Three's Company

Most cats are not made to be solitary creatures.

When I first moved to Oregon, my cat Hamlet suddenly found himself the only cat in the apartment and he quickly realized he hated it. The moment I got home from work, he stuck to me like glue and cried if I wasn't in eyesight. I decided he needed a playmate and went to SafeHaven to adopt a kitten, thinking a young cat would be easiest for him to adapt to.

I went to look at a certain kitten I saw on the website that I thought looked the cutest. As I opened the door to the kitten room, this tiny ball of black and white fluff ran at me meowing, insisting I pick her up that very moment. This was not the kitten I intended to adopt, but it is the one I went home with. Sometimes you pick your pets but, more often than not, they pick you.

The new kitten, dubbed Socks for her white paws, was a great addition. An excellent playmate for Hamlet, they quickly became inseparable.

Then COVID happened and, like so many others, I decided I needed another pet. I met one kitten at SafeHaven, but we didn't quite click. I kept looking and waiting for the perfect cat to come along. In May of 2021, I adopted Cinder who would turn out to be a fluffball and the least graceful cat I have ever seen. She has fallen off every climbable surface: bed, couch, fridge, etc. But she always lands on her feet. Getting the other two cats to accept her was a much longer adjustment than when I brought Socks home, but Cinder is resilient and she wouldn't stop trying to cuddle and play with the other cats until they begrudgingly gave in.

Three cats seems like a lot, and it can be, but these three have formed a close bond and just as I cannot imagine life without them, they can't seem to imagine life without each other!

Written by Tessa Jennings, winner of Pet Press cover in Rescue Roundup Auction 2021