Pancake - Adopt a Cat Month

June is 'Adopt a Cat Month' so we thought we would share Pancake’s story.

Although I have never personally adopted a cat, I feel as though I saved Pancake from a potentialy bad life.

When I was small we had a Siamese called Singer. I loved this poor old cat to bits. When I was a toddler I would dress him up in doll’s clothes, lock him in a room to play with me, strap him in a doll’s pram and roll him up in a blanket and carry him all over the place like a baby. Even though he was already 13 years old, bless his heart, he let me do it all without ever moaning. When he went blind and deaf we decided it was time to let him cross over the rainbow bridge and live a peaceful life without any kids or dogs around.

I missed Singer so much. I would beg my parents all the time to get another cat, but my mom had had cats her whole life and it was so hard to say goodbye. They decided they wouldn’t want to get anymore pets. At one stage I remember getting big sheets of paper from my dad’s work so I decided that I would make my own pretend cat. I drew a cat, bowls, pellets, a bed, and toys on the paper, cut it all out and that was my pet. The excitement didn’t last very long as paper cats are not very entertaining or lovable.

When I was 16 I decided that I wanted a cat and that was the end of the story. I asked my boyfriend at the time to please buy me a cat for Christmas (I wanted a Sphynx). I knew my cat-loving parents could never say no to a kitten once it was running around the house. I was right!

A week before Christmas I went to the pet store to pick out my little kitten. As I walked up to that cage they were sitting in a swarm of little black fluff balls. They ran up to the gate and started meowing at me. They were all very cute but there was once cat hiding in the back. He was bigger than all the little black cats and was sitting in the back looking rather shy and pitiful, like he knew everyone would like the little babies meowing at them. He was the cat I wanted. He was a ginger striped tabby and I would name him Pancake because he was all cinnamon and sugar.

The boyfriend then went back that afternoon to buy the little fella. On Christmas day when I opened a gift with a litter box, bowls and that lot my parents knew already what was coming out that car next. He was scared at first in this new big house, but he eventfully found his way around. After much trying to get him to love me, as much as I wanted to love and cuddle him, he decided that my dad was his human.

The boyfriend didn’t last long after that, but Pancake stole all of our hearts. A year or two later my parents were sick of all the fighting over who gets to cuddle Pancake next so they decided to get their own cat to share. When they went to choose their little Burmese girl, there was another little girl that had not been taken yet, so they took both. Niki and Truffle.

Pancake loves these two little girls so much I could never take him away from them. So when I moved out,I left him behind to live with his girlfriends and his human, my dad.

I am by all means not a supporter of backyard breeders and pet stores selling pets from backyard breeders. I believe that if more people got their pets from registered breeders, who only sell to responsible people, then there wouldn’t be a market for backyard breeders and there wouldn’t be cruel people owning pets they mistreat. People need to be educated more about where the pets in pet stores come from and why they are so cheap. There also would be less cats being sent to shelters due to unfit pet owners etc.

I feel that I saved Pancake from going to a bad home or not being sold at all and landing up in a shelter. He is such a spoilt cat, getting only the best wet food, and sometimes only Woolworths mince as it is his favourite. He couldn’t have asked for a better home. He is still the shy, awkward cat that won’t use the litter box in front of you, or hides away when he isn’t feeling well, but he owns this house (and the bed haha).

Remember to support your local shelter in any way you can!

#AdoptaCatMonth #Siamese #Christmas #Pancake #ginger #Niki #Truffle #backyardbreeders #shelter