Where Did Your Love of Cats Come From?????

NO ONE in my family has ever claimed to be an animal lover. The only reason I was allowed to have a cat as a child was because it was a bday gift from my dad's boss. Through out my life I had heard stories of a crazy great-aunt that lived alone on a farm with 105 cats running around. She wasn't a people person and had a shotgun close by in case anybody tried to harm her babies. I course I knew there was never any relative like that in our family. My mom died 6 years ago and I packed up afew of her belonging to bring home with me. Last night I was missing her and decided to go through these things. I ran across something I had never seen before. It is a photo that is over 100 years old. A stern young woman is sitting on the front porch of a huge victorian house. All around her there are CATS and KITTENS playing. A cold chill went down my spine as I turned the photo over and saw my aunt's name on the back!! At least the story of her being a cat fanatic appears to be true. I really feel close to this girl on the porch and cannot stop smiling. It's so old and alittle sun-damaged but it has a special place in my apartment where everyone can see it!!!

What a great story!

I've loved cats for as long as I can remember. My very first memory of ever having a cat was when I was a very young girl, Mom brought me to the shelter to pick up a kitten. She was a calico, named Cuddles.

I had a lot of cats growing up but back then, Mom kind of had the "animals are disposible if they're not perfect" attitude. (Which THANKFULLY she doesn't have now.) I remember there was one tuxie female named Minnie who was very much MY cat. She would follow me around, jump into my arms when I came home from school and sleep with me every night. Well Mom couldn't afford to get her fixed so she kept going into heat and then started having litter box issues. I came home from school one day and Minnie was gone. Mom took her out and just abandoned her at a farm somewhere. I cried for DAYS. I'm telling you though, it is that reason why I am such a HUGE spay/neuter advocate and believer that when you adopt an animal, it is for life.

The pic of your great-aunt sounds amazing! Any chance you could post it here for all to see?

I learned to love cats as a 3 y/o visiting my grandparents in Kentucky. We had a dog at home, but no cats. They had a gorgeous fellow called Tom Pennycuff. My 3 cousins and I fought over him constantly. To keep the peace, my folks promised me a kitten when we got back home to Illinois. Sure enough, Dad found a beautiful black kitty who had been born on the 4th of July. I named her Mimi after my favorite book at the time---"Mimi the Merry-Go-Round Cat." She lived to be 21 and passed away in my arms.
So, I've been a cat lover since I was 3.

What a neat story!

I grew up with dogs, but have always been generally a critter person. My specific appreciation for cats came when I was first on my own, and wanting a pet, but unwilling to subject a dog to my fairly on-the-go lifestyle. So I got a kitten, on the premise that this critter would still care about my comings and goings, without needing to be in my presence 24/7. Shasta educated me, and I was converted.

ETA to Libby -- My Shasta lived to 21 also, and passed away on my tummy. Tough as the goodbye is, there is a sweetness to that that is indescribable.

No one in my family is an animal lover either, but ever since I was a baby I loved animals, I've never been scared of any animals and I've never been bitten or attacked seriously by an animal.

The fact that I love animals has always puzzled my family, they really don't get it..like the way I behaved one time when I was a kid: in my family on certain holidays family members buy a live animal like a live goat or sheep and then they slaughter it right before it will be cooked- well I always made friends with the animals, and with one goat, when they slaughtered him, I stopped talking (I was like 6) for 3 months because I was too sad, the only thing I said was "meh eh eh" like a goat My parents were really worried and took me to psychiatrists and stuff, but with time I was fine...

Bellaandme - what a special story!

Mariya -

...as to me... I've always loved all animals. We had a family dog, and I loved my friends' cats, but I was really allergic to them, so never asked my parents to have one.

Gary always hated cats, and we planned - some day - to get a dog. But our lifestyle never allowed for it, obviously for a reason. A stray cat (that at the time) we believed to be feral wormed her way into our hearts in 2001. Turns out she was pure bred Maine Coon or Maine Coon mix. Gary took great pride in the transformation that occured in her - her coat was beautiful and he got her tick and flea free by the time we took her to be spayed as Spring approached. Turned out she was already spayed.

The summer of 2002, the litter of truly feral kittens turned up in our yard, I found TCS to figure out what to do - and the rest is history.

...and I'm still really allergic to cats.

I will try to post it at some point. It is very faded and sun damaged. I had to look at it with a magnifying glass! But I was amazed. I felt like I had known her all my life.

I am not really a cat person..I am just a Trout person

Originally Posted by rapunzel47

I grew up with dogs, but have always been generally a critter person. My specific appreciation for cats came when I was first on my own, and wanting a pet, but unwilling to subject a dog to my fairly on-the-go lifestyle. So I got a kitten, on the premise that this critter would still care about my comings and goings, without needing to be in my presence 24/7. Shasta educated me, and I was converted.

Click to expand...

Rapunzel47, that is more or less my story. Always an animal lover, but not necessarily a cat person, until I lived on my own and couldn't take proper care of a dog. Now I have three cats!

I've always loved animals! Unfortunately due to my Mom's asthma I couldn't have any. I barely remember that as a toddler we had a small dog named "Dee Dee" and when I was about 5 we had a couple of rabbits and a Wolf cross German Sheppard (3/4 wolf) but they were all out door animals except when it was super, super freezing out then they were put into the shed attached to the house to get them out of the wind.

When I was about 12 I did have a couple of birds which I had to keep in my room. And I was always bringing home stray dogs and cats all of which went to the Human Society very quickly.

When I moved out I promised myself that I would have a pet, and because I tend to live in apartments I just gravitated towards cats because they are not as noisy and don't require as much physical care IE: walking in the freezing cold, as a dog does.

Now I'm a crazy cat lady!

For years I fought, argued, & saved to get the farm cats S/N. They bred uncontrollably, had little to no medical care at all, and died by the dozens every year. We're talking 50+ kittens, with maybe 2 surviving to be 6 months - sometimes those few never survived to adulthood. This was "the norm" for farm cats (unacceptable!).

That's where most of my cats came from - of the 10 currently residing in my house...2 are fosters (Lola & Gumby). 3 were adopted from the shelter (Margo, Molly, & Eden). 4 were definitely born on the farm (Tabitha, Twitch, Ophelia Rose, & Dorian). 1 was possibly born to a farm cat, we have no way to knowing (Lily). Of the farm cats, 6 of 7 were born here on the farm (Fafeena, Slinky, Goat-Head, Cow, Billy Bob, & Tony Bob). Only Squishy was adopted from the shelter (was to be euthanized due to health/age).

For years white cats were what almost all the kittens were - white kittens, most with blue eyes & deaf. They didn't survive long. Somehow Ophelia Rose (deaf white w/ blue eyes) survived for 3 years feral!!!! Twitch was lucky, she got "chosen" to be a housekitty at a young age (and consequently the parents mutilated her by declawing her). She wouldn't have survived long being deaf.

Most of my cats are inbred, and I can tell you the genetics of them all & show how they are related. It's not an easy life for the farm cats to live outdoors, but I do the best I can for them - bear in mind most of them are 8+ years old (Fafeena is 16). Some of them are semi-feral & most would not happily transition to life indoors.

There is no such thing as low-cost S/N here - we payed through the nose ($80/cat) to get the farm cats fixed about 5 years ago. Mom is a cat person & one sister is, but the others in the family not so much.

my aunt & uncle who lived upstairs had a large male cat named Jumbo -he was the first ever cat in the extended family. of course we kids thought he was so cute. IIRC, he lived mainly outside and he was a brown tabby.

then they got a black tabby and we got a gray tortie . and then for years it seemed there was at least one resident cat for each household in our extended family. for my other aunt & uncle it was a white DSH named Kitty but that was years ago -now there are 2 cats there. the first aunt & uncle now live with 4 cats i think (at least 4)

i guess cats reminded me of stuffed animals and i was big into those as a kid. i ocassionally tell daisy "you look like a stuffed animal sweety"

but there were hardly any dogs in our extended family. my sister had one named Zorro for a few weeks when she lived in The Bronx. but other than Zorro, none other.

Growing up I heard constantly stories of my mom's kitty, Fluffy. Now Fluffy's story wasn't that of a great one poor girl died on the operating table when she went in for a spay. (She was 12 years old so it was a risk, but she was an outside cat and she wouldn't have lasted much longer being unaltered.) Most of my family are not animal people either. My mom is, my cousin Claire is, my aunt Lisa is and me. So that's four people out of like 20? Everyone else thinks we are crazy for having pets.

Naturally I grew up wanting a kitty. I thought they were adorable, I wanted one so bad I ended up catching one. The rest is history. I love all animals but for my own companions I prefer cats.

Originally Posted by Bellaandme

NO ONE in my family has ever claimed to be an animal lover.

Click to expand...

That makes me sad.
I can't even think of one person in my large extended family who doesn't have a pet, mostly dogs, all claim to love animals. I grew up with all sorts of pets and have fond memories.

I've always loved (almost) all animals! Bugs are about the only exception.

Both my parents are huge animal lovers, too. Story goes they had like 7 dogs at one time before they had me. But never cats... Both my parents are pretty allergic, and I am, too. So, we were quite happy with our dogs!

Though I always always wanted one... Just thought it was out of my reach, ya know? Never seemed possible, kind of like having a horse.

Then I moved in with hubby, who has always had cats, and he wanted and wanted and wanted one, and finally, since I had wanted one, too, I gave it! I figured I love animals enough that I can just deal with my allergies, and I was right! Wouldn't give up my baby for the world.

Originally Posted by Bellaandme

I will try to post it at some point. It is very faded and sun damaged. I had to look at it with a magnifying glass! But I was amazed. I felt like I had known her all my life.

Click to expand...

That is a beautiful story! You may want to call around to see if you can find someone who restores old photos. There are a lot of places that can restore old photos to look like new.

As for me, I grew up with animals. I can never think of a time that I did not have a cat or two, mostly more. At one time we had a couple of males, two females (mother and daughter) who BOTH had kittens the same day. 5 in one litter, 6 in the other. They put all the kittens together and both would feed them! Pity the poor dog who ventured into our yard. Both mamas would attack the dog. We actually had one that tried to climb a tree to get away from those protective mamas. I was a kid back then and didn't really know about fixing the cats.

We also had dogs, chickens and rabbits. To this day, I cannot eat rabbit. I hated when my dad would butcher the rabbit. They were my bunnies. I didn't mind him killing the chickens and would laugh when he beheaded one and set it loose to run around the yard. I guess that is where they get the saying, "running around like a chicken with its head cut off"

My love of animals came from my Grandma. She fed all lot of stray and feral cats. She had a old washtub on her deck that would be filled with cat food, and another with fresh milk. I was allowed to sit very quietly as she talked and fed the cats. She would tell how lovely they looked and they always talked back. there was no vet, She would fix there wounds. We couldn't have a cat at home because Dad was allergic. We always had dogs. My Dad nutured my love of pets by bringing home rabbits, or pet mice. Pets that people no longer wanted. He knew I would take care of them.

I've loved cats ever since i was little, we have always had cats in our family, and my life wouldn't be the same without having one =] they bring so much happiness to my life, and so much laughter with the silly things they do i can deffo say i wouldn't be complete without cats

Aww! That's a wonderful story!

My mother adopted our first cat, Tinsel, when I was 2. I guess that's where my love started. Mom never had them growing up; she had a dog. And my Dad has always been a dog person until recently. Actually my Gram disliked cats growing up because her mother loved too many of them from what she says. So maybe it started with her really!

Originally Posted by Bellaandme

I will try to post it at some point. It is very faded and sun damaged. I had to look at it with a magnifying glass! But I was amazed. I felt like I had known her all my life.

Click to expand...

There are places that can fix that photo so it can be looked at properly.