What Got You "going" In Cats?

[kmbishop111]

We had a kitten named Tippy when I was little. A little oreo cat. I remember Tippy would hide behind the doorway to the hall and wait for my brother to come thru. Tippy would playfully lunge at him, and attack. He was a year and a half younger than me so I'm sure it was quite traumatizing. Following this, my parents got rid of Tippy. I didn't have another cat until I was out of school. We had dogs growing up following Tippy, but no kitties.

I fell in love with a Abyssinian mix whom I named Miss Kitty. It is almost too painful to talk about her still, as she passed in 2007. I had her for 14 years and she lost her battle with cancer in 2007. Miss Kitty came along at a point in my life when I was suffering from clinical depression. Times had gotten really hard and I was thinking some thoughts of not wanting to be on this Earth anymore. I had already devised a plan, had a hotel room and was very close to going thru with it.

The hotel was a complete dive, roaches included free with every room. I had seen this little cat outside my room, eating from the dumpster. This did not fit well with my plan at the moment BUT I brought her in my room. I remember sitting and watching her chase a cockroach across the floor to eat. It was at that very moment I thought to myself, if I go thru with this who in the hell will this little cat have?? No-one. So YES, this little angel saved my life that day.

(This was something very personal and something that I don't know that I've shared with more than a hand full of people but it is part of my story. And y'all seem to be a very understanding, compassionate group.)

From that day forward, I tried in every way to make her life better and repay my best friend for what she had done for me. That, I believe translated over to my love for all feral cats and eventually getting involved running an animal shelter, working as a Vet Tech, and starting a TNR organization. I am simply I guess you might say, "Paying it Forward......"

 

[tara g]

We always had cats while I was growing up, so they were always in my life, pretty much was a given!

 

[catalinacat]

I love reading everyone’s stories here!

I actually was obsessed with dogs for a huge portion of my life. When I was little I was obsessed with the idea of owning a dog, had lots of dog stuffed animals, dog posters, dog calendars, drew dogs all he time, and even went to borrow the dog breed encyclopedia at the library to study every breed of dog and write down every one of its name in a notebook.
My parents never let me have one though. I would just satisfy my need for dogs by trying to befriend dogs in the neighborhood.

I never hated cats but I didn’t paricularly grow up caring much for them either. I mean I’ve had friendly neighbor cats that constantly visited my house among other memorable cat encounters but I always felt like the friendly ones were rare exceptions and that cats were generally less sentient than dogs.

Even as I grew older I’d check dog adoption sites frequently just to look! And I’ve obsessively watched those stray dog rescue videos on YouTube.

However! Last year I was out bike riding and heard a meow coming from a tree and found a little kitten stuck up there. She was meowing with all her might despite being such a tiny thing. I’m skipping a bunch of details but I did eventually catch her and bring her back home (this was near a forested street area where squirrels are frequently run over...so I didn’t want to leave her there). She was a little 2 month old with fleas, worms, and a hole in her neck. I also was in an area where stray cats generally don’t exist and the vet I took her to agreed that she was probably dumped. Although it kind of does bother me to wonder if I took a feral cat’s baby...but I gues I’d never know. I honestly think she may have not survived because it gets really cold here so I hope that me taking her was for the best even if that is the case.

And ever since she came into my life with her cuddles and spunky personality I don’t know how I went this long without recognizing just how amazing cats are.

I’m still new to cats and being a cat person, but I can’t beleive I use to think they were less sentient. They definitely are not. All my assumptions about cats have gone out the window!

I guess I just found it funny how all this time I wished for a dog but the universe gave me a cat haha. I love my cat to pieces though and finding her is quite literally one of the best things to happen in my life.

 

[debbila]

Growing up we always had a dog. I remember the little beagle puppy that we heard crying on our front porch and brought in the house. One of my cousins later confessed to getting it at the animal shelter and putting it on our porch. He knew my mom was a sucker for animals, and that she'd let us keep her.
Not long after that my grown sister ( she and my two nieces lived with us ) fell in love with a sealpoint Siames cat. She bought the cat and brought her home. That was the beginning of my love of cats. We bred her and we kept the female kitten from her litter. When I moved out on my own I took Mitzi and Tammy with me. I've had other cats since they passed away, but I'll never forget my first beautiful babies. I think that's why I chose my Snowshoe/Siamese mix that I have now.