It’s National Cat Day, friends! I never thought I’d have reason to celebrate cats, but here we are. :)
I have always been solidly in the “dog guy” column; I loved other people’s cats, but didn’t want one of my own. Fast forward to a couple years ago, when my kiddo became obsessed with cats. He lobbied nonstop to get a kitty of his own and, after I bought our house last year, I surprised him with his very own kitty. He was so happy he cried, hugged me and immediately - without a moment’s hesitation - named her Mia.
At first, I tolerated the kitty. We were like roommates; we shared a space, saw each other frequently but I wasn’t super attached. Over the past year, she’s used all of her kitty sorcery and she’s wrapped me around her little paw.
I can’t say that I loved the kitten phase and having to pull her off the top of the curtains she climbed before getting stuck and panicking. But, once she started to mellow in her teenage era, she killed this being a cat thing.
Mia is the friendliest, sweetest cat I’ve ever met. I have to make sure guests don’t have cat allergies because, the second she hears the front door chime, Mia is on her way to greet everyone. She loves saying hi, getting loves and kissing noses. She especially loves hearing how pretty she is. If you’re the kind of person who likes to wrestle, she’s down. She’ll rough house with you and give you play bites. But, if you prefer to just pet and snuggle, she’s cool with that too. She loves playing with dogs, which mainly just involves her running through the house and parkouring over them, but she will occasionally wrestle them for sport.
She is a quiet cat - only meows when she wants fresh water (diva), her food is 25% below full and when she needs you to stop and love her. She hates wet food, so she saves me a ton of money. She isn’t destructive like other kitties I’ve been around. When she’s not napping or cuddling someone, she’s running laps through the entire house to get her cardio in. She knows what “no” means and listens about 40% of the time, which I consider a win (and our house plants appreciate).
One of my favorite Mia quirks: she has two litter boxes - one in my son’s room and one in the utility room. She will only pee in the litter box in my son’s room and only poops in the box in the utility room. She never, ever mixes the two. She made herself separate bathrooms! :)
But mainly I love this cat because of how she loves my son. The bond they share is nothing short of magical. When we brought Mia home, she had been rescued as a stray and was scared of everything. She spent the first few days hiding in my son’s room. He slowly got her to come out from under the bed and, before we knew it, she was sleeping curled up next to him. That hasn’t changed one bit. They are a matched set at this point. When he’s home, Mia is never more than a few feet away from him (unless he’s being rowdy, then she might go sleep in a window). She spends the majority of her day sleeping next to him, on him or following him around, which you can see from the pics above. When he’s gone, she’ll settle for me as a substitute and sleeps on my pillow next to me. But, the second he gets home, she practically tackles him and spends 10 minutes rubbing on him and kissing his nose. It’s pure joy watching them reunite - Mia meowing and the kiddo giggling.
I couldn’t ask for a better kitty or companion for my son. We hit the jackpot with Mia Macaroni Arrowsmith. She is a beloved member of our family and deserves all of the princess treatment she gets.