My husband and I both grew up in households that had pets. My husband’s family did a great deal of hunting so they had various hunting dogs while he was growing up. My family had a dog outside as well as a cat indoors. I have always been very partial to cats. Through the years some of my very best friends have been cats. I love how independent they are and yet they enjoy being around people. I have always been blessed with very social cats.

I am a cat lover. I have had a pet cat for as long as I can remember. I grew up on a farm so there were several cats that lived in the barn. They were friendly and let you pet them, but they were not allowed to come in the house. We had one female house cat. She was a calico. Each spring she would have a litter of kittens in the basement. She would nurse them and care for them until they were weaned and then she would take off for the summer. We would not see her for several weeks and then she would show up again. She would be skinning and her fur would be matted. During the time she would be gone we would transition the kittens out to the barn, or would give them to people for pets.

Pets and our love for them has become a million dollar industry in this country. In most stores there is some type of products for animals to buy. Of course there are the huge warehouse type superstores that sell nothing but products for animals, but it seems that recently most department stores are getting into this line of merchandise as well. This is especially true around holiday time. Merchants know that we are not going to forget our pets when it comes to the gift giving holidays.

My cats seem to be more excited about the holidays every year. They love having the decorated tree in the house. They do not climb into the tree like one of my co-workers cats. They simply like to sit and look at the ornaments. Once in a while our youngest cat will gently bat at an ornament to make it move. Last year while I was out finishing my holiday shopping I saw a huge display for different products for animals. There was everything from clothing items, to toys to gourmet treats. Of course most of the products for cats are filled with catnip. You heard of catnip, right?

My two cats absolutely love the crazy catnip. I could not resist buying them each a new catnip toy as well as a box of fresh catnip leaves. The catnip leaves were vacuumed sealed in a plastic bag to keep them fresh. I wrapped each of their toys separately and put both of their names on the catnip.

I often wondered where she went on her cat getaways. It would take her a few weeks to fatten back up and get the tangles out of her fur. She was quite independent, yet she loved to sit on your lap to be petted and every night she would lie at the foot of my bed. The best thing about her was that we did not have to change a cat litter box very often. She preferred to go outside. We kept a cat litter box in the basement area for her, but she would go and meow at the door to be let out. She would cry at the door when she wanted to come back in. The only time she used the cat litter box was in the winter when it was extremely cold outside.

The night before Christmas we heard a noise in the corner underneath the tree. Our young cat was in the process of opening up one of the catnip toys. She had not disturbed any of the other gifts. She must have been able to smell the catnip through the wrapping. When our older cat saw the toy they started fighting over it. We had to get the second toy from under the tree so he could have his also. I was glad that the fresh leaves were sealed. This year I am going to have to wait until Christmas day to put the products for animals under the tree, they are worse than kids.

Here are some articles about cats!

After I was married I convince my husband that we should have a cat in the house. We lived out in the country. We owned twenty acres of land and a house and garage. The cat we found was all black. He was a great hunter. He would roam at night and sleep in the house all day during the warm months. In the winter he stayed in the house most of the time. He preferred going outside rather than using a cat litter box. Now that we live in a neighborhood with a busy street in front of our house our present cat uses the litter box all the time. We were not used to having to clean the cat litter box as often as we have to now. We have tried different litters and we found one that the cats like and that covers the odor very well. We keep the litter box in the laundry room of the basement. We keep the door propped open so the cats are able to get to the litter box whenever they need to. We make sure that we clean the box out a couple times a week to keep the smell down and for the health of the cats.

© 2008 Froggie World