Feline Fun Friday – Your Favorite Childhood Cat Memories

Most of us with cats have long histories with them. We were introduced to cats as children. What do you remember about your childhood cat-friends? Did you dress your cats, take them for rides in your doll buggy or wagon, feed the cats from the table when your parents weren’t looking, run away from home with your cat following?

Your first family cat was probably an outside cat-barn cat. And for that reason they often didn’t stay around long—things happened to them. The cat I remember most was Beloved Belindy—a plain grey cat born to be a child’s pet. She was named after a character in one of our books. I remember the day that she was hit by a car. That was the case for many of our cats as I was growing up, but my grandmother took better care of her cats.

I loved going to Grandma’s house to play with her cats—mostly apple-face Siamese cats. Oh the lovely hours I spent there just sitting with a cat and a book. I wish someone had taken pictures so I’d have more memories of those moments.

Grandma found a couple of the cats I adopted as an adult. One day she came to my house to tell me there was a litter of kittens ready for adoption at a local nursery. One of them, she said, had a face like a pansy. Yes, I adopted that kitten and named him Misty.

Another grandmother rescued cats and kept a bunch of them in her house, of course, and others in cages in her backyard. She became a drop-off spot for cats and she had each and every one spayed/neutered, but I don’t think she ever let any of them go. She never offered to let me take any of her cats home, but then I had small children and she strictly believed that homes with small children were not at all suitable for cats.

I’d love to hear (read) some of your childhood cat stories.