used to work, I filled in as a school principal when our principals were out of the district. I also served as the acting superintendent, while our superintendent was on an extended leave. As the CFO, I supervise the district’s finances. I negotiate labour contracts, write and edit legal contracts, manage the budget ($105 million per year), supervise student transportation, food service, buildings and grounds, bond sales, building projects, investments, payroll, accounts payable/receivable, the tax levy, many things in between. I enjoy the variety of my responsibilities. I rarely do the same thing from day to day; everyday is different.

My interest in cats
I remember having pet cats since I was in the kindergarten (age five). My parents liked animals, but never felt that they had the extra money to care for many of them. We had two cats while I was growing up. One we adopted intentionally and the other cat was brought home by my sister, who found it wandering around as a stray. Later, we got a puppy. In junior high school, I had a pet mouse that my brother had found outside. We named him Freddie. After he died, we got a hamster. When it died (they only live three years), we got a pet rat. These small pets lived in cages. My sister and I would change their litter once a week. They would eat seeds, fruits and nuts. Our pet cats used to sleep in our beds with us. I enjoyed petting them and listening to them purr. I still enjoy petting cats and listening to them purr. It is a very peaceful feeling and sound. I know when I hear them purr that they are happy and relaxed.

I guess that my love and concern for cats were learned behaviour, having seen my parents care for animals. Also, from my background, I know what joy cats can bring into the lives of people. Having always liked cats, I remember when I found my first stray cat. I was about 25 years old and pregnant with my second child. I found a stray cat outside the engineering company where I used to work. She was very friendly and skinny. I fed her my left over fish dinner that I was bringing home from a restaurant. I was not sure about picking her up, in case someone would come looking for her. I felt so bad for not taking her home with me at that time, so I drove back to work later that night and brought her home. It turned out that she was pregnant. I took her home, fed her, and loved her. I promised my husband that I would find her a new home before my baby was born, because he was worried about having a cat around a baby.

This cat, which I named Ashley, had five kittens. Thankfully, I found homes for each of the kittens. I had her spayed so that she could not have any more kittens and I found a new home for her. At the time, I did not know about the low-cost animal hospital, so I paid the regular fee, which was about $80 back then. I was glad that I took that cat in and I have missed her ever since I gave her away. I could not imagine her living in the street with no food or shelter, especially when she was pregnant with kittens. Since that time, I have taken in stay cats and kittens as I find them. I don’t go looking for them, but I have found them in my neighbourhood from time to time. I have probably spent about $2,000 on stray animals over the years. I feel good knowing that I have helped over 100 cats/kittens get off the streets and get their own homes.

Cats can have kittens about three times per year, so a female cat, in her lifetime, can cause about 80,000 cats/kittens to be born, if each kitten multiplied three times per year. Every female cat that I pay to spay prevents 80,000 others from being born. I feel really good about this. Plus, the cats/kittens I have taken in have gone to loving homes, so they are happier than they would have been being left in the street with no food and no shelter. I also feel good about the families that take my cats/kittens because I know that they will have many years of enjoyment with their new pet. It is what we call a “win-win” situation. Plus, my income now is much higher than it used to be. I earn about $100,000 per year, so I have money to help animals. I save money where I can and I enjoy helping people and animals in need.
I have two cats now. They were both found as strays. One is black with a little white on her and the other is the Chocolate point Siamese. We also have a pet bunny rabbit. His name is Bill. He lives in a cage in our living room. My cats like to sleep with us at night. They enjoy eating and being petted. I talk to my cats when I come home from work. I think my husband is jealous of my cats because he says I pay more attention to them than I do to him. He would prefer not to have any pets.

How I feel when cats die or are killed
I feel really sad when my pet cats die. About two months ago, our beloved Siamese cat, Simon, died. He was around 16 years old, and he seemed to have some type of neurological disorder. He could not walk or stand up, so we took him to the vet and they gave him a shot to end his life. We call that, having an animal euthanized. My daughter, Kim, and I were so upset. We were holding Simon while we cried and petted him as he died. I still miss him. I feel empty and sad when my pets die. Yet, I know that there are other cats that I can adopt who need loving homes. After Simon died, I found a beautiful Snow Shoe Chocolate Point Siamese female cat that we adopted from a rescue agency. We paid $100 for her adoption fee, then we paid $100 more for two shots, a doctor visit, and some medicine that she needed to clear up some intestinal parasite. We paid another $200 to have her completely de-clawed. My pet cats stay indoors and do not need their claws. I do not also want my furniture ruined my scratching. This new cat, who we named Mitzie, is about 18 months old. She is very playful and she likes to be held and petted. I hope she lives a long time!

In this country, it is illegal to kill cats for fun or for sport. However, some animal shelters euthanize cats and dogs if they are not adopted within a certain time period. They do this because they have limited space to keep animals. Anyone looking to adopt a cat or dog can go to an animal shelter and look for an animal that they would like to take home. I feel terrible knowing that animals are killed because there are not enough homes willing to take them. I actually cannot ever think about this happening because it upsets me so much. This is another reason I feel good having the cats I take in spayed so that the future pet population is reduced. There are already too many animals in need of homes. There are shelters that do not kill their animals. They keep them until they are adopted. All of these shelters have to use their own money or money from donations to stay open. There are no grants or government funding for this type of service. Since these shelters have a large amount of overhead costs and vet bills, they charge a fee to families who want to adopt a cat or dog from them. As I mentioned earlier, these fees can range from $100 - $130 per animal. Since I am only asking for $10 each for my cats/kittens, I get a lot of telephone calls when I place an advertisement in the local newspaper.

How do you bury your pet?
I have had two cats that I was very close to die in the last three years. They were both older cats when we adopted them. The first cat, Maurie, was about eight years old when we adopted him from an animal shelter. We had him about eight years when he died from heart problems. It was awful. We cried and were very lonely after he died. A few months later, we adopted another Siamese cat, Simon, who was about 12 years old. He is the cat that just died about two month ago. We only had him for about three years. About 26 years ago, when my first son was just a baby, I had a cat that ran outside during a rain storm and never came back. She was lost. I felt sick about that. I had her spayed and de-clawed. I was going through a divorce at the time, and having that cat brought me comfort. I looked for her everywhere, but never found her. I would like to think that another family took her in and cared for her.
I have buried my dead cats in my back yard. Some people pay to have their dead animals cremated, but I prefer to bury them in my yard so that I will remember them from time to time. I had another cat, Esther, who was a Siamese-mix. I only had her for about three years before she died from cancer. Again, that was a very sad time in my life. She used to sleep on my chest. I still miss her. I miss all of my cats, but I know there are other cats that need loving homes and I have always been fortunate to find very loving cats to replace the ones that have died.

How do you feel about cats being eaten and can you eat cat considering the love you have for them?
I realize that cats are eaten in some countries. I feel that people are more important than animals. If it came down to starving or eating a cat, I would eat the cat. I do eat meat, chicken and fish. It would not be my choice to eat a cat, but if I was starving and it was the only food available, I would eat it. If other food is available, I would certainly prefer that people eat the other food, such as chicken, fish, etc. These other animals do not make good house pets, like cats. I think that cats are domesticated animals and that they have a lot of love to give people.

On a different note, my daughter, Kim, who is a senior in high school, had to dissect a cat in her honors level Biology class. She was worried about doing this because she said that the only reason the cat was killed was because it could not find a loving home. I reminded her that we do all that we can to help animals and that we cannot worry about those we cannot help. She wants to become a surgeon so she will be dissecting animals and people as her studies progress. I actually think that it will not bother her to dissect people because she would know that they died of natural causes. The cats did not choose to die. They were most likely killed because they could not find loving homes.

Where does money to take care of cats come from?
There are no grants or funding available for the care of animals from the government or other agencies. People do donate money to animal welfare agencies that help offset the cost of caring for the animals. My daughter, Kim, is a senior in high school. She also works part-time as a life guard. She donates a lot of her money to various animal welfare agencies, in addition to the care and expenses that we have in caring for animals in our home. Kim helps me bathe the cats and kittens before we bring them into our home. She also enjoys caring for these animals. She helps feed them, change their litter box, and she enjoys petting them and socializing them.

How does American society view animals and how is cruelty to animal treated in the US?
Americans view cats and dogs as domestic pets. Some dogs, like German Shepherds and Labradors, are used as working dogs for blind or deaf people. These dogs are trained to help blind people cross streets, get on and off trains and buses, go into restaurants, etc. Dogs are used by deaf people to help them know if a doorbell or telephone is ringing, etc. Dogs have been trained to help people with other physical disabilities. Dogs are also popular pets. People take their dogs for walks and runs for exercise. There are dog parks here where dogs can run around and play with other dogs. There is also day care available for dogs whose owners work. The day care provides company and exercise for dogs that would otherwise sit home alone. Pet cats just stay home if their owners work. Cats would prefer to be home, looking out a window and sitting in the sunshine. Cats don’t like car rides and most of them do not like dogs.

Animal cruelty is against the law here. People are prosecuted by a judge if they are caught being cruel to animals. There are also illegal dog fights that go on where one dog will kill another dog. People pay big money to watch that. This is, of course, illegal here, but people do it anyway. People found dog fighting are arrested and could be sentenced to prison and fines.

What about conservation groups, animal rights groups in the US?
There are animal rights groups in the US. One of them is called PETA, which stands for People for the Equitable Treatment of Animals. There are other groups, too. These groups protest places that sell fur coats, meat processing plants, etc. They are somewhat extreme, but they have made good points about how some animals are slaughtered for food. Again, these groups are self-funded.
This may surprise you, but I actually own several fur coats. A member of PETA would never wear a fur coat. Most people I know who know that I care for cats find it hard to believe that I wear fur coats. I do feel that people are more important than animals and I wear the fur coats to stay warm. Winters here can get as cold as 60 degrees below zero with the wind chill. I am always cold, even in the summer. I have coats made of beaver, mink, lynx, opossum, and raccoon.

I have purchased my coats from resale shops, so I have not paid much for them. The most expensive fur coat I bought was my full length mink coat, which cost me $500. My least expensive fur coat was my opossum jacket, which cost me about $25. These coats would be more expensive if they were purchased new from a retail store. When people ask me about how I can wear fur coats, I tell them that my shoes are made of leather and that I eat meat.

Which part of the world have you travelled to?
I have traveled to Europe (England, Germany, France, and Austria). I have also been to Canada, Japan, Mexico, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands. I have been to most of the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. My husband and I love Colorado. It is so pretty there, blue skies, mountains, Garden of the Gods (in Colorado Springs), etc. We go camping there for vacation. We also enjoy going on cruises, usually to Mexico. We find that very relaxing, with comfortable beds and wonderful food. I have a family member care for our animals when we are out of town so that they are not left home alone. Some people going out of town on vacation or work, take their pets to animal hospitals that provide boarding services.

You have not been to Africa. What is your perception of Africa and Africans?
I do not know much about Africa or its history. My older son, Anton, traveled to Benin (Republic) with a group of missionaries from our church. They went there for two weeks to dig a ditch to provide clean water to a village there. Despite getting shots to prevent this, Anton came down with Malaria toward the end of their stay in Africa. He was so sick that I did not feel I should ask him about his trip until he felt better. So, about one month after he was home, I asked him how he felt about his trip to Africa. He was only 16 years old when he went and he was the youngest person in the group. However, he was also the interpreter for the group, since he spoke French. I expected to hear a litany of complaints how the food was awful, they did not have clean water, no air conditioning, etc. Instead, and much to my surprise, he said four words that I will never forget. He said, “We have so much.”

I told my children that life in other countries is not like life here in the United States. School is handled very differently and is not free in most counties. There are differences in the economy, government, etc. But, seeing is believing. Going to Africa was a life-changing experience for my son.
Anton was back in Africa, when his United States Marine Reserve unit sent him to Niger to train the troops on the use of machine guns. I think he was there for a month. The weather was very hot and the food was different. They were fed goats that were cooked on a skewer and placed in a bucket. Basically, they were served dead, charred goats that were placed in buckets. The picture looked really unappetizing to me. When we eat meat here, it is usually not still attached to the animal it came from, which makes it easier to eat. Anyway, he had an interesting experience there and was able to note the differences with the troops and the government.
Other than hearing about those experiences, I only know what Friday (a Nigerian friend) has told us about growing up in Africa. If Friday had gone to school in the US with his eye sight as bad as it was, he would have been provided for free, extra help, such as textbooks on tape or large print books, a seeing-eye dog, his own teacher’s aide, etc. It amazes me that he got through college with such poor vision and no help.

I know of our country’s history with slavery, which I find shocking and offensive. There are still people in the US who hate and discriminate against black African people. I find this offensive. As a child, I watched my parents interact respectfully with people of all races. My dad taught chemistry at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Many of his students and fellow teachers were black African Americans, and some middle eastern. I did not know anything but treating all people respectfully. I also learned early in life that not everyone looked like me. I still enjoy people of different backgrounds and races. I am interested in learning about different cultures and I enjoy foods from different countries, except that I don’t think I would have eaten the charred goats. I work in a very diverse school district. We are located just north of Chicago and we have people from all over the world who live here. That is what I enjoy most about my job: the diversity of the community and staff that I serve. To me, this is how the world is. We are all different.