I went for a year and a half without a cat in my home, it was a really small bachelor apartment and I didn't want to have a kitty in such a small space.
I think only the first 5 or 6 years of my life. After that I had a cat all the time - usually overlapping.
My first kitty ever was a beautiful white stray we took in and we called her Tinkerbell. She was divine. One night we got home (I was only about 5) and she was lying stretched out in the moonlight in the front patio. She looked so peaceful and lovely. She had died and the only thing that Mum could say to console me was that we had taken her in and looked after her and that she was happy in the last weeks of her life. I was devastated!!
1 year and 11 months. That was from the time I married till we got Mooch and Noodles at the end of April. Well I guess we didn't get Tinsel till I was 2 but I don't remember that.
I grew up with dogs (and a Dad) that didn't like cats at all so I didn't have a cat until I was almost 21. Then one day I found this tiny little black kitten that was terrified of people hiding between the fence and the side of the spa (it was an area the dogs weren't allowed). I worked on making friends with her for a month of sitting outside in over 100 degree heat bribing her to come out with lunchmeat. I finally made friends with her but then a neighbor hurt her so bad we had to put her sleep because the vet said they could try to treat her injuries but it would be close to $5,000 and she would be in constant pain and never be able to live a normal life. So after that my Dad swore I couldn't have another pet until I moved out. Well about 3-4 month later I went to PetsMart to pick up dog food and seen Princess and fell in love immediately. I called my Dad and begged (actually it didn't take much more than please) so I came home with alot more than just dog food. The funny thing is that when I moved out less than a year later "Mr I don't like cats" would come to visit and the first words out of his mouth were "Where's Princess?" He didn't even say hi to me first.
That's so sad about that poor little kitten - and you must have become so attached to it, too. You must have felt highly homicidal towards your neighbour - were they ever charged or punished for what they did?
My Dad is like your Dad - he won't go near animals or call them by their names, it's always `cat' or `dog' - but when he doesn't think anyone's looking he is always giving them little treats or a pat or something... What a dag.
8 years. I moved from home to Ohio to go to graduate school in 1993, and didn't have a cat until Ivo showed up in the basement of my building and fell asleep in my hands in 2001.
2 or 3 years, two separate times. Once when I moved away from my parents and had a no-pets apartment. They kept my dog for me, but she came to visit sometimes! Then again when dh and I met, we got a dog but the cat we adopted hated us and ran off! (It was an adopted barn cat, who seemed friendly at first, but did not like living inside. Finally he snuck out and headed for the hills!
I was totally without a cat from march of 86 to sept of 88 ... Moms nikko had passed away a month short of 19 yrs old so she was ready then few yrs later I got Kandie... In apr of 99 kandie went with Mom so I was without her till dec 2000 but I visited three times
That would be the winter of 1977-1978. We had no cat for the first time since I was born and the mice were having a hey-day in our new foam insulation! Every morning mom would clean up bits of foam from their excavations. They must have had quite a complex set up in our kitchen walls!
Well, I had Poocha from when I was 3 until 17 and then I didn't get Malakai until I was 22 so, that's 5 years... and now it's been 3 months without him...
Lovely stories! I've had at least one kitty in my family, in my heart, every day since the age of 6. It was then we were adopted by Christy, my childhood kitty.