Blog about cats ... are you KIDDING??

October 21, 2009 -

One of my favorite quotes comes from Albert Schweitzer who said, “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats." Admittedly, I can go without the music for a few days – but definitely not the cats. So you can only imagine how thrilled I was when the good folks at Pets.com asked me to blog about cats.

Blog about cats – are you kidding? Where do I start?

Should I blog about how I grew up with beloved cats like Tigre, Mitzi Elaine, Crystal, Pinky, Hortence and Cinnamon? Or, should I begin with the story of how I became involved in the cat-welfare movement when I was 7 after hearing about a horrible act of cruelty? Of course, I could just launch into stories about my current cats – all nine of them – each of whom I rescued from one bad situation or another. Something tells me that all of these topics will weave their ways into my new blog in the weeks to come.

I hope other cat fanciers will enjoy the anecdotes I plan to share (in the way that only we cat people can truly appreciate); beyond that, I hope to celebrate cats and elevate their overall status so that cats, in general, will benefit. Advocating for cats, and needy pets as a whole, has been a passion of mine for quite some time – so much so that it’s affected everything from my love life (yes, I once dumped a guy because he didn’t like my cat) to my career choices.

When I worked as a newspaper reporter in the 1980s and ‘90s, I always did the “animal stories” with extra zeal, hoping that readers would better understand the plight of pets in need. I went on to enjoy about a dozen years promoting a large animal shelter in Phoenix, and advocating for the unwanted, abused and stray pets who ended up there. Now as a communication manager with PetSmart Charities, Inc., I get to focus on saving the lives of homeless pets across the U.S. and Canada … and get paid for it.

No doubt, cats are close to my heart. I hope that’s true for you, too. If not, my goal is to get you there. With that in mind, allow me to close with another of my favorite quotes, this one from poet and author May Sarton: "Time spent with cats is never wasted.” Amen.