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.
Joey joined my husband and I at 10 weeks old and he was our first pet together as newlyweds. He’s now 13 and he’s been an amazing first pet. He taught us how crazy cats are – he sits on command for his dinner, wakes us up at 4am every single morning in summer, and he can sleep for 20 hours straight if no one opens a food wrapper! He was recently diagnosed with hypothyroidism so he’s now on daily medication which, thankfully, he takes well.
When Joey was 4 years old we heard of another kitten who needed rescuing, and so Sookie (named after Sookie Stackhouse from the True Blood series) came to live with us. Between you and me, she’s my favourite because she has so much personality. She sleeps on my desk every day as I write. But she has a tiny temper problem; we can only touch her if she’s in the mood and she dislikes her younger brother! Not in an aggressive way, she just won’t let him near her and throws him daggers with her well-rehearsed look of contempt! Which leads me nicely to Teddy-bear.
We rescued Teddy when Joey was 10 and Sookie was 6 and he has turned our lives upside down! He’s half Maine Coon and he’s got so much more energy than the other two. He literally never stops wanting to play. And if we don’t play with him, he’ll chase Joey or Sookie to try to get them to play with him. He’s not aggressive at all, he just needs a lot of attention. Perhaps because he was rejected by his mother as a kitten and the only surviving kitten from the litter. He’s very attached to me and although he’s not much of a lap cat, every night at midnight he comes to find me in bed, lies across my chest and rubs his face across mine continuously whilst purring for ten minutes straight. Then he goes off to sleep on my feet, next to the other two.
I probably love my cats a little too much because I added them into one of my crime novels (Won’t You Save Me), as the pets of my forensic technician. But readers loved it!
I can’t imagine not having a cat on my desk as I write. They really are the best companions and they’re someone to talk to during the lonely long hours of writing a novel.
Wendy is a former coroner’s assistant turned crime writer who lives in the UK with her husband and three cats. She has written two crime series, a YA crime novel and has several short stories published in UK and US anthologies. She has also been shortlisted and longlisted for various competitions, including the Mslexia Novel Competition. Most days you’ll find her procrastinating on Twitter. www.wendydranfield.co.uk
They are beautiful!