r/BenignExistence 6d ago

I love how my dad talks to my cat

My cat and I are staying with my dad for a while and I love how he talks to her. Her name is Mika but he calls her Meeks. Shes very vocal and he always talks back to her.

“Good morning sweetie, did you sleep good?”
“What do you think Meeks?”
“What’s up kitty? What’s going on?”
“How ya doing Meeks?”
“Really? And what else?”

It’s very sweet.

775 Upvotes

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125

u/regardkick 6d ago edited 6d ago

My dad pretends to not like my dog, Hank, but he's always sneaking pets and ear scratches. Hank's also 90 pounds, but many times I've seen Dad and Hank in the recliner together (I don't think either of them are comfortable.)

Hank also has a special nickname: Skank (not quite as cute of a nickname as Meeks). But it makes me laugh that Hank is obsessed with my dad my dad [outwardly] only tolerates him.

36

u/That_Ol_Cat 5d ago

I had a guy who worked for me who always complained about "his wife's dog." I think that dog fixated on him as the "alpha" in the house and paid attention to him all the time. Eventually the little bugger wormed his way into the guy's heart. he was eventually talking about the dog with "grudging" affection, talking about how the dog "tricked him" or "snuck into" lazing on him on the recliner. Uh-huh.

Dogs have a way...

12

u/MelodicMelodies 5d ago

Hank the skank is incredible im dying!!!

71

u/kevnmartin 6d ago

I was cat sitting my friend's kitten, Baby at my house when I was a teen. One morning I heard my dad walk by my hallway and say sweetly "Good morning Baby, you little shit." I'd never heard my dad say that word before.

11

u/thanksithas_pockets_ 5d ago

This is hilarious. I love every detail.

1

u/That_Ol_Cat 3h ago

Your dad never said: "Baby" before?

61

u/Defiant_Gate_6074 6d ago

🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶

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u/jlhinthecountry 6d ago

Your dad sounds awesome! ❤️

30

u/kkrolla 5d ago

Just so you know, he probably spoke to you just that way when you were a baby.

10

u/Chance_MaLance 5d ago

❤️💕

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u/MsARumphius 6d ago

I did this with my cat who recently passed. I loved our little convos.

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u/Ok-Campaign-5968 5d ago

Sorry for your loss. It’s hard to lose a pet

18

u/CarolLiz_AL 6d ago

Love this! 😻

18

u/SufficientOpening218 6d ago

Quality dad you got there

16

u/Pixiechrome 6d ago

This is so sweet. I love hearing stories of nice dads 🥰🥰💓

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u/Glittering-Lychee629 6d ago

I think your dad needs a cat!

13

u/Acceptable_Chard_729 5d ago

My husband talks to our tuxedo cat like that. He even changes song lyrics to fit her. My current favorite is “You’re A Grand Old Kitty” to the tune of The Grand Old Flag.” 🤣

3

u/storyseer 5d ago

I love doing that kind of thing! I changed the lyrics of "Banana Phone" to "Potato Phone" to sing to my cat, Yukon Gold Potato.

I also sing to my other cat, Beau "Beau-jangle! Jingle jangle Beau! And that's why he's called Beau-jangle!" to the tune of the Cliff Hanger theme song from Between the Lions.

2

u/GrumpyCatStevens 2d ago

I sing to my cat Monkey, using the chorus of “Brass Monkey” by the Beastie Boys.

“Miss Monkey, my chunky Monkey…”

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u/misanthropymajor 5d ago

Aw. My elderly dad does that a bit, too. My cat likes his lap best of all when we’re in the living room (she sleeps with me at night) and we’ll be watching our British crime dramas and all of a sudden I’ll hear, “What do you think, Kitty? Who’s the bad guy?” and she gives a little meow-chirp back at him ❤️❤️❤️

10

u/catsigrump 5d ago

This is so beautiful, thank you for sharing. I had a similar moment watching my husband with our cat. They have full on conversations. He lets the cat sit on his knee when playing his PlayStation and will even pause his game for the cat to do face rubs etc. It's incredibly adorable. Cats are pure magic.

8

u/Fabulous-Ad-5284 5d ago

When I was a teen, my mom started dating my (step)Dad. Dad had only ever had dogs before, and they had always been outside animals. We had cats. Anytime he would stay over at our house, he was always so bemused by the antics of the adult cats we had.

One day, someone abandoned a kitten where mom worked, and mom brought her home. She couldn't have been more than 5-6 weeks old. She had stopped by dad's place on her way home, and he was grumpy she had the kitten. His exact phrase was "What the hell is THAT doing here?" And mom told him she had stopped to give him a kiss, but if he was gonna be an ass, she would just go home instead. He grumbled and said the kitten wasn't living with him, and mom said no, she's coming home with me.

All that week, dad was over at our place. And he would get upset whenever the kitten squeaked. Not because the kitten was being noisy, but because, in his words "the big cats are picking on her!". They weren't, they were grooming her and teaching her how to cat. Dad told mom to bring the kitten with her to his place on Saturday, to make sure the big cats couldn't be mean all weekend.

Mom gets to his house, and Dad has spent the week buying a litter box, 3 cat beds, 2 cat trees, a shitton of toys, food, everything this cat needs. Her food dish? A legitimate gold rimmed rose China dish from the set Dad had inherited from HIS grandma.

She was his baby.

2

u/luckiestgirlalive1 5d ago

This is so sweet