How I Became a Crazy Cat Lady

I don’t know when or how it happened but somehow I became a crazy cat lady. It gradually seems to creep up on you. For me I went from 1 to 6 cats without even realizing that it had happened. I would compare it to weight gain…you figure that 1 piece of chocolate won’t matter and next thing you know you trying to lose 10 pounds. It happens that quick and that quietly.

Ever since I can remember I have wanted a cat. I think that cat craziness is like a recessive gene that you either are born with or you are not. For me I was definitely born with it. Unfortunately, my parents were having none of my cat cravings and instead bought me a gerbil. I was drawn to felines like cat hair to black pants. It was inevitable that I would have a cat to call my own one day.
That day happened not long after I got married. My wonderful husband (who knew I was cat obsessed and still married me anyways), showed up on my birthday with my first cat Rambo. He was the most amazing cat and we had him for 19 ½ wonderful years.
I was satisfied with my one cat for 11 years until the day that a stray cat had kittens down my window well. I felt the cat gods had smiled down on me! How could my husband say no to 3 children begging to keep a kitten? That is how Molly and then Rocky joined our family. My cat family was growing and I couldn’t have been happier!
Boots walked into our house and our lives (literally) 11 days after we had to say goodbye to our beloved Rambo. Next came Nutmeg who sat on our kitchen window ledge looking inside every day until we couldn’t stand it anymore and brought her in. Chester followed less than 1 week later on a snowy day when he had figured out that sitting on the window ledge looking pathetic was the portal into the crazy cat Emporium that I call my home. When we said goodbye to Rocky, my daughter talked me into looking at cats at the Adopt-a-thon and Roxie joined our family. Yup, that makes 5. We didn’t count on Jasper appearing on our doorstep which brought me to 6. Just before this past Christmas I attempted to foster a small kitten left at our clinic. I was totally good with the foster idea…my family on the other hand were not and insisted there was no possible home better than our own for him. Yup, that is 7 cats!

A few months ago we had to say goodbye to Molly who was the patriarch of our family. Molly would have liked to be an only cat but did tolerate the others and kept them in line. They all gave her wide berth and left her to herself.

We are holding at 6 cats and I am determined not to exceed 6 but you just never know with my family. Apparently the Crazy Cat Gene is passed from mother to children!

Written by: Carlene Olivieri, CCR