When I told one of my best friends that we’d gotten a cat, her first words were “Really? You?” Her response was understandable. For as long as she’d known me, I’d always said that I didn’t like cats and would never own one. I’d even gone as far as saying that I wasn’t sure I could ever marry a man who had a cat because I could never be comfortable living in a house with one.
I think there were several factors that contributed to my dislike of cats. Growing up, the only pets I ever had were dogs and one psychotic gerbil, so I didn’t know what it was like to have a cat of my own. The cats I saw at my friends’ houses weren’t that friendly, so I concluded that cats just weren’t very loving pets. On top of that, my friend’s kitten had sharp claws that hurt, and my neighbor’s cat scratched my beloved dachshund on his eye. All of that added up to the firm belief that I was not a cat person and never would be.
Despite that, I couldn’t deny that cats were cute. After we graduated from college, one of my friends got a tuxedo kitten, and I found that I enjoyed petting him while he was small. As he got bigger, I tried to enjoy petting him, but I was always afraid of being scratched or bitten. At that point, I had to admit to myself that I didn’t truly dislike cats, I was scared of them. But that didn’t change the fact that I would never own one. After all, I didn’t want to own a pet I was scared of.
Before we got married, my husband and I talked about pets and agreed that one day we would both like to have a dog. Then, we moved into a small rental house that didn’t have a fenced-in backyard. We both thought getting a pet would add a lot to our home, but I didn’t want to get a dog without a yard for him/her to play in. So we decided to wait until we moved to a different house before getting a pet.
Then, one day, we went to PetSmart and looked at the cats that were available for adoption. One of them was a black kitten named Stitch who put his paw on the glass to try to touch my husband’s hand. Watching them, I couldn’t help but feel like the two of them had a connection. After we left, I did some soul searching, then told my husband that I thought we should adopt Stitch. I wasn’t sure that I would ever like the cat myself, but I thought I would at least be able to tolerate him.
The next day, my husband went back to PetSmart. He filled out the animal shelter’s paperwork, paid the necessary fees, and came home with Stitch and a few cat supplies. I was a nervous wreck as he brought the kitten into the house and suggested that we change his name to Jake. Almost as soon as I’d agreed to the name change, my husband said he needed to get a few more supplies and asked if I would stay and watch the kitten.
It was the best thing he could have done. As I sat on the couch with Jake, I couldn’t help but remember the last pet I’d had, the dachshund I’d loved so much. My eyes filled with tears, and Jake walked over and reached out his paw toward my face, almost like he knew I was sad. I pet him with a watery grin, and by the time my husband came home an hour later, I already loved our new kitten.
Since that day, we’ve acquired two more cats. You can read more about how that happened in my post called “Meet the Kitties.” I love Jake, Luke, and Taiyo very much, and having them has taught me a lot. One thing I’ve learned is that there is a big difference between having your own cat and petting someone else’s. Unlike dogs, most cats are not friendly to everyone. It takes them a long time to warm up to people and even longer to trust them. Once you’ve earned their trust, though, cats can be just as loving as dogs in their own way.
It’s been almost two years since we got Jake. Looking back, I find it hard to believe that I was anti-cat for so many years. I’m very grateful that I decided to give cats a chance because if I hadn’t I would have missed out on the joy of being a cat mom.
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