I used to dislike cats. Yes, it is embarrassing, I was indeed a dog person. Unbelievable. Growing up, I was surrounded by dogs. My dad got me one so I could be able to overcome my fear of them and years later, a second one came. Up to that point, I had never considered cats as real pets. Back then, all the cats I’ve ever seen belonged to the streets. Years passed by, and one day, almost seven years ago, I saw a small black kitten on my way to school. It was raining heavily, I felt so bad for that tiny and helpless creature that I had no other choice but to take it home with me.

At first, I didn’t know how take care of her. I had this caricature-like picture of cats in my head, I genuinely thought they ate milk and fish. Don’t worry 😊 I learned quite early the most appropriate meal for them is food concentrate and fresh water. Another situation I had to face is how different their behavior is from dogs, for instance, although they might seem cold as first, they need lots of attention and care as well! They just don’t express it in the same way dogs do.

I thought my black kitten was ugly. She was a stray cat so her fur was dull and she had patches all over her body, speaking of which: her body was tiny and skinny whereas her head looked disproportionately big in comparison, poor thing. The reality is, as she didn't seem to like me that much as a defense mechanism I pretended i didn't like her back either. She wasn’t as playful as I expected from a kitten, in fact, the thing she seemed to enjoy the most was to lay under the sun in the afternoons. I found out later on she liked to have her hair brushed so I bought two different brushes and we started to get along.

I don't know in what moment, I gained her trust, glad I did. My dad jockingly says she's my daughter. These days, I’ve noticed some greys in her once black fur, that made me a bit sad. As I’m getting older, she does too that’s the natural course of life, I guess.

How come I wanted to write something WHOLESOME and it ended up being sad???