On Kitty Ownership

I know a lot of kitty haters.

A LOT.

You might even be one of them, but hang in there with me.

I'm going to attempt to do the seemingly impossible and convince you that cats aren't that bad, they aren't bad at all -- and this is coming from a former kitty hater. 

When I met Seth in 2008 and we started dating...he had 4 cats.

Me and my cat allergies were not a fan, but I happened to be a big fan of Seth...so 4.5 years later here we are married, and we both start longing for a pet.

And along that journey of dating, I grew to really enjoy the company of his families cats. 

I grew up with dogs. Well dog singular, we had Sneakers for 15 years. Sneakers was an awesome yellow lab who was sweet and gentle, but grew very old and very lumpy and now her remains are in a little memorial rock on our front porch.

Then came Autumn, our rambunctious Rott-Lab mix. She is loads of fun, always licking you, always wanting to know what you're eating..you know. She still lives at home with my parents, and I miss the crap out of her. I miss the crap out of having an animal around.

A few months ago Seth and I started thinking about cats. Cats were always out of the picture for me.

My dad is allergic, and my mom grew up hating cats because her mom did...you get the picture. 

You see, cat hating is more often passed down then an actual learned trait. 

Anywho, I started doing some research on hypo-allergenic cats. I had heard they existed but really knew nothing...and was scared they would be ugly and hairless.

No offense to anyone who owns a hairless cat, I just can't picture myself loving that kind of creature. 

I stumbled on a beautiful, fuzzy, happy, breed with a DOG-LIKE personality. I thought I had struck gold. 

Now for a bit on hypo-allergenic kitties -- 

People ask about how she is hypo-allergenic all the time. Here is what you have to know. Cat allergies are NOT about fur, I repeat NOT about fur. It is about the protein in their saliva that creates the dander people are allergic to. Penelopes breed of cat is called "Siberian". Siberian cats have very low levels of the protein that creates dander. Most cats have numbers between 40,00-120,000 in their DNA. Siberians have about 40...total. 

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Researching cat breeders is like going on a wild goose chase. I found that they never email you back, they don't return calls, and to get anyone to even talk to you you have to pester them. Or get on a wait list. We had a breakthrough when we finally got in contact with a breeder in Southern California. Now, even though these kitties are expensive -- you can't put a price on love. You just can't. 

We finally got in touch with a local breeder that had Siberians that we could just meet to make sure they didn't react with my allergies. After meeting with a strange little cat crazy family that owned eight Siberians and having absolutely no reaction, we were good to go. 

Back to the breeder in Southern California....after we got cleared that my allergies were ok and that our landlord would let us have a cat we decided to pursue adopting. 

This was the first picture I ever saw of little P. 

That face....

Seth and I had also decided that we wanted a male cat. Well, Seth decided that..I didn't really care either way. I had fallen in love with those little kitty faces, I didn't care what sex it was!
After a little coaxing, Seth thought it would be ok if we brought this little sweet pea home.
And we are so stinking glad we did.

I mean honestly, even the hater-est of cat haters can't deny that face.
Now I know there are some nasty cats out there, some scratchers, some biters, and some claw swipers. That does not make the whole cat race doomed people!

I still hate the litter box. And because little Penelope is such a rare breed of cat, and we live in a very high traffic area, we cannot afford to have her outside. The little box is nasty mcnast, I will admit. BUT, air freshener, an automatic litter box, and good non-chemical cat litter has made it so you don't even notice the smell.
(Except for when she pooped twice under our bed which is a whole other story)



What I've learned about kitties in the past few years is this:
They are low maintenance. They clean themselves, they entertain themselves, you can just leave food out and they will come and get it when they want..
They are loving, and snuggly, and sweet. Don't believe the lies.
They are FUN, and funny.. Penelope slides all over the place, chases after a laser pointer like she's got her life on the line, and will roll completely off the couch in deep kitty sleep splendor.


Cat haters of the world,
you gotta get over it.
Find yourself a kitty to fall in love with.
And if you have allergies, drive on down to Garlic land and meet Penelope.
She'll steal your heart. We like to call her P, Peanut, P-town, Penny...anything P related. Not "PP" though, that would be weird. 
But honestly,
give kitties a fighting chance in your life.
You won't be sorry.