My parents ran a veterinary clinic together while I was growing up (my Dad is a vet and my Mom ran his business) so I’ve been around animals my entire life. Their clinic was basically our second home so my sisters and I saw and did everything from a super early age. We walked dogs, cleaned kennels and litter boxes, and saw all sorts of complicated cases when my parents would have to bring animals home with us for overnight care. I’ve never felt at home in a place where there isn’t an animal.  I rescued Ladybug from Flatbush Cats in 2019. I’d just ended a marriage and was restarting my li ..read more

I adopted Steven in 2017 sort of on a whim—I had grown up with cats but hadn’t had one for about 12 years despite being a lifelong cat lover. It hadn’t really occurred to me that I could just get a pet as an adult until a fateful bottomless Easter brunch, and the next thing I knew I was deep in Craigslist listings setting up appointments to view cats. I ended up in touch with Good Home Pet Adoption, who had three cats available—one with white fur, one with a dietary issue, and a runt who hid the entire time. We fished out the hidden cat from under the couch and I snapped her up. This was my S ..read more

Since I was a child, growing up in Northern Quebec, I've had an obsession with cats. When I was 8, I finally convinced my parents to adopt a cat from the ASPCA. T-Rex, a sweet orange tabby, was my first furry best friend and lived a long and happy life, in which he accompanied my family and I on camping and cycling trips. Upon moving to New York, I quickly became familiar with the bodega cats in my neighborhood, knowing each of them by name. I would often go out of my way to greet them during my morning commute. It became obvious that after several years without a pet, it was time to have a c ..read more

Marble and I started our shared life together in 2020 at the height of the pandemic. I was thinking about fostering for a year at this point and finally decided to follow through after my boyfriend and I thought we could use the company during lockdown. I’d always liked the idea of adopting an adult cat or a black cat since they tend to have lower adoption rates overall. I just happened to see her profile one day on PupStarz Rescue’s website and immediately knew she was the one. She was described as “sweet and petite” but also “bold and sassy”. If I remember correctly, she was “a total hoot t ..read more

I am a relatively new cat lady. Before I met Gigi, I was not into cats. Sure, there were a few here and there that melted my heart, but I wouldn’t have exactly called myself a “cat lady.” I grew up with 4 dogs and never really interacted with any cats until college when the neighbor tabby cat named Tony terrorized me and my hamster named Carl. I didn’t know how to speak Tony’s language and he didn’t know why I would not let him play with Carl. We were not a match made in heaven. After college, I had to compromise on my preference for dogs when I met my fiancé Will who is a major cat daddy.&nb ..read more

I got Sage as a foster fail during the school-from-home days of COVID. I had always grown up with cats and had fostered in the past as a true cat-lover, and within a few seconds of having Sage I knew it was going to be a foster fail. I really wanted a companion during a time when we would be home so much, but even past that I always loved to foster cats for the companionship and I could tell right away that she was going to be such a good one. When I first got her, she was a scrawny little kitty but she always had her big adorable thumbs. Sage is polydactyl and you can tell right away, she ha ..read more

I adopted Hammie & Misko a week after I moved to NYC. I was 22 and living alone for the first time in my life, and I knew I wanted kittens. I have always been an animal lover. I had a dog growing up, and my family adopted an adult cat when I was in high school, but he was always really my mom’s cat. I knew I wanted kittens for my first pets that were just mine. After checking out a few shelters and adoption events in NYC, I ended up with these tiny 3-month-old baby brothers from the same litter that had been found dumped in an empty lot on Long Island. Now, we have been through 13 years ..read more

My mom is an animal lover, so we had dogs and cats around for most of my childhood. My boyfriend had a similarly pet-filled upbringing. Once we moved in together in NYC, it was only a matter of time before we started thinking about pets. We decided we wanted a kitten, and after learning that kittens do much better in pairs, we decided we’d get two and submitted an application to Brooklyn Animal Action. I have a soft spot for orange cats (my mom’s cat Kitty, who is now 14, is also orange) and so when I saw pictures of the boys I had to meet them. We learned from their foster that they had been ..read more

I have been a lover of cats (and all animals) for my entire life. Having grown up in a home with two wonderful kitties, I really felt the absence of a feline presence when I moved to upstate New York for college. In my senior year, a friend told me about a family in Buffalo that had just found an orphaned little gray kitten near their house. They couldn't adopt her due to an allergy in the family, and I just knew that I needed to give her a home. I went to pick her up the next day. She was only 1.5 pounds and totally covered with fleas, but she snuggled up next to me and purred for the whole ..read more

For better or worse, I am known as THE cat lady at work.  I did not have any cats growing up but on a couple occasions, my sister and I helped find forever homes for the dumped cats we befriended in the forest behind our family’s restaurant business. Perhaps those deeds were a harbinger of my life today. After being spurred on by tales of a colleague’s fostering exploits, I signed up with a local rescue organization @MeowParlour during the thick of the pandemic. Several months into fostering, my husband and I were assigned a trio who, though unrelated, had come up through the rescue shel ..read more