Growing up, I was not allowed to have a pet other than something low maintenance like a fish. I used to want a dog so bad and I would ask my parents for one every year for my birthday. My neighbors all had dogs and I would volunteer to house-sit them as often as I was able to so I could play with them. I always swore I would get a french bulldog the second I moved out and got my own place.
I never knew how truly awesome it was to own a cat. For most of my life, my opinion on cats wasn’t very favorable. I had been around a few of them and they were all selfish, independent, and sometimes hostile animals. I’d try to pet them and I’d get bitten, scratched, or hissed at pretty much every time. But then my girlfriend got her hands on a kitten before I was able to get my hands on a dog, and the rest was history.
Athena completely changed my entire opinion about cats. She is super cool, extremely playful, and loves to be the life of the party. Funny story: we originally named her Khalid because we were told she was a male when we got her.. until her vet confirmed that wasn’t the case.. so we still call her both names because she still responds to Khalid, so we didn’t want to confuse her too much by all of a sudden only calling her Athena.
Athena is a little ball of positive energy that brings so much joy. No matter how terrible of a day I may have, she is always there to cheer me up when I get home. Athena loves to play with her toys and climb anything her paws can get a hold of. She is very intelligent and her favorite activity (when she’s not getting wild in her ball pit tunnel) is to stare out the window searching for birds, squirrels, and butterflies. Her personality is so outgoing that we always say she acts just like a dog. She plays fetch around the house like a dog and waits for me at the bathroom door while I’m showering. She purrs so loud sometimes that it sounds like she’s half cat, half Harley Davidson motorcycle.
One big thing I’ve learned since getting a cat is how much easier they are to care for than dogs. Having a dog means you have to take it outside to use the bathroom a few times a day, unlike cats who use a litter box (or in some cases the toilet). You typically have to give dogs more attention and stimulation than cats. Dogs need to go on walks and run around; cats can be perfectly fine playing around the house and they don’t bark repeatedly when someone walks in the door.
I’m really glad that I got the chance to own a cat because I would have never known how awesome it is. It reminded me of the importance of continuing to branch out of my comfort zone in life. You never know whether you’ll truly love something until you try it. I do look forward to owning a dog someday, but right now I am totally content being Athena/Khalid’s cat dad!
Are you a cat or a dog person?
P.S. Athena/Khalid is on Instagram: @Katnip_Khalid. We like to post fun pictures and videos of her loving life.
