Hi
My name is Chantal, I'm 21 and live in Australia. I share my life with my partner and our three beautiful rescue cats - Whisper, 9 years old, Kairi, almost a year and a half old, and Tidus, 7 months old. I've always adored animals, and was fortunate enough to grow up with a whole slew of animals since I was very young. Before my current three kitties I've had over ten cats, all sadly since passed on.
I bond very closely with my cats, I never view them as 'pets', simply beings I choose to share with my life with, all of whom play the role of mother, daughter, sister and best friend at once.
Two years ago my 'special' cat, the cat I bonded most closely to and was truly the most special and loved person in my life, was poisoned by some horrible neighbor (I never found out who, but it was a confirmed intentional poisoning). My heart broke, I've never felt pain or loss or grief half as strongly as that, and it took over a year for me to stop crying every day. I still think about Miko every day and my heart will never stop aching for her (and my other beautiful kitties who have passed before and after), but it was her death that put me on the path of animal welfare activism and adopting shelter cats. I felt the only way I could move on from her death was if I turned her awful passing into something positive, and so I adopted an older shelter cat in the hopes of giving her a new lease of life (in addition to annually sponsoring a cat cage at the local shelter in memory of Miko).
Nowadays I try to donate to animal charities as often as I can, and I've adopted two more kitties from the shelter, making a total of three. I plan on moving to a larger house soon and will be adopting more cats as money and space permit. I strongly feel that if you have the love, room and money for another animal, you should put it to use - there are so many homeless pets out there who are at risk of euthanasia simply because no one has come along to take them home in a timely manner. It's heartbreaking.
Anyway, sorry, I have a hard time getting off my soapbox on this issue, and I'm sure it's especially unnecessary here as we all love kitties and want to do what's best for them
Here are photos of my cats, and a couple videos too:
Kairi:
Whisper:
Tidus:
Walking Tidus on a Leash:
Cuddles with Tidus:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ArkadiaT.../1/NevkdA61RiI
I hope to see you all around soon!
I bond very closely with my cats, I never view them as 'pets', simply beings I choose to share with my life with, all of whom play the role of mother, daughter, sister and best friend at once.
Two years ago my 'special' cat, the cat I bonded most closely to and was truly the most special and loved person in my life, was poisoned by some horrible neighbor (I never found out who, but it was a confirmed intentional poisoning). My heart broke, I've never felt pain or loss or grief half as strongly as that, and it took over a year for me to stop crying every day. I still think about Miko every day and my heart will never stop aching for her (and my other beautiful kitties who have passed before and after), but it was her death that put me on the path of animal welfare activism and adopting shelter cats. I felt the only way I could move on from her death was if I turned her awful passing into something positive, and so I adopted an older shelter cat in the hopes of giving her a new lease of life (in addition to annually sponsoring a cat cage at the local shelter in memory of Miko).
Nowadays I try to donate to animal charities as often as I can, and I've adopted two more kitties from the shelter, making a total of three. I plan on moving to a larger house soon and will be adopting more cats as money and space permit. I strongly feel that if you have the love, room and money for another animal, you should put it to use - there are so many homeless pets out there who are at risk of euthanasia simply because no one has come along to take them home in a timely manner. It's heartbreaking.
Anyway, sorry, I have a hard time getting off my soapbox on this issue, and I'm sure it's especially unnecessary here as we all love kitties and want to do what's best for them
Here are photos of my cats, and a couple videos too:
Kairi:
Whisper:
Tidus:
Walking Tidus on a Leash:
Cuddles with Tidus:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ArkadiaT.../1/NevkdA61RiI
I hope to see you all around soon!