What Got You "going" In Cats?

[1 bruce 1]

I'm wondering how our members here got "going" in cats, from "I have cats" to "I'm a cat person who will sacrifice money and my sanity to ensure they're happy".
Mine was a barn cat. I grew up in a cat rescue home and I can't really remember a time that we didn't have foster cats, or kittens, so I think that helped.
When I became a young adult I was "the foster mom" of a litter of kittens. We had a barn cat that was due any day. I was outside playing with our young family dog. I chased him into the barn, and heard the sounds of newborn kittens. My dog and I hung out on the far side of the barn while the kittens were born, Mama cat had them in a yellow bucket.
I still have that damn bucket.
For barn kittens, I couldn't resist their cute and cuddly-ness but I did the wrong thing by making them "pets." They weren't scared of people, weren't scared of dogs and weren't scared of vehicles.
I'll go into this later if anyone wants to know the details, but I grew up, got my own starter home and decided to take this small litter with me. Mama cat wanted nothing to do with me. I had her spayed and released back into her home.
I moved. I took the kittens with me when they were weaned.
About a year later I noticed a kitten (now a cat) acting "off". We went to the vet and the diagnosis was IMHA/hemobartonella. Despite emergency vet visits and transfusions, this cat did not survive due to complications from bone cancer.
I was crushed. This cat was barely an adult.
Had anyone told me I'd be spending thousands of dollars to save a funny, interesting, loving, and independent yet mystifying (who knows what they're REALLY thinking?) barn cat years prior I would have said "yeah, right", rolled my eyes and kept on...but this cat was really special, really cool.
Despite my upbringing to respect all things and care for those we take in, this cat really did me for a loop. That's been a lot of years ago, but I credit his short journey with this terrible disease kind of the "starting point" from going from..
"I like cats" to...."I'm a cat person. Get over it". =P

I'd love to know how our posters here got "into" cats, and if it was a special cat, or a special circumstance, or (like me), loving an un-savable cat to the end that made them/us realize "yep, I'm a cat person now."

Please share if you can. Thank you.

 

[Lilacat >(^.^)<]

I have had cats all my life. I wouldn't know how to live without pets.
Me aged 2, & 5....

 

[susanm9006]

We also had cats my entire life, never spayed or neutered so litter after litter of kittens. But country cats have short lives, mostly due to cars, or just disappearing, so their were probably no more than four at home at any one time. Once I left home no pets until my son was six, then we pet sat his friends cat and got our own, a little anti social barn kitten shortly thereafter. She was an only cat for a couple years and then a half grown stray found me in a parking lot on a hot hot summer day and so couldn’t say no. She sadly only lived until she was two before suddenly dying of cardiomyopathy and of course we needed to get an immediate replacement. So pretty much from that point forward for about twenty years we always had two cats plus an occasion foster. The last family kitten was a diva who detested other cats and so when her elder sibling passed she became an only. When she died at 19 I adopted my current cat from a shelter.

 

[Lilacat >(^.^)<]

Yes, I lost plenty to traffic & disappearances, until I decided the heartbreak was too much & mine do not go outside....ever! Mine have lived longer lives now for 30 years. I have always lived in cities, big & small.

 

[susanm9006]

Yes, I lost plenty to traffic & disappearances, until I decided the heartbreak was too much & mine do not go outside....ever! Mine have lived longer lives now for 30 years. I have always lived in cities, big & small.

Yes, mine have all been spayed and are inside only. I don’t think we had a cat live last three when I was growing up. Way too painful to lose them all.

 

[Lilacat >(^.^)<]

Yeah, 2-3 years was usually tops. I just could not keep going through it.

 

[Katie M]

I've had cats since I was five, and my mother's family is filled to the brim with cat people. I clearly take after them

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

.
"Busy," got me going - exactly sixty years ago today. Born 11 April, 1958, she was my first cat, and constant companion.

She came home 14 June, 1958, at nine weeks old (catteries were a little different in those days), and never a day passes that I don't think of her.

Mom tended feral colonies from the 1940s into the 1990s, and Dad was a Lifelong ailurophile as well, so I suppose that I've come by it honestly. I think there's still a cat or two around here someplace, in fact.
.

 

[amethyst]

I have had pets since i was 2, I'm pretty sure my first pet was a cat. I also had rabbits and mice around the same time so I'm unsure, I remember having the rabbits but I don't remember getting them. I grew up with my mom teaching me and my sisters that pets are family, so I guess I was born into this life, lol. I can't remember a time when I have ever thought of my pets as anything less then a member of the family. If they were seriously sick or injured we rushed them off to the vet day or night just like you would a child. Whatever they needed we found a way to pay or put them out of their suffering (we were not a rich family) even if that meant pooling together money from our piggy banks and/or birthday money.

I think one of the funniest examples of this is when my husband and I discovered our barn cat, who had been hit and killed the previous week, had unknowing to us (she was feral so we didn't see much of her, mostly passing glimpses), had kittens under the house. They were only a few weeks old and it had been a few days since the mother was killed, so they were starving. I wanted to get them checked out at the vet as soon as possible, so after calling around and explaining "no, I do not want them euthanized" and "yes I will pay for them and plan to keep them" I got an appointment for the next day. My husband called his boss to tell him he wasn't going to be in the next day because of a family emergency. I honestly didn't think anything of that, I thought of it as normal, lol. His (cat hating) boss wasn't too happy when he found out it was kittens and not me that needed to urgently see a doctor though. So although that is not the story of when I became a "cat person", I think that is when my husband did.

 

[Kat0121]

.
"Busy," got me going - exactly sixty years ago today. Born 11 April, 1958, she was my first cat, and constant companion.

View attachment 226647

She came home 14 June, 1958, at nine weeks old (catteries were a little different in those days), and never a day passes that I don't think of her.

Mom tended feral colonies from the 1940s into the 1990s, and Dad was a Lifelong ailurophile as well, so I suppose that I've come by it honestly. I think there's still a cat or two around here someplace, in fact.
.

Aw. She sure was pretty. You come from good people. I'm sure Busy is watching over you and your family of cats with pride and a very self satisfied smile on her face. The smile that says, "I knew I raised you right".

 

[Boris Diamond]

I never had a pet as a child - well, a fish, but there wasn't much petting involved! I was raised around folks who did not have much appreciation for a cat.

When I was about 20, my brother started dating a person who was a cat lover. We would ask her about why she liked them so much and she would say, "because they're so little." She was a small person and it made sense. We grew to appreciate her cats.

When I was 22 she asked me if I wanted a kitten. One of her friends had kittens to give away. She and my brother drove 80 miles to bring me an eight week old tuxedo guy. I had read an article about how to raise a kitten - this was over 40 years ago and of course there wasn't a Cat Site, or even an internet. I was lucky to have found the article.
It had some good information and I raised the kitten as suggested. I named him Hershel and he grew up to be almost a perfect cat. I can't think of any bad habits he had. The worst thing he did was strut off with his tail and nose in the air on the few times I would not let him jump up on my lap. Even that made me chuckle.

I can't take all the credit for how great he turned out, as I was living with seven other students, male and female, all of whom where animal lovers. One guy did not like the cat on his lap, but he would never be mean to an animal. Hershel was the only pet in the house and he was welcomed and loved in whichever lap he occupied. A somewhat idyllic kittenhood.

I truly loved that cat and it gave me an appreciation for cats that has grown the more I am around them. I can't imagine life with out one now.

 

[Kreatorcat]

My younger brother and I got puppies for Christmas when we were young. Its the first pets i remember.

Then one day when i was about 12,my dad came home and told mom he wanted a cat. Mom and my sisters always said it was the strangest thing. Dad had never shown any interest in pets,and suddenly he wanted a cat. So mom grabbed the first cat she saw,a polydactyal tortoise shell kitten out of a box a little girl had in front of the grocery store.

Dad comes home from work,looks at the pretty little kitten and says "I want a Siamese."

And thus starts a two month search by my mom and sisters of local Siamese breeders in the Dallas and Fort Worth area. The whole family(mom,dad,both sisters and their husbands,myself and my younger brother) take an hour trip to this lovely house to look at a litter of kittens. The parents of the kittens were very social and the kittens themselves were playing in the living room. We were all having a great time. I guess dad chose one,tho we left without her. I remember not understanding why,and my sister had to explain that the kitten wasnt old enough to take home yet.

Not long after my dads cat Monkey came home to us,a grey tabby shows up at our door. So within 6 months we went from no cats to three.

I have loved cats ever since. Many have come thru my life,and for some reason they all warmed up to me. Even the ones that girlfriends would say "my cat hates everyone" wound up purring in my lap,often to the amazement of that girlfriend. My mom said it was because I learned early on that animals feel threatened by eye contact. My sister says its because she taught me that girls were like cats,if you ignore them they will wind up in your lap. I'm pretty sure it's because i watched dads relationship with his cat Monkey. He talked to her consistently,in both human and cat tongues. I learned to chuff from him. How to call a cat for dinner from mom. And to pick up a kitten whenever you walked past it to get it used to being handled. All of our cats were very social animals that loved being loved.

But it was those three cats,aquired in the short span of 6 months,that made me love cats...and taught me a little bit about females in general. If you scratch them where they want to be scratched,and feed them when they want food,and talk to them when they talk to you...you will be alright. And by the way,that is a good way to treat anyone.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

We had cats from the time I can remember as a child. There was a period of time when the pet was a dog. Finally, my husband, who had always been a dog person, got changed. Now he loves cats as much as I do. We tried being without a cat for six months when we no longer had Mattie. Live without a cat is not good.

 

[weebeasties]

I think I must have come out of the womb loving cats. I can't remember a time that I wasn't completely fascinated by them and devoted to them.
This love was not shared by my family. They were not anti-cat exactly, just felt ALL animals were best left in the wild to fend for themselves.
I do remember that at around the age of 5 I developed a plan. I would grow up and buy a huge masion to house all the unwanted kitties so they would be safe and loved. So I guess I was into rescue before I even knew the meaning of the word. (Still working on that masion, btw )

 

[cassiopea]

I actually grew up in a doggy and equine household - German Shepherds to be exact, five in total growing up, and my own Jack Russell that was gifted to me at age 10.

But I was always drawn to the barn cats at all the stables my parents horses were at (Before we had our own farm) Every time my dad trained for his own competitions in grand prix dressage or was teaching others, I would wait around the area with the stable cat. Just simply petting them and playing with them. It was nice and made the day go quick, as it was a full day - at least 10+ hours. I enjoyed the Equestrian world but for a small kid that is pretty much an eternity in a wee one's brain!

And even when I had my own riding lessons I'd chill with the stable kitties very sweet and friendly, well taken care of.

Anyhoo didn't have my own household cats until years later but as a child I'd loved kitties at that starting point.

 

[aliceneko]

The little cutie that turned me round is in the following photos, Filipa. I used to be scared of cats until I got to cat sit her last August in Spain, and she was just the cutest and innocent little thing ever. After that I felt like I needed to have little kitties in my life!

 

[Kat0121]

I think I must have come out of the womb loving cats. I can't remember a time that I wasn't completely fascinated by them and devoted to them.
This love was not shared by my family. They were not anti-cat exactly, just felt ALL animals were best left in the wild to fend for themselves.
I do remember that at around the age of 5 I developed a plan. I would grow up and buy a huge masion to house all the unwanted kitties so they would be safe and loved. So I guess I was into rescue before I even knew the meaning of the word. (Still working on that masion, btw )

I did too. I have wanted cats for as long as I can ever remember wanting anything. To this day I am so jealous of anyone who grew up with cats. My mother does not like cats. My father was indifferent to them. My aunt (his sister) had cats when I was a kid and of course, I was so jealous. Their first cat was named Whiskers and the second was Snowy. All my father could do was make fun of their names. "Who names a cat that?" Um. 2 little girls. That's who. SMH. Mom thinks cats are sneaky. What does that even mean. Someone at work said that to me too. You know what that tells me? One of her parents told her that and she just blindly believed it. I remember being very young and hearing mom say that. My first thought was, "you have no idea what you are talking about." I dismissed her opinion of cats and never once took it seriously. I honestly feel sorry for anyone who thinks that as they clearly have not met the right cat yet. There are few things more satisfying as a cat lover than running into someone you haven't seen for a while who ends up saying something like, "I was adopted by a stray cat that showed up on my doorstep. You were right. They ARE the best." Yes. I know.

Anyway so what did I do after that? I married someone who was allergic to cats.

Lilith and Sophie were my first cats. It was February 2014 and I was looking at the local Humane Society's website. They had a Valentine's day deal on cat adoptions. The adoption fee was lowered to $20. I looked through the pages of adoptable cats and saw Lilith. I went to go visit her in the room she was in with her brother and sister. After the worker who brought me in the room dismissed her sister (who was hiding in a corner) as "unfriendly" and told me to just "ignore her", I was determined to do anything but even if it was just to say hello. Long story short, she soon came out and happily interacted with me. I ended up taking both girls (much to the woman's shock ). "Midge" became Sophie and here we are.

Oh one more thing- that "$20 adoption fee"? Yeah. Right. When I went to fill out the paperwork, I was told that they were "patron pets" and their adoption fee was $150.00- each. I had the flyer about the Valentine's day event with me. There was nothing on it anywhere about "certain restrictions apply" or "patron pets not included". NOTHING. I pointed this out to the girl (the same one who dissed my bunny girl ). She told me that if I took both of them, they would do a BOGO on the adoption fee. The money wasn't the issue. It was how shady they were about it. Between that and the fact that they employ someone who would tell a potential adopter to ignore an adoptable animal convinced me to go elsewhere next time I plan to adopt. I'm glad I went because both girls were supposed to be with me but that annoyed me and still does. I do still donate all of my unwanted stuff to the thrift store that they have here in town because at the end of the day, the money does go to help the animals and they really do save a LOT of lives.

 

[catlover73]

My parents and some other famiiy members had cats when I was a kid. I remember interacting with them. My parents adopted a kitten for me and my brother. She was really young when we adopted her and the shelter told my parents she was much older than she was. My parents did not really have experience with really young kittens. The shelter told us she was 8 weeks old and she was only 3 weeks old. My mom was having a hard time getting her to eat and she peed on me one time in her sleep. My parents called a friend who was a vet for advice. He came to our house to examine her. He told my parents how young she was and how to take care of her. We fed her kitten formula in a bowl to get her to start eating per the vet. The shelter claimed she was eating dry food which the vet thought was odd. The vet went to a pet store with my mom to help her get kitten formula. At 5 weeks old she was transitioned to glops of kitten food mixed with formula. She started eating dry food around 8 weeks old. My parents did call the shelter and tell them how old she really was. The shelter tried to demand my parents return her to them. My mom called them while the vet was there. Our vet got on the phone and told the shelter that the kitten was staying in her home with him supervising care. They messed up and were not getting this kitten back. I slept in the laudry room with the kitten until she got consistent with using the litter box. We then added extra litter boxes throughout the rest of the house. I helped with feeding and litter box duties. I fed the kitten over night since I had insomnia when I was a kid and woke up multiple times throughout the night on my own. My mom would also get up too see if the kitten needed food. Her name was Tigre. She was my buddy until she passed away when I was in college. A friend drove me home to say goodbye to her when she had to be put down because her kidneys were failing. We both skipped two days of classes to get home. She told everyone she was sick. I told my professors I had a family emergency and needed to go home for a long weekend. My friend was with my family at the vet when we said goodbye to Tigre.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Yeah, 2-3 years was usually tops. I just could not keep going through it.

That's heartbreaking.
Our barn cats are cats that show up that are TNR'ed. We've been lucky, we are rural enough that they have plenty of space to roam that's "ours".
The cat area of the barn is hilarious. There's an old couch, an old chair, a Saint Bernard sized dog house with a heat lamp, etc. Super cozy in the winter, they don't seem to want to roam at all.
We've been on a lucky streak of our barn cats seeing old, old age.

 

[1 bruce 1]

.
"Busy," got me going - exactly sixty years ago today. Born 11 April, 1958, she was my first cat, and constant companion.

View attachment 226647

She came home 14 June, 1958, at nine weeks old (catteries were a little different in those days), and never a day passes that I don't think of her.

Mom tended feral colonies from the 1940s into the 1990s, and Dad was a Lifelong ailurophile as well, so I suppose that I've come by it honestly. I think there's still a cat or two around here someplace, in fact.
.

What an ironic thing that I chose to post this on her birthday...and yours on becoming a "cat person"!!