I Must Confess: over the years I have owned and loved a wide variety of pets – cats, guinea pigs, fish, cockatiels and hermit crabs (although I have never had a dog. Must do something about that one day!).
But it is the kittehs in particular that have won my heart.
Kittehs I have Known and Loved
It all started with Miss Kitty when I was 12 years old. A sweeter natured little cat you could never hope to meet. She was dressed up in dolls’ clothes, wheeled around in prams, hugged and cuddled and just generally loved to within an inch of her life.
A few months later we inherited Pinky, a tabby with a pink nose and a bit of a ‘tude – she was named after Pinky Tuscadero, a tough leather-wearing character on Happy Days. We even used to take these two cats camping – they thought the beach was just one gigantic litter tray!
When the hubster and I got married, we decided to get a kitten. As we were married in May, it was the wrong time of year for kittens so we had to wait several months before we came across one at the pet shop. She was a teeny tiny thing, clearly the runt of the litter. We named her Chloe: she was so little, we used to say that she could run around on a plate!
Of course, as is always the way, no sooner did we get Chloe, than somebody at work had kittens looking for homes. As we were both working full time, we thought another kitten would be good company for Chloe – and so Natasha joined our family.
Sadly, Natasha disappeared when she was about 5 years old.
Chloe however was a much treasured pet until she died of old age when she was 15.
Several months later, a workmate was trying to find a home for a stray cat that had turned up. She couldn’t keep him herself, as her own cat was not impressed.
Tigger was a big bruiser of a cat, having been a stray he was a bit wild particularly at first. But he soon settled down, and would often curl up on our laps while we were watching TV, though he would never let us pick him up.
Sadly, he died from a paralysis tick in October 2012 after we’d had him about 5 years. (It also just happened to be the week I got made redundant – what a horrible time that was!).
As I was now working from home, I was keen to have another furry companion and so, again through somebody at work, we heard about a litter of half-Siamese kittens that were looking for homes.
Misty joined the family in December 2012, and was our my much treasured and adored fur baby. She was hit by a car and killed in April this year and after the Council rang to tell me, I took off my jumper, stuffed it in my mouth and screamed and screamed and screamed before bursting into noisy sobs.
Although I’d loved all our kittehs I think it is safe to say that Misty was my “baby”, and I was absolutely devastated by her loss.
So when the time came to get a new kitteh, I had a couple of new groundrules:
- This one would be an indoor only cat (as I couldn’t bear to lose a pet prematurely again); and
- We would adopt a kitteh that needed a fur-ever home.
We brought Miss Fleur home in August – she was 11 months old and had been in foster care with her brothers since she was 2 1/2 weeks old. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you probably already know what she looks like (only too well!), but just in case you don’t …
I still miss Misty, but Fleur has brought so much joy and cuteness into our lives. I seriously think people under-estimate how important it is to have CUTENESS in your life – whether it’s a puppy, kitteh or baby!
How do you get your daily dose of cute – do you have a cat, a dog, or???!
I must confess, I’m not a cat person but you know, the neighbour’s cat that is auditioning our family for adoption has me thinking otherwise. The neighbour is currently away and the cat has fleas, discovered after my girls thought it would be cute to have him sleep on their beds for a few nights.
He has also spent a lot of time in side over the last week or so, checking out every nook and cranny including the chimney. You can imagine how I’ve spent my week. A week that was full to overflowing with events and a trip to ER with my youngest and all the normal goings on with hubby now at sea.
Event with all the extra work and worrying we are going to be flea infested hasn’t curbed my love for this cat. Weird.
I may need some expert advice as to what I need to do for the fleas. No idea where he is getting them from. I’m vacuuming daily, have sprayed the house, given him spot treatment. What else could/should I be doing?
I remember your posts about losing Misty. So sorry for your loss. I’m glad Fleur is bringing you joy and cuteness. I agree, they are essential. Now that my ‘baby’ turned 6 yesterday (sigh) I’m glad we now have a dog. We adopted her from an animal shelter a week or so ago. Even though she’s not a puppy she’s still adorable and we’re all loving her.
I agree, Janet… I definitely need cuteness in my life, and a pet to nurture. Now that both my ‘babies’ are at school, my dog (maltese/poodle) Boo does it for me. We adopted him from the RSPCA, and he is my little mate who makes us all smile and brings us joy. I thank God for the fun and laughter Boo brings to our lives, and his positive impact on everyone’s mental health!!
We have two dogs, but I have grown up around an abundance of cats too! My husband is allergic to cats, so it’s not likely we’ll ever have any (I always joke that when I’m sick of him I’ll get a cat to kill him slowly haha). I think pets are so good for the soul and they teach us so much about life.
Such a lovely selection of little warm balls of love there!
I have had so many cats over the years and always intend to have one by my side. One was much loved, Amelia, a tortoise shell stray who I swear was human! I still miss that lovely lady.
I’m so sad to hear about Misty Janet. But Miss Fleur is beautiful and it’s wonderful you were able to give her a forever home. I’m currently lapping up so much cute it’s nearly overwhelming – at least I was able to tear myself away long enough to write a post today!!!!
Wow you’ve had a lot of cats! I had Sam at mums when I was 15, we got him and Tom (his brother) together but Tom died when he was 5 months old and jumped into a neighbours yard who had 2 dogs. Sam is still alive at mums house (hes 15 now). Then when I moved out of home I had Phoebe but my bastard ex husband made me give her away when we moved. After that he saw how sad I was and we ended up with 3 more cats Shelby, Max and Jasper. Shelby and Max are still here and Jasper’s gone to a new home since we had bub. All of my cats have been indoor cats since Tom died. I couldn’t handle them running away or being hit by a car.
I love reading people’s pet stories because the pets really become part of the family so when they leave its devastating! I remember reading when Misty was gone. I’ve lost two dogs in my life. We have Bentley and I don’t know what we would do without him. He was our first baby. I’m glad you’ve got Fleur. They don’t replace the pet that was lost but they bring their own joy.
My goodness you have owned a lot of cats. I think I had one cat when I was a little girl, but since then I have owned dogs. All Labradors actually, and my current girl is Jada, who is a blonde and has the most delightful nature. Pets really do become part of your family 🙂
Your cats have all been gorgeous. We had a Tigger too but he was a ginger scrawny cat. Mum and dad had 3 cats at one stage but they are down to one now. She definitely has character.