I am new here, but I absolutely love cats! I have three; a 12-year-old longhair named Jack, a 7-year-old shorthair named Dippy (short for Dipstick), and an estimated 1-year-old shorthair named Boots, who I brought in as a stray a couple of months ago. I also have six horses and two dogs. Jack and Dippy prefer to live outside, although Dippy comes in occasionally, while Boots likes to stay inside. Unfortunately, none of my cats like each other so they have to stay separated. Luckily, I live on a small plot of land, so Dippy lounges around on the patio while Jack stays in the barn. I have had Dippy and Jack since they were kittens, and I have a really strong bond with Dippy. Jack is kind of bipolar and loves to be petted one minute, then hisses and smacks my feet the next! He has always been that way, but I love him. Boots just showed up one day and decided she liked me, and my mom said I could keep her, so she's my snuggle buddy since Dippy gets stressed out being inside too long. I am now 19, but when I was 12 and Dippy was a kitten, I would dress him up in doll clothes and put Barbie saddles on him, and he would just sit there and purr! He really loves attention, but is shy around strangers. When I was 7 and Jack was a kitten, I tried to give him a bath in his water bowl because I thought he was dirty (I didn't know any better, and I just dipped his feet in, so he wasn't drowning or anything) and my mom gave me the option of being spanked or having my head flushed in the toilet, because "that's how the cat felt!" I love my cats and they actually take away my stress. There's nothing better to me than hugging a warm, purring cat when I'm upset. When I can't sleep and Boots would rather snuggle up under the coffee table in the living room, I listen to cat purring videos on YouTube. Even when I am extremely angry, holding a cat helps me calm down. If only I could have a kitty at work! My favorite teacher and "second mother" in high school actually gave me a stuffed cat to hug when I became stressed! Dippy is the cat that really calms me down the most, and I don't know why, but he does. I love all of my cats equally, but Dippy just has something about him that helps me relax. I didn't realize how much I loved cats until he came along, really (since Jack can be kind of mean at times!). I don't know much about cats, but I love them.