A cat named Flossie allows me to share her living space. She looks a little bit like this:
She's about 14 or 15 years old. We're not totally sure of her precise age, but that's pretty close. And although she's an old kitty, she still acts like a kitten most of the time. She's been an indoor cat her whole life, and she could live to be at least 20. So hopefully she's got a few good years left in her.
She was originally adopted by my brother and his wife. After they split up, my brother got custody of the cat, because his ex claimed that Flossie didn't like women. (Yeah, right
.) So Flossie lived with my brother for a while, and then a little over 10 years ago, my brother suddenly became quite ill. I took Flossie in on a temporary basis while my brother was sick, but he didn't survive...he passed away shortly after Flossie came to live with me. After my brother died, there was no question in my mind that Flossie would live with me permanently. Not only do I love cats anyway, but she's like a living piece of my brother's history. So now she's been with me for over 10 years. She loves sitting on my lap, she sounds like the Ark of the Covenant when she purrs, she loves to eat pretzels and goldfish crackers, she sits under my computer desk and bites my feet while I'm surfing the net, she sleeps with me every night, and she loved my boyfriend from the first moment the two of them met. When my boyfriend is here, Flossie basically ignores me
.
I'm hoping that Fuzzy was just looking to get a rise out of people...I've grown up around animals my entire life, and they've always brought great joy and companionship. We've had cats, hamsters, fish, birds, and my sister once even had an iguana. My sister is now very heavily involved in greyhound rescues, and she currently has 4 greyhounds and 3 cats running around her house. We love and respect animals as friends and companions. Plus, I've seen so much evidence of how therapy animals work to comfort people who are ill, hospitalized, in nursing homes, etc. Even for those of us who aren't ill, studies show that sitting and stroking a cat for a short time brings down a person's blood pressure. So you can't beat that feeling
.
Pets rock. I can't imagine living without them
.
