I don’t know whether you are like me in this regard, but I do not surrender ill-fitting or threadbare garments easily. I hoard them in the closet long past any possibility that they will be worn again. They accumulate there, rather like tribbles, I think, until in what must be described as a domiciliary convulsion, they are purged. These events typically occur years after items have become unusable. Most recently, I discarded twenty or more pairs of pants that were one, two or three sizes too small. They were pre-pandemic garb, of course.
A few years ago, my sock drawer underwent a similar sartorial cleansing – ridding me of a veritable rainbow of sock colors in exchange for two – black and brown that I bought new on Amazon. Matching two colors of socks requires so much less time. By that point, I had accumulated a large stash of unmatched socks, of course. Perhaps you too are familiar with this routine. Susan took all those socks and put them in a large garbage bag which then found its way to the garage. Did I mention that we do not easily discard our detritus?
The kittens that joined our family back in December of 2021, Kedi and Maia, are now about nine months old. They are sufficiently mature to be considered cats, but they are spayed and will not be creating litters of kittens. They have spent their maturing months indoors with us, chasing plastic springs, taking long naps with us in bed or in our easy chairs, and spending time together watching birds, lizards and squirrels through various windows. Among their many toys is one that is larger than the others; it is a furry, plush toy that is the likeness of a possum. Both Kedi and Maia seem to have a special regard for Possum. Possum gets picked up by its scruff and carried around the house on various feline errands. We often find possum near the food bowls. Sometimes, we find possum in the water bowl. They seem to regard possum as a fellow creature in need of caretaking.
Maternal caretaking behaviors arise from hormonal influences other than those driven by the pituitary-ovarian axis that governs reproductive behaviors. I suspect that key maternal behaviors arise from the influence of pituitary hormones directly on the brain. Oxytocin, the cuddle hormone, for one, and Prolactin, the milk letdown hormone, for another. In other words, just because we have lost the ability to procreate, mammals do not lose the ability to care for their group and family members. And our feline and canine allies are not only intelligent but also capable of a degree of abstraction – of using symbolic reasoning. Hence, possum is a kitten avatar. This kind of behavior gives us, cats, and dogs significant evolutionary advantages – not unlike grandparents and LGBTQ family members who contribute caregiving to the progeny of those in the group who are still capable of reproduction.
A few days ago, Kedi emerged from the garage carrying a sock in her mouth. She took it under the dining room table and dropped it there. A short time later, she came in with another pair of socks that had been gathered into a ball (the way that I usually pair my socks). She placed them next to her first sock. Later, Susan discovered that Kedi had made a hole in the plastic garbage bag of old socks that she had relegated to the garage. Kedi had carefully fished socks from the bag and brought them inside the house – much as a momma cat might move her kittens from one location to another.
At this point there are probably four or five pairs of socks that have been stowed in various locations in the living, dinning, and study rooms of the house. Oh, there are more than a few sock balls scattered about the garage floor too. We probably need to purge the threadbare sock stock before, like tribbles, they overtake the house.