If you follow me on Instagram you know that we recently adopted 3 tiny kittens. And I went from being a cat hater to a cat lover in about half a millisecond. Maybe less.
That’s Chama and Zuni.
Here’s Ivan:
It’s not so much that I hated cats. It’s that I couldn’t spare the emotional brain space for them. Back when Al and I got married we adopted two little sibling kitties called Pounce and Silly. Then a stray called Wilbur, distant cousin of Hemingway’s cats with 8+ toes on each paw, found us. Then Al’s mom found a grown cat that needed a home who we named Q. I adored those 4 cats. They were our babies.
And then we had a human baby and all my time, patience, snuggles, and everything about me went into the care and feeding and nurturing of that baby and the three that followed. I had zero time or patience for the furry critters that inhabited our house. Over time, they became the kid’s pets. I tolerated them. Barely.
The cat population shifted over the next few years. Pounce snuck out one day and never came back, probably killed by a coyote or some wild creature. Silly died of a broken heart induced kidney failure (pretty sure they were a bonded pair). Q also snuck away, he had this crazy idea he needed to be an outdoor cat but he had been fully declawed by his former owners and was unsuited for outdoor living. And so we were down to just Wilbur.
The kids were beyond sad so we adopted Artica and Rio into the family. Then Pepper, a little stray kitten, found us one night and wouldn’t leave. So we were back to 4.
All this time, I barely tolerated the cats. Wilbur died of old age, Rio died of some kind of cancer, and Al and the kids were gutted. Rio was a character and Wilbur was a lovable weird little dude. I was ready to be done. But I was outvoted and last Christmas we adopted Pecos and Gila, an 8 month old sibling pair, from the pound.
Pecos and Gila are characters, but not snugglers. It was decided (NOT BY ME) that we needed a lap cat and that it needed to be a kitten since we hadn’t had a kitten in the house for years. So off the family went to explore the city animal shelters.
Instead of coming home with 1 kitty, they came home with 3. I rolled my eyes, but what can you do, right? Turns out they are The Best snugglers. And they made me love them. Little jerks. I’m lost. Send help.
Karen Alma 