Josh had decided it was time to get a cat, the mouse problem in his house was now out of control - he was terrified of mice. However, the idea of setting traps didn't sit well with him, they didn't seem very humane. Anyway he liked cats, it would be good company.

Cats are extremely independent animals, but even they need some kind of training. Though training a cat is by no means an easy task, but with a little bit of patience, you can successfully train your feline friend.

Kitties on the road? Is it even possible? What to do? How can your cat be a better traveler? Huh! If I had the precise answers to these questions, I would be a millionaire! However, I can give you some tips on how to organize traveling with your beloved furry friend and make it as much comfortable as possible for both of you. Then, you can only hope that your cat will appreciate your efforts. Nothing more than that! Let's go!

This is extremely difficult for me but I was told that writing about it could be therapeutic.

Getting a new family member is always extremely exciting, but it can also be quite daunting – especially if it is for the first time. This applies to new human family members, yes, but it also applies to new animal family members. In the days before picking up our first cat, Onyx, I was so nervous. What would she be like? Would she like us? Would I like her? Onyx was around 5 years old when we picked her up from her foster home. She had found life in the rescue centre very stressful and was placed with a family in a flat. We did not know much about her history; she was a clean slate for us but we knew she’s had 5 years of experiences. So for anyone else facing the same situation as we were, I wanted to give some advice on how to introduce your new cat into your home.

I never really understand cats when I was younger. I thought they were either mean or lazy, and for the most part I believe that to be true. For all the attempts I want to get to know these species, they either hiss at me or just walk away to sleep or eat whatever they pleased. As I decided to not have any pet cats whatsoever, my fate had other plans for the unexpected arrival of two cats. One of them named Benjamin and the other named Klyd. I thought my life just got worse, but instead I got used to them. So I’m writing this as a self-reflection that my cats can be weird, yet these are my weird cats and I love them dearly. So I hope for those who want to get a pet cat needs to know the responsibilities and lengths to have sweet cats cuddling with you and respecting you.

They say that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I wouldn’t call my experiences hell, but I’ve certainly made some bloopers along the way.

When I was little I read stories about heroes, villains, and everything in between. There was something that I noticed the heroes and villains had in common. Almost all of them had animal sidekicks! Cinderella had mice, Maleficent had her raven, and Ariel had Flounder.

Meet the most popular cat in my town, Kiko. He is a bengal cat, which means he is two generations domesticated from an Asian leopard, hence the rosette spots covering his beautiful pelt. My parents had bought him off a breeder who specifically bred Bengal cats. At the time we were looking for a bengal cat because we had heard that these cats not only look cool, like a true wild feline, but are hypoallergenic and act similar to dogs in that they love water, like to take walks, and can perform dog-like tricks. So we messaged the breeder on Facebook and found out that her cats had a new litter of kittens ready to be adopted in a few weeks or so. So my parents organized a day for us to go out to the suburbs and meet this lady In her huge house probably filled with cats. We went over and had a lovely visit crawling in bengal kittens, trying to get a sense for the kittens, and seeing which one caught our eye. Of course the one that had stood out to us at that time, was a baby Kiko! He was the most social and outgoing, and came right up to us to be pet. He also seemed to have the most distinct rosettes on his pelt, which was a huge asset, and something my dad was looking for considering he was not a cat person, and agreed only to get one if it was the coolest looking and acting cat around. So we made the decision to take him as our new addition to the family, and took him home. We had given him the name Kiko, which is the Hawaiian name for cat, because it sounds cool and we had travelled to Hawaii not long before. Well, we also thought kiko was a very very cute name for a cat. For the first few days of arriving at his new house, he had hidden away from us strangers and cried all night, upset at the departure from his mother no doubt. It was truly heartbreaking to witness that, but in no time Kiko was out and about exploring his new and strange house. He was still very tiny at this point, and made an effort to sit on our thighs and laps if we were just hanging out on the couch. He started getting very comfortable, and started playing with our toys, furniture, and shoes! He was a very playful kitten, and seized every opportunity to climb up our legs, and leave bloody scratches all over our bodies...but we could not stop him. He was adorable! Later in the year, we also started training him to walk on a leash, like we had seen in so many videos of other bengal cats. He was frightened at first at the task, but soon came to love the regular nature walks and city walks we would take him on. He went real fast from keeping up with us and meowing all the way until we got home, to taking his sweet time sniffing every yard and not moving a muscle when we tried to keep him on track! It was not the easiest task to take him on a walk, but as he got older he got a bit better, and now we just let him roam the neighbourhoods during the day on his own. At the time when he was first walking, we had also tried to make a YouTube channel for the amazingly cute kiko who could walk, and do tricks like shake a paw and jump over the broom, but it didn’t blow up as much as we expected it to. We thought the internet was much more cat crazy. We needed up just sticking to Instagram posts and Facebook photos. Kiko also never grew fond of water like we were told, so we have a couple hilarious videos online of him avoiding the bath! Nevertheless, Kiko has matured into a very outgoing cat, almost dog-like in the way that he loves to be outside, loves to follow us when we walk, and still knows his tricks very well. He is however obviously a cat at heart, and has some attitude problems we have come to realize over the past couple years. He deliberately seeks vengeance for when we go on travel and leave him to the care of strangers, and bites our toes for attention, only to walk away when we give him it. Typical cat behaviours on an extraordinary cat. Strangers also seem to appreciate his coat very much, and his company, as he travels across the neighbourhood visiting every house, sometimes picking fights with other people’s cats or dogs, making his name and presence well known in our area. And I cannot even count the amount of times I have been stopped by people on our walks together, asking about his breed and exclaiming how beautiful he is, while taking gazillions of photos of Kiko. It’s been quite a journey watching him grow up into a playful cute kitten, into a cheeky yet beautiful cat.

Last night was one of those nights again. In the living room, I felt tired and sleepy but once in bed I was wide awake. I tossed and turned and when the zzzzzz’s failed to come and get me I gave up trying to sleep and lay staring at the ceiling. After a while I practiced some relaxed breathing, I counted backward from 100, concentrated on muscle relaxation, nothing helped.

Cats are by far the most popular pet in America, and yet it is also true that there are advantages and disadvantages for our indoor feline pets. Sometimes they are the sweetest pet that you can own and sometimes they are sassy critters that choose not to listen to you.