Midnight Musings: My 1st Pet Cat (Link Up)

Yesterday was world cat day. This prompt for this post has been on my list all year. I had finally decided yesterday to write it up for today and then the link to the notice came across my Twitter.

Too funny.

I am a cat person. I have been since as far back as I can remember. This is odd since I did not grow up with or really around pets for the most part.

As a child on the rare occasion we would visit someone who had a cat I would be enthralled. I loved to hold and pet the complex creatures.

It never dawned on me to associate my itchy watery eyes thereafter with my interactions.

Thankfully I out grew that reaction.

Getting my first apartment I knew I wanted to be a cat owner. A friend soon called with the crisis of a mess of kitten on her hands. Her cat had been raising a litter of kittens in her backyard and they were all ready for new homes.

“Come and get yourself one if you want it before they are all gone!” she insisted sternly.

I guess they did not look like they were going anywhere on their own and she was ready to run them off with or without their Cat Momma.

I got a ride and hurried over.

I had no idea what I was in for.

I picked out a tiny dust and dirt covered pale creature with bright eyes.

I thought it was a girl. How closely was I supposed to check these things as a novice?

I also thought the fur colors I saw all over; grey, brown/red, tan, black were the coat colors.

The friend who drove me over took me to her house and then the store. I did not have gear or food. At the friends’ house she had a litter of day old Dalmatian puppies. I had no idea the spots age in.

I washed my kitty and quickly understood why most cats hate water. They look undignified when wet.

I also discovered my kitty was white all over except for her, Tips which was thankfully androgynous name we had given her.

This feline was full of surprises. She went to stay with a fellow coworker one weekend and when I called to check on her, my coworker said

“You mean he.”

“What did you do to my kitty?” I asked her accusingly.

Kitty and I had gotten in a fight because it liked to chew up my phone cords.

One night I had just had it! I opened the door and tossed the creature then felt bad as it hid under a car in the parking lot not wanting to come back inside.

My co-worker was a cat woman with a house full of them not to mention more experience. She agreed to give me a break so I could shop and pull myself together.