Before TCS DD did all the cat research. She is very thorough.
Before TCS I thought having a cat tree in every room was normal.
Before TCS I assumed all cat food was good for cats. Still need to find something Fluffy will eat.
I am on FB. I check it every day to see what my family is up to. I have friended nieces and nephews, it's a nice way to keep up with them. I have also recently friended some grammar school classmates. Otherwise it's friends from Maryland. I have also friended two of my son's roommates. They don't post much but I did see his Halloween costume and the car flipped in the snow that he was traveling in with the 4 of them standing nearby unharmed.
Kim (dd) smiles and shakes her head at me when I tell her the sad stories and says why do you read those. I get so caught up in the grief.
What an awesome thread! I'm really enjoying the replies!
For me,
#BeforeTCS I had hopes but didn't know just how much support I'll be getting from cat over all over the globe in this huge effort of setting up an online community of cat lovers. Wonderful people who helped form this community and improve on it to create this one-of-a-kind place on the internet. I am happy to say many of these people, team members past and present, have become real friends.
#BeforeTCS I had no idea just how versatile and idiosyncratic cats are. TCS kitties managed to baffle me again and again. The extent of different feline behaviors never ceases to amaze me.
When I adopted Ruby, even though I'd been around cats my whole life, I stressed over every little thing she did or didn't do, so I searched out an online community of cat people, and lucky for me found TCS.
Before TCS my world seemed narrower, my circle of friends was much smaller, and there was nowhere, at all,, that I could go to talk about my beloved Hekitty.
Before TCS I was only planning on feeding my kitten 100% dry food . Now hes on 100% raw. I also didnt know anything about TNR- now its something im planning on getting into one day. I also didnt know a cats teeths needed to be cleaned. Pretty much everything i learned about kitty stemmed from TCS!
I also may not have had the courage to rescue my 2nd cat an adult orange tabby from abandoned apartment stray life and also take the other cat i found to the no kill shelter without all the stories of saving kitties on TCS.
#beforeTCS
1.) I thought Meow Mix was ok. Like, Seriously.
2.) I never would have told people I had a cat.
3.) I didn't have any way of discussing real-time disagreements with vet care, or day to day cat care, aside from family--who didn't know either. Seriously, it's one thing to google, another to discuss what you google.
4.) I also did not know what declawing really was, or did. I did not have personal Internet or even a smart phone when I did that awful thing to Robin. I never would have, had I found TCS by then. How I wish I could turn back the clock, and have found a way to avoid doing that (was not done to save furniture fyi).
5.) Before TCS, I never knew others were as enriched by their cats as I always have been. It has freed me to enjoy my cat without the backdoor "crazy cat lady" label I think I always kind of subconsciously attached to myself in years past. Oh, what a joyful, freeing experience having a cat has been this time around, versus the last time (1990s)!!! Thank you, @Anne!!!!!!