We didn’t keep pets for the longest time, I had forced my parents hand in my late teens when I adopted a chatty grey tabby kitten from the SPCA. Our whole family fell in love with him. Soon after we found out we were all allergic to cats.

Sadly, he passed from a massive embolism at only eight years-old, but the love we felt for him and him us resonates to this day. He turned our brother, who considered himself a staunch dog-person, into a cat-person. He turned our mother soft-hearted who now keeps trying to adopt every abandoned cat she sees on her social feed. He turned our father allergic to everything (They keep two cats at the moment).

I must insist that companionship from a cat is a unique kind of love we must foster and cherish for the short amount of time we share with them.