Three little kittens

It's official — I'm no longer the crazy cat lady.

It started with one cat, like I'm sure it always does. Her name was Felix. Felix used to belong to my friend Lynn. Well, kind of. Lynn was dating Al, who was a bit manipulative. Lynn already had 2 cats and didn't want a 3rd. One day Lynn came home to find a little fluffy kitten. Al said that the kitten was found in the big garbage bin in the back alley. Lynn knew she couldn't say no to THAT and said they could keep it. They thought the kitten was male and they called him Felix. Later, 2 things proved to be false.

• Felix was, in fact, a she. This was demonstrated nicely by Felix's pregnancy and subsequent litter of kittens.
  
  
• Al had not found Felix in a garbage can, but had bought her at a pet store. Al made up the story because who can say no to a garbage can kitty?

Lynn's relationship with Al eventually dissolved (the dishonesty about the cat was just the tip of the iceberg) and Lynn always maintained a level of hostility towards Felix. When Al left, Lynn gave Felix to her roommate, who never took great care of her. So when another roommate, K, moved in, Felix became hers. K was my girlfriend at the time and when we moved in together, the two of us became Felix's new owners.

Felix was quite happy to finally have 2 devoted, cat-loving owners, but she seemed lonely so I got a tiny orange kitten for K for Christmas one year. The 4 of us cohabited relatively harmoniously, with Zen, the tiny orange kitten, growing into a big fat orange cat and Felix assuming the role of mom.

Then K and I acquired a 3rd cat - Lucy. Two people, three cats — we were inching towards crazy cat lady territory. But how could we say no to Lucy? Her owner had committed suicide and she had nowhere to go. Plus, she was the most affectionate, most adorable cat either of us had ever met. She was also really really bad. Of course, this meant that she quickly became our favourite.

After K and I broke up, K moved to another province and left all 3 cats with me. I discovered in a hurry that's a lot of cat for 1 person who wasn't home very often. So my friend Cake adopted Zen and, to my delight, is a wonderful owner. The other morning another friend came and adopted Felix and I really hope the 2 of them are doing well. But now my apartment feels empty with just Lucy and me. I miss the sound of 12 little feet galloping on the hardware floors. I miss the cat fights. I miss the little furry purring bodies walking in and around my ankles. I kind of miss being the crazy cat lady.