My story with cats and animals starts from basically the time I was born. My mom was an animal lover and turned my dad into one as well. When I was born, my parents had two dogs and one cat. I grew up learning to stand by holding on to Honey Bear, our golden retriever's, fur for balance, and learned how to throw a ball so Ocea, our black lab mix, could play fetch with me. My parents still tell me stories of how Aurora, our cat at the time (whom I barely remember), used to nap with me in the crib.
At 3 years old, I got my first cat. You've probably heard me tell this story in previous posts, but I'll tell it again for those of you who are new here. My parents went out on a date night to go to the movie theater. While walking back to their car, my mom heard some tiny, weak meows coming from behind the theater's dumpster. She pulled out a tiny tortoiseshell kitten and made such sad faces at my dad that he allowed her to take the kitten home. They introduced us, and at that point, I knew all cats as "Meow," and so that became her name.
Meow lived until I was 21 years old. She was my soul cat. I really felt like I could communicate with her. I would spend hours telling her about my days at school when I wanted to procrastinate on doing my homework. We had many cats throughout my childhood, namely two rescue cats named 'Africa' and 'Felix', but Meow was my cat. I fed her, cleaned her litter box, and even I built a house for her in the garage if she wanted to escape from everyone and have some quiet time.
I keep Meow's legacy alive by helping the cats that need it the most. I take care of several stray cat colonies in my community, trapping them for TNR (trap-neuter-return), and feeding them. Currently, my home is not conducive to having a cat full-time (more on that below), so I try to give back in the ways that I can.
There may or may not be a surprise down below…. just remember, I told you that I love all animals.