Katherine Hughes
Ever since I was a kid, my family have always owned a dog. First there was Sooty, and now Pepper. Now don’t get me wrong, I love these dogs, but they were always the family pet, never my own. Then one day, I decided that I wanted a cat. I’m not sure what prompted this as up till this point, I had rarely ever spent time with cats, maybe it was too many cat videos on YouTube, but I made up my mind and I wanted this cat.
You might think by that statement that it was a split-second decision, but you would be very, very wrong. I spent two weeks staying up till late hours of the night, researching everything there was to know about cats and caring for cats. I then used this information to convince my parents (very much NOT cat people), through a 10-minute speech and accompanying PowerPoint. They weren’t convinced. My mother took all the information in and processed the decision thoroughly over the next few weeks, my dad doesn’t like cats. And then the day came. A YES. I immediately took to Kmart to investigate cat supplies, still not believing it was real. I picked up the first thing I could see, a cat tree and purchased it thinking I had now taken it too far for anyone to back out. We spent the next month combing through every possible cat adoption website. The timing was terrible, bathrooms were under renovation, and it wasn’t a pleasant environment for a new kitten to walk into. And then we found her…
Zelda, or Jelly as she was known then (named after the musical ‘Cats’, an understandable name switch to the much more tolerable Zelda). A 4-month-old kitten found all alone in someone’s garage, taken in by a vet and advertised as a ‘purring machine’. She was perfect. I spent the day preoccupied with cat thoughts, she had a visitor that day for a possible adoption and I spent the day waiting to hear the outcome. She was stood up. Needless to say, we drove to see her the next day not wanting to wait a second longer.
When we first saw her, she was tiny, just a small little thing, obsessed with keys and a determination to jump off the bench she had been placed on. We put the adoption form in 5 minutes later and returned to pick her up within a week.
Ever since that day, I have learned the ups and downs of owning a cat. Having to buy 2 new lamps when she decides they look like a fun toy and breaks them before learning that they really aren’t worth it. Having to ensure there are no cups anywhere within her general vicinity, or else chaos ensues when she attempts to fit her head into a cup that is far too small before knocking it off from high up in an attempt to wrestle just a few drops out. Buying 2 cat trees and filling the room with beds to make her comfortable when you are out only to come home to see her on your bed. Learning that the toilet seat really has to be down at all times in case she uses it as a stepping stone and falls in again.
But the best part? Coming home from school exhausted and flopping down in bed to have a nap only to be awaken by a paw to the face 10 minutes later when she demands to be let in under the blanket to snuggle right into you. Needless to say, I am now very much a cat person.
Side note: the very much not cat person father is now absolutely in love with this ball of fluff and will proceed to talk and meow at it when he thinks no one is listening.