JUDY SNIDER
...On CatsApril 26, 2026
I was surprised when I started to write a new blog that it has been almost a year since I wrote my last one. I put pictures on my Facebook page about my books, but have not added any new blogs since last Mother's Day.
Our cat Bailey passed last Fall at the age of 20...she was loved!
After a period without cats, we decided to adopt two cats from various places in the area. Quinn is eight, and Sugar is a year and a half old, having already had a litter of kittens.
Quinn is a calico and Sugar is black. We adopted them a month apart so our oldest could get used to us before having a younger, more energetic sibling move in, and we could get used to having two cats at the same time. It took a while of everyone getting used to each other, but they are already such an important part of our family. Our friends, family and others have been amazing in supporting us and giving new advice. In the beginning we wondered "what have we done?! This is a lot of work! " Our house had been so quiet, and since our kids are adults and out of the house, we could sleep in. But with that quietness was an emptiness - once Bailey passed, while it gave us more time to focus on our books, we found it was worth getting up early to feed and spend time with the cats to have them in our lives.
But, it is almost Mother's Day and Father's Day. A friend told me that our cats are so lucky to get us as "cat parents" and they know that unconditional love, even when they are a pain in the neck, is all around them in our home. We’re familiar with their routines, the foods they like, their schedules, and it is wonderful to see that one of them loves the "Red Bowl" like Bailey did. Even now, we are still learning how to be the best “cat parents” we can be.
I could go on endlessly about their habits, especially their love of waking us up at four in the morning every day - fortunately I’m a morning person.
I won't wait to make another blog, but I do hope that if you're a kind animal lover you'd consider adopting a cat or dog from your local shelters, or a cat who may have had a family member pass and has no one to live with.
And again, as someone close to me said, our cats and kids are lucky to have parents who will adore them.
Two cats, a calico and a black cat, sleep next to each other on a black chair. What a pair!
