Cats choose us. We don’t own them.

— Kristin Cast.

I became a cat person later in life than many others. My mum had always been scared of cats and it wasn’t until I rescued my first kittens at the age of 22 that I understood the fascination. So, to my two resident cats…

Blackjack

I found this furry demon when I was living in Fujairah, UAE, when he was just a couple of weeks old. He was only meant to be temporary, as they always are, but after moving to Dubai with me a couple of days later, he became my first cat. In early 2013, we moved back to Wales and then in January 2016, he joined me in Italy. He’s had some pretty serious health problems in the last couple of years but he’s still going strong, and as grumpy as ever!

Rose

This special little lady is Rose. We found her on Italian Mother’s Day 2018, along with her two brothers. They were just two weeks old and full of infections after being born in an Italian ‘cantina’ to a street cat. I had to get up every 3 hours during those early days to bottle feed them, but it was worth it. They spent a fair bit of time in-and-out of the vet’s in the early days and unfortunately, one of the boys, Ray, lost his fight after coming down with parvovirus, but Rose and her brother, Bud (adopted by my sister and her partner), have become the most beautiful, loving cats. Rose became a permanent member of the household after deciding that my partner was her favourite person ever and he simply couldn’t resist her face!

Even though I’m a cat person, you know what they say? No home is complete without a dog. And besides, Asia thinks she’s a catmom anyway.

So that’s us!

At least the permanent residents anyway…