A strip about acceptance

in an increasingly judgmental time.

Dogs and cats are not judgmental. If you accept them into your family, they accept you into theirs. My younger cat Louie Bear has, since he was a kitten, believed that I am a Cat. He will walk up and open his mouth, then close it again. Earlier ‘cat behaviour’ writers called this ‘the silent meow’. There is no such thing as a silent meow. Louie Bear is anything but silent. He is using a sound range that cats can hear. He is so innocent that he does not understand that humans cannot hear it. But Louie continues to do this because he believes that I am his mama, and therefore, I should understand Cat. He has accepted me into his clan, not the other way around.

I moved two comic strips recently so that the more recent one appeared today, since even though FurBabies has no political content it is influenced by the tenor of the times. There is a distinct lowering of empathy and tolerance of differences between people. So in the June 26 strip, the origins of the dog family is explained to innocent Sirius by his parents, and he winds up answering his own question.

June 26, 2023 FurBabies. Some families choose one another.

Afghan-Poodle mixed breeds are known as either Pooghans or AffyDoodles. I used AffyDoodle because it is funnier. I picked the right breed of dogs. There are more strips coming up about the history of Afghans and Poodles, and some were hilarious enough to use without rewrites.

The tolerance and kindness of the dog family is in marked contrast to the human family, where Kate’s mother shows no sympathy for Stella when she wants to be treated like a human being—although she is allowed to eat from a plate and drink from a glass, she cannot sit at the table even if she behaves like a perfect lady.

When my first cat, Gizmo, repeatedly sat in a human’s chair at the dinner table, she was given her own folding chair and placed in a corner nearby, so she could observe the party. She had her own chair in the kitchen for family breakfast. She always behaved beautifully and never begged for food. She only wanted to be invited.

FurBabies is developing themes that will become more evident as the strip progresses. Kate is a 21st century child with a cellphone and an occasional desire to cheat on homework. She can misinterpret information, not read instructions before completing a task, and argue with Artificial Intelligence —which developed its own personality and is now a recurring character. And thanks to modern technology, the pets can interact with computers through sound.

It remains to be seen how this plays with readers. Creating a digital comic strip is like having an animated film premiere, every single day. No one can predict what an audience will think or like. It’s a gamble, or venture, and feedback is instantaneous. It is a quick learning experience and there is really no formula.

So, the journey continues.