Q: I love my husband but since we acquired a pet cat, he’s adopted a particularly irritating special voice when he addresses it. When I mentioned it to him, he got quite offended. How should I let him know that it’s causing me to love him less?
C.V., Mullumbimby, NSW
A: Pets can turn pet owners into pathetic, gushing imbeciles. A pet owner could be a soft-spoken, sophisticated, scholarly type, sitting on the couch and discussing the post-Covidian societal landscape, or the nonlinear cinema of Wong Kar-wai … then their pet walks into the room…