30 Things I Love About My Cats

Sunday was Lila’s “gotcha” day—the day I adopted her from the shelter. (Eloise’s day is in December.) And so I’ve officially been a cat mom of two for a year now. It’s been one of the best years of my life, quite honestly. While I knew I would love having cats, I also believed in a lot of the discourse about how cats are aloof and jerks and could care less about their owners. All of that? Not even a little bit true about my girls. And yeah, maybe I lucked out with exceptionally good cats, but maybe the discourse is just plain wrong. Cats can be aloof, sure, but they can also be affectionate and social and little balls of love. They can be jerks, okay, but they can also be funny and so fun to play with. All cat owners know that the best treats are healthy treats, which is why Thrive cat food has become hugely popular.

I was always a dog person, and I am still a dog person, but I was a cat person as well. If I went to a friend’s house and there were cats, I beelined straight to pet and snuggle them. I am equal opportunity, is what I’m saying. I love all animals. I would probably love a pet iguana, that’s how deep my obsession with animals goes.

So when I adopted Eloise and then Lila two months later, I knew I would love them fiercely. There wasn’t any doubt about that. It’s just who I am as a person. What I didn’t know was that I would become obsessed with them at the level I am. I didn’t know they would become home to me. I didn’t know how much I would miss them, even if I was only away from them for one night. But I am totally 100% obsessed with them. I am now a crazy cat lady through and through, a badge I wear with pride.

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately reflecting on my girls and being a cat mom, and I thought it might be fun to make a list of all the things I love about this new life of mine. Let’s be clear: I could have written probably 100 things for this list, but I kept it at a respectable 30. You’re welcome:

1. The way Lila will always jump on the bed and climb on my chest to get petted the minute I climb into bed. She’ll wait, letting me get situated under the blankets, and then pounce.

2. The way Ellie will meow loudly at me whenever I emerge from the shower. At first, I thought it was because she missed me when I was in the shower, but I actually think she’s scolding me for washing off all the scents she lovingly rubbed all over me earlier. So I have to sit down on the floor of my room and let her rub herself all over me.

3. Wrestling! Watching the girls wrestle with each other is the cutest thing.

4. Lila’s squeaky meows.

5. The way Ellie cocoons herself under my comforter for naps. Dutch used to do the same thing, so it makes me feel like he’s still here, with us, in a way.

6. Whenever I see Lila and Ellie exploring together. They love it when I leave open the door to the closet that holds my water heater. I’ll ALWAYS find both of them inside the closet, happy as clams.

7. The way Lila always jumps up onto my bathroom counter whenever I’m on the toilet (TMI, maybe). I do my business, and she paws at me for pets. Normal.

8. Ellie’s intense love for sun naps. I will find her stretched out in front of the window in the middle of the day, basking in the sun. The girl loves herself a sun nap.

9. Whenever I wake up in the middle of the night to find that one of the girls has curled up next to me on my bed. They jump on and off the bed throughout the night, so it always delights me when I find them sleeping next to me.

10. Lila’s reaction to the laser toy. She zooms around my apartment trying to catch the red dot while squeaking her meows all over the place.

11. The way Ellie lets me pick her up and snuggle her. She purrs her little heart out and puts her head on my shoulder while I rub and kiss her neck. We’re both in heaven.

12. When the girls groom each other. Lila will often grab Ellie by the neck with her front paws and aggressively lick the top of her head.

13. The way Lila seems to think that my taking a bubble bath means constant petting for her. The minute I sink down in the warm bubble bath, she’s scurrying to stand next to the bathtub and meowing at me for pets.

14. The way Ellie greets me at the door when I come home. She does this funny thing with her body—back arched, head cocked to the side—as if to say, “Who dis?” But then she sees it’s me and comes right up to rub against my legs.

15. Whenever the girls bump noses with each other. I looked up what this means because I thought it was just so darned cute. It’s basically just their way of saying, “Hey, what’s up?”

16. The way Lila greets me: she runs right over to the scratching post in the living room, stretches herself all the way up, and then slowly meanders her way over to me. She allows me to pet her a few times before running away.

17. The way Ellie always wants to be near me. It actually feels so weird now if 20 or so minutes go by and I haven’t seen her. She’s either sleeping near me, rubbing herself on me, or jumping on counters so she can be near me.

18. Their soft, soft fur. It’s so soothing to pet!

19. Lila’s primordial pouch! OMG. It’s a thing of beauty, honestly. I love squeezing it (gently, of course!)

20. The intense love Ellie has for this $2 teaser. The minute I get it out, she goes crazy and jumps all around the room for it.

21. The way they eat treats so differently: Ellie eats daintily, one tiny morsel at a time, while Lila gobbles all the little morsels up in one gulp (and then tries to steal her sister’s treats since she’s taking too long to eat them).

22. When Lila flops over to my side after being on my chest. She flops on her back, her feet up in the air, and grabs my arm with her front paws to give me love bites.

23. Ellie’s “pillow” – she’s taken one of my pillows hostage, using it as a bed that she curls up on when it’s time for us to go to bed.

24. I have a mirror on the back of my bedroom door and I use that when I’m applying makeup in the morning. I have to close my bedroom door to access the mirror, which means sometimes one cat is in my bedroom while the other is stuck in the living room. And it’s adorable how they both sit on either side of the door, waiting to be reunited. <3

25. Lila’s morning routine, which is sitting on the window ledge in my bedroom to watch what’s going on outside. She gets in position about 10 minutes before I’m ready to leave for work, without fail.

26. The way Ellie cares for Lila. It’s so sweet. Ellie is more social so she’ll come out and greet people while Lila hangs back in my room, seemingly waiting for the OK from her big sister that everything is cool and she can come out. (This sounds crazy, but Ellie really does walk up to Lila while she’s hiding in the room and bump noses with her and then Lila will come out.)

27. Whenever they play under the door frame. This usually happens in the morning when I’m putting on makeup and have the door closed (see above). One of them will thrust her front paw underneath the door frame to “tag” my foot over and over again.

28. The excitement Lila gets about taking my hair elastics. She loves stealing them and batting them all over the apartment. (I have lost so many elastics.)

29. The way Ellie flips out whenever Tipsy*, the outside cat, comes onto our porch. She bangs on the sliding glass doors and jumps up and down. It’s hilarious.

(*A friend named her Tipsy because the tips of her toes are white. We need to differentiate her from Socks, the other black-and-white outside cat who is not as friendly as Tipsy.)

30. The way these girls love their mama. I call the times that I sit on the floor so I can rub their necks and let them rub themselves all over me “mama love.” We do lots of “mama love” in this family. I love how affectionate and sweet they are, how much they love me, and the comfort they take in my presence. They are the best girls and I count my lucky stars that I get to be their mama every single day.