Last Sunday marked the one year anniversary since my boyfriend and I welcomed our cat Stella Artois into our lives. Before adopting Stella, the thought of having a cat never passed through my mind. To be completely honest, I did not start to become a fan of cats until I met my special little lady. But ever since adopting Stella and welcoming her into my life, it has been a grand adventure.
So in honor of Stella’s gotcha day last sunday, here is the story of how Stella changed my life for the best.
It all started with a spontaneous trip to the SPCA in Cattaraugus County on a Saturday morning. There was no intention of getting a cat this day, but instead we wanted to go play with the cats and see if any of them were attracted to us. We played with the older cats for an hour, but did not find a cat that stood out to us. The cats were playful but the ones who came up to us were already adopted and ready to go to a new home.
We then went to the kitten room and that is where we found Stella.
Stella had just been taken into the SPCA a couple of weeks before we went to see her. She had been said to be around six months old and we believed it. Stella did not move from our side once we came into the kitten room. It was like she knew she was coming home with us, and she was right.
We were able to take Stella home with us that same day. We were not able to officially adopt her because she was not sprayed, but she went home with us anyways.
So we began to foster Stella.
The first few days of fostering a cat are very important. You want your cat to feel at home and most importantly, they want to feel safe and that is exactly what we did with Stella. I made sure that she had food every morning and that her bowl was never empty.
Things were going pretty good.
I started to notice that Stella was getting bigger. They had told us that she was 6 months old, but she was not looking like a six month old cat. I instantly thought I was feeding her too much and started to feed her once a day. Stella did not like that.
Spring break came along and she got bigger and bigger.
Then one morning during spring break, Stella gave birth to eight healthy kittens. This was a surprise for everyone, because we did not believe she was pregnant. Well at least, I was in denial that she was pregnant because she was so tiny.
For months to come along, Stella grew more after having her baby but remained the same friendly cat she was before she had children. She remains to bring joy into our lives and is the best cat mom to her two remaining cats that still live with her. All eight of her kittens were sent to nice homes with loving families. We wanted to make sure that the kittens were going to be sent home with individuals who would care and love the kittens and we were able to do so.
Now to the current day, Stella is one year old. All her eight cats are healthy and almost one year old. I adopted a second cat and she is one of Stella’s kittens and her name is Selena. Selena and Stella have both made my life so much better and I have learned so much about them. These two cats have two different personalities and it is fun watching them grow.
The moral of the story here is that it is better to adopt a pet than going to buy one at a pet store. There are so many dogs and cats at your local SPCA that want a warm and loving family. So next time you want to go to your local SPCA to play with cats, do so. It will change your life forever.