We had lived with dogs for many years. But when you live in apartments, many places won't let you have dogs. So ....

Shortly after my brother and sister-in-law were married, they watched a friend's cat when the friend & her family went on vacation. This was Mitzi. He (yes, HE) was about a year old at the time, black on top with a white belly. He was very friendly, and even though my sister and I and our friend Dave were strangers to this cat, Mitzi was all over us looking for affection. I think we all fell in love that night!

Soon after that, my brother and sister-in-law got a Maine Coon cat and called him Mario. While Mario was very shy and aloof with strangers, he was not with his family. My sister and I were never considered part of his family, though. We would be at their apartment for several hours on Saturday nights, and we just might catch a glimpse of Mario!

Still, for all his shyness, occasionally he would do goofy stuff, and he was a beautiful cat!

A few years later, my sister and I moved out of our parent's house and into our own apartment. At this point, we had the parakeets, but my sister was yearning for a cat. She started looking at the Humane Society, and spotted Adolph, a white cat with gray ears and a gray tail that looked like a plunger had been stuck on his butt! Adolph was a terrific cat, but he was more my sister's cat.

A few months after getting Adolph, we got a call from my sister-in-law, Kim, wanting to know if we wanted another cat. Mitzi's owners had separated, the wife could not have cats in her apartment and the husband did not want him. He'd let Mitzi out, and Mitzi, who was front-declawed, had gotten into a fight with another animal and was chewed up. After hearing which cat and why, I said we'd take him!

So Mitzi, now 6, became Mittsy (he had white paws, so it fit), he became MY baby, and he became the cat that started the whole darn cat thing! :-)