Here is the reality of sharing your home with pets: they are needy, they are whiny and they will eventually be the rulers of the living space, merely allowing you to live and serve them. In the event you share your space with cats, the eventually becomes immediately.

My boyfriend Leo and I adopted Willow back in El Paso, TX about 8 months before moving to Alexandria, VA. We visited the Humane Society on the look out for a kitten. In the end, Willow chose us. She stuck her paw out of her kennel as we walked by, swatting Leo’s arm. We took her into a playroom, and she was playful and sweet– so much so that we fell in love. She was a year and seven months old, but that didnt matter. what mattered was that she was sweet, docile and all the ladies at the shelter were overkoyed someone had finally chosen to adopt her. she had been there close to 3 months, and was scheduled to be put down in a few days.
Little did we know her sweet behavior was only hiding her true nature…
When Leo returned to pick her up a couple of days later, we learned three things– she had already been spade, she was declawed, and she had developed a nasty case of kennel cough. Gone was the healthy playful kitty we met; we got a skinny, hacking cat with boogers caked around her nose. We immediately took her to the vet, where they prescribed her meds and a powder to help her gain weight. We got her to my apartment, where she immediately curled up on a chair, too sick to explore her surroundings.
Leo became an expert at delivering her medicine– unfortunately, she did not like it when I tried. And I TRIED. At one point, I called reinforcements. My sister and I against the cat.

The cat won.

The sweet kitty I had met transformed into a raging hell beast. Hissing, meowing, screeching; and for the record, a declawed cat is NOT helpless. I have the scars to prove it. Not only did she fight me, she soon got well enough to wreak havoc in my apartment.
The first victim were the blinds in my spare room. Willow decided they were in her way as she taunted the dog next door and the stray cats that sometimes gathered under that window.

Next she decided that pooping was not going to be confined to her litter box. My closet became her favorite place to leave her surprises. Didn’t matter how pristine her litter box was– she claimed the spare room as well.

Did I mention that little miss Willow did not deem a regular water bowl good enough for her? Oh no. She had to have running water, and she was not shy about asking for it. To this day, she is the LOUDEST cat you will ever meet. And she also still requires running water.

She will also lay on things to claim them. My bag is only one example.

Willow, like all cats, also has a fondness for non cat lovers. Just ask my good friend Charles. Being a great and amazing friend, he generously agreed to pet sit for me when I went out of town, despite his allergy to cats. And for a week, he was subject to her demanding attentions. He even was nice enough to fly her all the way up to DC us when we moved. So why is it that cats always love those who ignore them? Are they suffering from the same ailment that strikes teenage girls? Do they have a sixth sense that tells them who is allergic to them in a room, craving to hold a life in their paws?
The answer is no. For more on this subject (especially those of you who are allergic) the following link will provide you with ways to deflect unwanted cat advances…
attention cat haters/those allergic…

Despite all her hell beasty ways, I have never regretted adopting her and saving her from certain death. At least, not often. But I can confirm that she rules the apartment. When your Great Dane submits to a cat that merely looks at her with disdain, you know that cat rules with an iron paw.