Pets have always been a very important part of our family’s life. Both my husband and I grew up with pets in the house. I was raised on a farm so we also had the outdoor animals as well as barn cats, but we had a cat in the house as a pet also. My father kept a cattle dog to help with bringing the cows in from the pasture for milking. My husband’s family did a great deal of hunting so they always had a hunting dog. They lived in a small town and kept the dog in an outside kennel that was adjoined to the garage. The dog could be in the garage when the weather was bad and outside when the weather permitted.
When we got married my husband had a young Labrador retriever. When we moved into our first home I wanted to get a cat. My husband had never spent anytime around cats and was not sure he would want to live with one. I assured him that a cat would grow on him. We knew that there were a number of animals for adoption at the local humane society so we went to look there first. I was thinking that we would get a kitten. I thought that it would be easier for all of us to adjust if we started with a young kitty that we could train. The animals for adoption were mainly adult animals that had been given away by their owners for various reasons. The reasons were listed on the cages of the animals for adoption along with general information about the pet. Some of the reasons included people moving across country, people moving into locations where they could no longer have pets, people having children that were allergic to the animals. There was one cat that was two years old that sat in the back of the cage and stared at us. He was a neutered male Siamese. He had huge blue eyes and was one of the biggest cats I had ever seen. He weighed well over twenty pounds and had long legs and a long body. The reason on his cage that he was placed up for adoption was because his owner died.
I opened the cage and started talking to the cat. He moved forward in the cage and let me pet him. Within a few minutes he was purring and wanted to crawl out of the age into my arms. My husband agreed that it was the most beautiful cat he had ever seen. We decided to fill out the paper work and bring him home with us. We asked the animal shelter, which is run by the humane society to keep him for a short while so we could go purchase a carrier, liter box and litter and food for him. He adjusted very well to our home and has been a part of our family ever since.