All About Pets

Jasmine – The Cat Who Made Me a Cat Person

As promised, I will be adding “bios” of all my pets, both past and present, which will provide a little background about how each one came into my life. Although the remaining bios will be in chronological order, I decided to start with the one who prompted me to create this blog.

I have always been an animal lover, but I only grew up with dogs because my dad is allergic to cats. I thought kittens were cute, but I had no desire to have a cat since they didn’t seem to be as interactive as dogs.

By the time I bought my first house in 1995, I had two dogs. (You’ll read about them in future posts.) A friend of mine had taken in a pregnant stray cat. The cat had 4 kittens just before I moved into my house. My friend, Nancy, was trying to find good homes for the kittens, but I just wasn’t interested in having a cat when I already had 2 dogs. My dogs guarded the house when I was gone and greeted me when I came home. What use did I have for a cat that wouldn’t even notice if I were there or not?  

When I moved into my rural home, I realized that mice might be a problem, so I started thinking that it might be a good idea to have a cat to keep the mice away. Besides that, Nancy kept telling me how cute the kittens were. Then she brought pictures in to work so I could see for myself. There were two orange and white, one black and white, and one calico. I didn’t want a cat that was “common” looking, and I wanted a female, so I told Nancy that, if the calico was a female, I would take it. Luckily for both of us, (or maybe all three of us), she was. I had to wait a few weeks until the kittens were old enough to leave their mother, and I was actually getting excited and impatient….after all, I did think kittens were cute.

I finally brought the kitten home and named her Jasmine, for Princess Jasmine from Aladdin (I was big into Disney movies at the time). She was a very cute kitten, of course. She was mostly white with a mixture of light brown, dark brown, and a little bit of black on her back. She had a tiny black dot on her white nose, and the dot grew as she did.

When she was little, I kept her upstairs and kept my dogs downstairs. I put a gate at the bottom of the stairs to keep the dogs from going up, and she was too little to climb down the stairs. One day when she was bigger (and braver), she decided to venture down the stairs. I realized it was time for her to get acquainted with my dogs. I was very nervous, more for the dogs than for Jasmine. I knew that the dogs had come in contact with cats in the past and had never tried to hurt them, but I wasn’t sure if Jasmine would get scared and scratch one of my dogs. Well, after a couple hours, they were the best of friends. I had to put Jasmine’s bed in the dogs’ room because otherwise she would go sleep with them in their beds during the day. At night, she always slept with me…right on top of my head.

I came to realize that cats will also greet you when you come home at night. My dogs and my cat each had their own positive influence on my life. My dogs would protect the house and I could take them for walks, and my cat would curl up on my lap while I watched TV (while the dogs slept at my feet). Jasmine never acted like a typical cat. She was very loving and cuddly, but she was also very shy. She was definitely as attached to me as I was to her. She was also a very quiet cat. I don’t think I ever heard a “meow” out of her. Occasionally, she would make a little “squeeky” sound that I can’t even describe. She was never one to claw at furniture.

She loved to drink from a dripping faucet. She would jump up on the sink and wait for me to turn it on. Like most cats, she loved being up high. The kitchen had an L-shaped counter, and there was approximately a 2 foot space above the cabinets. She loved to jump from the counter to the top of the cabinets and just lie there for hours. The first time I found her, I panicked and got a ladder to get her down. After I saw how agile she was with jumping up and down, I just let her enjoy her quiet time.

I never would have believed that I could love cats so much. She made me realize that cats can be loving and affectionate. I wouldn’t say that I wasn’t a dog person anymore, but I had also become a cat person. She has always been a very special cat, even as other cats have come into my life.

You’ll hear more about Jasmine in future posts, including the actual reason that prompted me to start this blog, but that’s a little background about the special kitty who turned me into a cat person.

Stay tuned to hear about each of my other pets.

Leave a Reply