If not, how did you discover your love for them? If you did, what’s your earliest memory with a cat?
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
Did You Grow Up With Cats?
- Thread starter ashekitty
- Start Date
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2018
- Messages
- 879
- Purraise
- 1,157
I did yes, I have had cats sleeping on my body/head since I was a little boy. Earliest I can remember is around 5 years old but I had pictures taken with them since I was a baby.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #3
That’s wonderful
FelisCatus
! I feel really lucky to also have grown up with cats and have shared my bed with them for as long as I can remember. 
FelisCatus
! I feel really lucky to also have grown up with cats and have shared my bed with them for as long as I can remember.
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2018
- Messages
- 879
- Purraise
- 1,157
One of the joys of lifeThat’s wonderful
wouldn’t have it any other way
Yes, from about age 8, my family always had cats, but my parents never allowed them in the house. We had a lot of cats at times because they never got them fixed, so you can only imagine. I always loved them though. As an adult, I’ve almost always had cats, and they’ve mostly been indoor/outdoor cats until we had one we think an owl got. Then I went one year without a cat. Couldn’t stand it anymore and got two siblings in September. First cats I’ve had that are strictly indoor. Coyotes are bad in our area this year.
- Joined
- Dec 27, 2018
- Messages
- 879
- Purraise
- 1,157
I am sorry to hear about the (presumably) owl taken one... what makes you think it was an owl?
We had heard an owl very close that evening, perched on a telephone pole right by our house. Our 13 year old very small cat went out for a while that evening (she spent most of her time indoors) We have a dog and a doggie door and she would always come back in after a bit. She never came back. Something had to have gotten her.I am sorry to hear about the (presumably) owl taken one... what makes you think it was an owl?
No I didn't. I wish. Mom doesn't like cats. I have always loved them and when I was a kid, nothing made me happier than going to someone's house and finding out that there was a resident cat. We became friends quickly. Cats and I have always been drawn to one another. When I was in my early teens, a friend and I were sitting on the sidewalk behind a grocery store that was at the bottom of the hill I lived on. We were just sitting there talking and I kept hearing a little cry. She didn't hear it. Finally I said, "Come here kitty!" A little black kitten ran out of the bushes and came over to me. We looked around and saw that she was alone. She was adorable and so sweet. I took her home. Mom took one look at her and told me to "get rid of it". Of course I refused and stormed out of the house. We checked around and found a friend of my sister's who had a cat who passed away of old age. They wanted her. They came and got her and she lived with them for a long time. I was happy for her but sad for me.
Something similar happened back in 2004. I was walking the dog around the neighborhood one night and heard crying. She heard it too. We followed it and there was a tiny black kitten sitting on someone's doorstep. I picked her up and knocked on the door. The man who answered told me he had never seen her before and closed the door. I couldn't keep her. DH was highly allergic to cats. She ended up being adopted by a neighbor so it worked out for her but not for me.
Black cats and I just can't seem to stay away from each other which is perfectly fine by me.
Something similar happened back in 2004. I was walking the dog around the neighborhood one night and heard crying. She heard it too. We followed it and there was a tiny black kitten sitting on someone's doorstep. I picked her up and knocked on the door. The man who answered told me he had never seen her before and closed the door. I couldn't keep her. DH was highly allergic to cats. She ended up being adopted by a neighbor so it worked out for her but not for me.
Black cats and I just can't seem to stay away from each other which is perfectly fine by me.
Were you ever able to get your own cat?No I didn't. I wish. Mom doesn't like cats. I have always loved them and when I was a kid, nothing made me happier than going to someone's house and finding out that there was a resident cat. We became friends quickly. Cats and I have always been drawn to one another. When I was in my early teens, a friend and I were sitting on the sidewalk behind a grocery store that was at the bottom of the hill I lived on. We were just sitting there talking and I kept hearing a little cry. She didn't hear it. Finally I said, "Come here kitty!" A little black kitten ran out of the bushes and came over to me. We looked around and saw that she was alone. She was adorable and so sweet. I took her home. Mom took one look at her and told me to "get rid of it". Of course I refused and stormed out of the house. We checked around and found a friend of my sister's who had a cat who passed away of old age. They wanted her. They came and got her and she lived with them for a long time. I was happy for her but sad for me.
Something similar happened back in 2004. I was walking the dog around the neighborhood one night and heard crying. She heard it too. We followed it and there was a tiny black kitten sitting on someone's doorstep. I picked her up and knocked on the door. The man who answered told me he had never seen her before and closed the door. I couldn't keep her. DH was highly allergic to cats. She ended up being adopted by a neighbor so it worked out for her but not for me.
Black cats and I just can't seem to stay away from each other which is perfectly fine by me.
Oh they’re pretty!
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2018
- Messages
- 4,171
- Purraise
- 12,686
I had cats when I was growing up, two of them, but were not really that "close" to me. Instead, I grew up with dogs. For years I have always been a dog person. My love affair with cats began when I relocated to the Middle east for a job. Outside our flat there were a lot of street cats, begging for food. So, I started including cat food in our groceries to feed the cats. Everyday they multiplied. So everytime the amount of cat food we buy also multiplied. Each of the cats I designated a name, and everytime one or two goes missing i worry for that cat, and personally look around for them - calling their names.
When a kitten comes along it is a different story. I take the kitten/s inside our flat, foster a while and look for forever homes. I managed to find homes for several kitties.
But when Barley and Bourbon came along both were love at first sight. Barley is a mixed persian and was picked up by my husband one winter morning, thin and matted. Before that there was Bourbon, a DLH x maine coon (probably) I also started feeding outside and decided to also take in, as she was dirty and matted and could not probably survive longer the extreme heat of the ME summer. We checked microchips. None. So I registered both under mine and my husband's names.
I still pick up kittens and re-home them. It is always a rewarding feeling to be able to find loving homes for these kitties. I also still feed street cats outside our home. It is already a love affair, and love affairs cannot easily end.
When a kitten comes along it is a different story. I take the kitten/s inside our flat, foster a while and look for forever homes. I managed to find homes for several kitties.
But when Barley and Bourbon came along both were love at first sight. Barley is a mixed persian and was picked up by my husband one winter morning, thin and matted. Before that there was Bourbon, a DLH x maine coon (probably) I also started feeding outside and decided to also take in, as she was dirty and matted and could not probably survive longer the extreme heat of the ME summer. We checked microchips. None. So I registered both under mine and my husband's names.
I still pick up kittens and re-home them. It is always a rewarding feeling to be able to find loving homes for these kitties. I also still feed street cats outside our home. It is already a love affair, and love affairs cannot easily end.
I grew up with cats and dogs. I got along fine with the dogs, but always understood cats better. And the cats always seemed to prefer me over others. Interactions with cats are some of my earliest memories.
Whether I like or dislike cats is nearly immaterial: cats like me. For whatever reason, cats are frequently drawn to me as if I am a cat magnet. I have always had cats, they are part of the fabric of my life.
Just a photo of our kitten looking to get picked up. But has been a common scenario: I look down, and there's a cat looking for my attention.
This makes me want to write the story of the first cat my family had. It is one of my earliest memories.... I am 58, so guessing these are some 55 or 56 year old memories. Have to spend a bit of time trying to recall. One of my brothers has a box of family photos, I wonder if he has any pictures of that cat...
Whether I like or dislike cats is nearly immaterial: cats like me. For whatever reason, cats are frequently drawn to me as if I am a cat magnet. I have always had cats, they are part of the fabric of my life.
Just a photo of our kitten looking to get picked up. But has been a common scenario: I look down, and there's a cat looking for my attention.
This makes me want to write the story of the first cat my family had. It is one of my earliest memories.... I am 58, so guessing these are some 55 or 56 year old memories. Have to spend a bit of time trying to recall. One of my brothers has a box of family photos, I wonder if he has any pictures of that cat...
No, I never had cats. I grew up with very bad allergies. Back then, when I was in a room with a cat, I would sneeze over and over and over. In 1984, my roommate brought home a kitten for me. I LOVED that sweet kitten. Although I would still sneeze and also got rashes on my face (Yep), I still loved my baby so much. Throughout the years, I must have developed a little bit of immunity towards cats. Now, I only get sinus infections every so often from them. I have two kitties now, Windy and Theo, and wouldn't trade them in for anything!! Screw the allergies - I love my cats! 
I've grown up with dogs, and always considered myself a dog person. It wasn't until my partner and I moved into together and he wanted a cat that I ever even met one properly! Since then, Antonio and Nando have become my passion 
- Joined
- Apr 10, 2018
- Messages
- 192
- Purraise
- 262
I didn't grow up with any pets at all! In fact, as a kid, all I wanted was a dog. But as an adult, after some dog sitting, I began to think a cat was more my style. And I really wanted a pet, so I went with cat. And I was right! I love my buddy, and she's just the right amount of effort for me. Taking care of her isn't a burden and I like her little personality. I don't know if I would call myself a cat person yet, but I'm definitely a "my cat" person.
I didn't grow up with cats or dogs though my mother and aunt had always grown up with them. I grew up with fish but I really wanted a cat or a dog as a child. I discovered my love for cats after I went on a trip to Spain and got to pet sit the apartment owner's three week old kitten, Filipa, who made me get two of my own.
View attachment 271671
I grew up with cats and only knew cat-people to the point where I've made it half-way through my 30's unsure of how to pet a dog.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #19
Ha! I definitely know what you mean. A dog will come up to me and I don’t know how to interact with them.
My family was nuts about pets, and I joke that I grew up in a zoo. We had more dogs than anything, generally at least two big ones. We never had more than one cat at a time, though, because my brother was severely allergic to them, so they were indoor/outdoor and not permitted upstairs in the bedrooms. My little sister hated that, and one cat we had would climb an oak tree in front of the house, cross the porch roof, and come in her bedroom window to sleep with her at night. The first thing she did when she got her own place was get a cat that could have full run of the house.
My earliest memory was of a neighbor's black cat when I was 2 or 3. She used to line up mice outside our back door for my mother to find in the early morning.
My earliest memory was of a neighbor's black cat when I was 2 or 3. She used to line up mice outside our back door for my mother to find in the early morning.
