At the end of 2015, we lost our 17 year-old orange tabby cat, Oberon. He’d been sick for some time, so it wasn’t unexpected, but it was hard all the same.

They say every writer has a muse and mine is a black-and-white cat with long whiskers and an obsession with butter.

Having grown up with dogs, I never considered getting a cat. But when someone in my family said they knew of a kitten who needed rescuing, I didn’t hesitate.

Pickles as Muse My husband and I both had dogs as family pets growing up so I think we always knew we were going to get a dog one day. But we lived in the city at first, both working full-time, and it wouldn’t have been fair at that point to bring a dog into our...