Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How did you get into being owned by cats? Who was your first?
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Tessa Onyx, Foudini, Charlee, Spottie, ShyRaven, Buddy, Tuxie, Widdle Attila Sipowitz, Lizzie, Minnie, ET, Mylo, Penny (We be house cats at last), and Salem, Wicca and Marmalade (We iz also house cats, we guess)and the 5 porch kits also Riley da goggie and Buddha da baby hamster too
Tabitha and Samantha..always in our hearts
A house without cats is like a garden without flowers

Had 3 cats as a kid but they were outside and didn't seem to last very long. Late hubby and I had dogs and I thought I was a dog person. After all cats lived outside and didn't last, right? Anyway, after my step kids were pretty much out of the house I decided to further my career and had to take an apartment about 60 miles from our home. I was soooo lonely even though I was only there during the week. So I brought my german shephard dog who promptly cornered the maintenance man on the kitchen counter and they had to call me to come and get him. Dog had to go back home. Hubby suggested a cat so to the nearest pet store we went. Found a 9 week old kitten, tabby and white, female and brought her home. Took the ride home with her purring under my chin to solve the "I don't want a cat" nonsense that I had been spouting all day. That kitten wrapped me firmly around her little white paws.......and well Misty started it all for me.
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Tessa Onyx, Foudini, Charlee, Spottie, ShyRaven, Buddy, Tuxie, Widdle Attila Sipowitz, Lizzie, Minnie, ET, Mylo, Penny (We be house cats at last), and Salem, Wicca and Marmalade (We iz also house cats, we guess)and the 5 porch kits also Riley da goggie and Buddha da baby hamster too
Tabitha and Samantha..always in our hearts
A house without cats is like a garden without flowers

>>How did you get into being owned by cats? Who was your first?
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That's difficult to answer since my parents have always had cats around since I was a child.I don't recall ever being without them.
The first cat I had on my own was a gray and white cat named Molly. I got her when I first was married. Unfortunately, she got outside and was hit by a car a couple months later.
Since then I've had Greta (she lived for 16 years) and now
I have Star and Quentin. Ellen

The family had a couple cats and dogs over my first 10 years of life, but in my teen years, we really didn't have either (brother and I had Guinea Pigs and mom had a Parrot).

I always fancied myself a dog person. But, at the ripe old age of 26, I finally settled in an area where I new I wouldn't travel much (in the military) and could committ to pets. Couldn't get a dog because I worked long night shifts. A friend (also in the military at the time) had a couple cats and convinded me to get cats. He was also a neighbor and we reasoned we could check in on eachother's pets if we had to travel suddenly for work or anything.

So, I worked with the SPCA to stay open an hour late one night and went to pick up a grey kitten just like my family used to have. Well, they told me of a friendly one year old orange cat who would be put down that night (Pookey) and I couldn't say no. Took him without meeting him. As I was walking out, they said he had a brother from the same litter (also being put down that night), so I said, sure, and took him sight unseen (Stanley). They threw him in for free.

The vet bill the first two weeks was $300 to get them thru URIs. Pookey was on his last leg and almost died...

The rest is history. Amazing cats. Totally different personalities. Been with me in my 20s, 30s, and now 40s (41 next month).
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

My grandmother gave me Ming kitty, an applehead Siamese for my 3d birthday, and we had him for 19 years. My parents have always had cats, but I married a dog man. For months after we were married, I asked him for a cat, but he said no, then,,,,
One cold December day I was bringing groceries in the house, and this scrawny gray cat followed me in (he swears I laid a trail of hamburger), sat next to the gas log in the kitchen and said "I am home". We had her for the next 16 years. She went to the bridge 3 days before Christmas,and he was heartbroken. A month went by with no litter boxes to clean, and I started suggesting getting another cat. Nope. Then one crappy Saturday they had a cat show on the idiot box,and out of the blue he said "I want a Maine coon, find one". Many phone calls later we found Kasha about an hour away from our house. Now she is my cat.
Smiggle was a tiny, scrawny (why are strays always starving?) gray kitten who jumped on hubby's lap, wrapped herself around his neck and purred. Mind you, he loves Kasha but still considered himself a dog person. After one day, he said "do you think I should keep her in the garage to keep her safe?". Yup. A day or two later, it was "Do you think we should take her to the vet?" Yup. Now he is a cat man. Smig is still in the garage (his workshop) as she and Kasha dont play well, and goes outside on a leash when he works in the garden. That tiny kitten the vet said was 10 months old and would not get very big because of her malnourishment (she was a week or 2 away from the Bridge) now is a heafty 13 lbs.

When I was four, talked my folks into letting me get a cat. My mother took me to see a litter. There was a calico in the litter and, as far as I was concerned, that was the only one for me. That evening, she crawled up on my dad's chest, looked him in the eye and promptly won him over, too. She went to the bridge when I was 22.
I was without a cat for several years due to first husband not liking cats but finally got another calico and she convinced him cats were good. (I hear he still has a couple around.)
Second husband and I each had two calicos when we met. They've all four gone to the bridge and we've acquired the four who now run the household.
Did I mention that I got hooked on calicos early in life?

My parents had a Russian Blue named Foggy that died when I was just an infant. He had belonged to the college student next door neighbor but Foggy was conveniently absent when she had to load up her car to return home. He moved himself into my folk's house that same day. When he passed, mom got me a stuffed kitten to drag around the house. I took it everywhere.

When I was 3, there was a daily battle to get me to eat breakfast. Mom left the kitchen one day and I took my bowl of Cheerios out to a kitten in the driveway. Mama Puss stayed 10 years and was later joined by other cats.

When I got my first apt. all to myself, I was given a runty kitten that had been dropped off at a goodwill store. Tilly lived 3 days. Mom, knowing I was upset about not being able to nurse this kitten back to health, went to the shelter in my home town and picked out Maggie. She lived with me for 3 years until my neighbor started dealing drugs. I couldn't find an apt that would take cats in a hurry so when mom heard I was going to extend my current lease another year, she cat-nabbed Maggie. Maggie lived with them another 13 years spending most of her days supervising my father's daily schedule. That cat could talk - and she'd tell ya!

Our first cat was a little stray calico kitten that adopted us. She grew up with my youngest daughter and managed our household for 18 years.
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Boris's Human, Pam

I don't really remember any cats when I was a child. We had a dog though. Then when I was married, I would sometimes feed a stray cat or two outside.

My first real cat was Samantha who Pam got for me from a "free to good home" ad. She was only 6 weeks old when I got her. Simba came to me shortly after Samantha, 5 months to be exact.

Those two hooked me. Now I'm a Cat Woman!
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Ruby and the Kitties
Simba, Samantha, Katrina & KatyKatt
Meow!! Meow!! Meow!! Meow!!

How wonderful to do nothing and then rest afterwards. Meow!

We lived on a dairy farm and the first cat we really had was a barn cat....not a true pet. I guess Missy was the first, she was given to us by a neighbor...
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PHTessie