Two spouses and two felines

Before there was a daughter, and even before there was a Momma, there was someone living with me who still remains, Tapete, our cat.

I had always been a dog person; dogs are reliable, dependable, messy, loyal and what pets "should" be, aren't they? Cats seemed shifty, angry, aloof, dettached, and generally incapable of love. Also, they aren't dogs.

I had already moved in to our apartment by myself, before Momma moved in a few months later after our wedding. It was mostly empty and I spent a good deal of my time by myself. Momma told me her sister had rescued a cat, and really couldn't keep it. We spent an afternoon together, and after getting along well with the little fella, we agreed we (me) would give him shelter until Momma's sis could keep it. She named him Tapete, the spanish word for rug and along he came with me.

I never had the sole responsibility of taking care of a living creature before, sure I used to babysit my nephews, but I was mostly another playmate and if something ever went bad, I could just turn to my brothers for help. also, being that I'm a the youngest of five, I was usually the one being looked after.

That first night... I don't know how exactly, but I just knew what to do and say to him at all times. I took him to the sandbox, showed him his food bowl, taught him to only scratch on his scratcher, found a comfy way for him to sleep on my lap, and he snuggled between my legs when we went to bed. The next morning I woke up to the feeling of a sticky wet thing licking on my face. It was him.

So we bonded in a way I had never bonded with a pet before. I had plenty of dogs growing up and I liked them, but never like this. I also became a cat person.

A couple of months later, Momma and I got married and it was a bit of a struggle the first few days, because the cat was jealous and mad at this new person who had moved in and taken most of my attention and space. Luckily, over time, Momma fell in love with him too, and somewhat begrudgingly, Tapete bonded with her too. (Even if at the moment, Momma is trying to keep him from sitting on her keyboard as she tries to study.)

Tapete grew up as a part of our family, and we both learned to take care of another living thing. We were that family with a cat that is like a son. We were cat people of the almost worse kind. (We never dressed him up. Though we tried.)

We became obsessed with cats, their behaviors and their species. We scoured on youtube for videos of cats, and not too long after, we found this video. That cat seemed impossible to us, it was like something out of a cartoon! We found out it was a real race called Scottish Fold, and that were nearly impossible to find in our area.

About a year later, Tapete got sick with a strange cough and our regular vet was away on vacation. A panicked search through the yellow pages led us to a duo of vets who made house calls. Tapete got better, but our conversations with them led us to finding out they were true cat lovers and breeders of all sorts of cat varieties. Right away, we mentioned that our dream was having a Scottish Fold cat, and they told us they owned a female.

Momma and I went on with married life, and during a vacation trip, we decided it might be time to start thinking about children. We were ready, or as ready as we were going to be. During that trip, the vets wrote to me to say that the female Scottish Fold had given birth to a litter, and that they had immediately thought about us for one of the kittens.

A baby and two cats? Don't they say they don't mix? That cats are harmful for babies? Well, we had done our research from the moment Tapete came home, and we discovered that indoors cats rarely spread diseases, that as long as she stayed away from the kitty litter, she would be fine, and the eventual baby would be, too. So we knew there'd be no problem. After all, humans domesticated animals sometime around 8, 000 B.C., and babies had grown up around them ever since. When did it become a thing to get rid of animals to make room for babies, anyway?

We visisted the little fella first, before we decided to take him home with us. He was the most beautiful ball of hair I had ever seen. You see things these cute in movies, or in cat movies on youtube, but this one was in my arms, about to be part of my family. This time, it was our turn to name him, and while the name suits his colors, we always thought of him as our little pumpkin pie, and so we called him Pie, even before seeing him.

The process of having a new kitten at home took some getting used to for our Tapete, who hadn't seen another four legged mammal, let alone another cat, and the process took a few days before he even let him be in the same room with him. Eventually, as all the websites and experts told us, the little one started to follow the big one along and the big one eventually let him. It was a nice thing to see, how the bond of feline love grew between them.

All the while, we were trying to get pregnant.

Little Pie had grown into a 6 month old cat that needed to be neutered, cuz we are responsible cat owners, you know? Momma had been feeling a bit queasy and lightheaded, but we had to take Pie to the vet, and well, other concerns had to be put in the backburner. When we were at the vet, I took Pie in his little cage, while Momma went to run some errands. Pie had to stay in for a few hours and I met Momma back in the car. She had a bag with something in it, it was a pregnancy test. A positive pregnancy test. We were having a baby!

Next time: Two Cats and a Baby!