I’m a cat person now!

by George
(London, England.)

I always wanted a dog and not one of those little lap dogs either. I wanted a mans dog, a Labrador or Golden Retriever something like that. I was not a cat person, or so I thought.

Opening the door on my return from work I was greeted with “Dad come and see what we’ve got.” This invitation was bellowed out by my two little ankle biters almost in unison, what could it be, a new toy perhaps? Making my way into the back room I soon found out.

There, the center of attention of my children and my wife was a small orange creature. This ginger kitten, I was informed, had already been named Chivers. My children babbled on about where Chivers had come from, friends’ cat had a litter and so on. My wife, knowing full well my indifference to felines, just smiled at me. Needless to say there were no cries of “Can we keep him dad?” Whenever does dad get consulted about anything? And what could I have said anyway? The children were obviously crazy about the kitten and as I discovered a little later a litter tray, food and water bowls, and other stuff had already been bought.

Over the following months Chivers set about establishing himself as a member of our family. His kitten antics kept us all entertained and amused, yes even me! We took him along to the vets for the vet to do what vets do to male cats and I employed my vast carpentry skills to put a cat flap into the kitchen door.

Chivers enjoys the outdoors, but only when the weather suits him of course and he never seems to roam far. That cat has never been known to have arrived through the cat flap later than 5 mins after his food bowl has been filled.

As you probably will have guessed that ginger cat has somehow won a place for himself in my heart. Often when I’m slumped in front of the television he will jump up on me, he does not get pushed off.

Thanks to Chivers I now know that cats are not cold and aloof, well some may be but certainly not him. He is nothing short of affectionate actually.

I guess that I still have it in the back of my mind to get a dog someday, but these days I definitely am a cat person!

PS It’s great that for-the-love-of-cats is here, we have learnt so much from it and Chivers thanks you too.