My first cat that I ever had was a chubby tabby names Cleo, I was stuck to her like glue and she was the first cat that made me so in love with her breed. Sadly, we had to give Cleo away because of some lifestyle changes in our household. My mum was due to give birth soon to my sister and was worried about the excessive cat hair in the house providing issues for her. Unfortunately, my mum had a miscarriage in 2015 but soon after she got a cat called Cinnabun. Cinnabun was the start of our little cat family tree. She was also a tabby. I remember on her first night she cried the house down because she wanted to rest in bed with us. We set up a little box for her to sleep in bed with us that night and she slept like a baby. I felt like that helped my mum get through her miscarriage a lot easy In fear of her being alone, we got another cat called Cairo, he was my mum’s favourite cat breed. She had wanted a cat like Cairo since she was a little girl. Cairo and Cinnabun took a while to get along but they loved each other a lot. They had 2 beautiful litters of kittens and were both neutered soon after. Out of the 2nd litter, we kept one of the kittens and named him Patches. Patches loved his parents very much and would always follow Cairo outside. Cairo sadly didn’t live very long due to issues with his breed, heart issues were very prominent and he had a heart attack. He took his final breath in my mother’s arms and all I could do was just sit there and comfort her. I kept a piece of his fur to remember him by but regardless I could never forget him. To help my mum get over her loss of Cairo, my friend offered to give me her cat called Flash. Flash really lived up to her name, she was a speedster who could not stop zooming. Once we brought her into our house, she instantly fell in love with Patches which led to her having her first batch of kittens. Out of that batch, I was blessed with my wonderful boy, Domino. Domino was everything I didn’t know I needed, he was my miracle baby. He was the only survivor of his litter. Flash went on to have more litters and Domino took care of his younger brothers and sisters. We eventually got Flash neutered so she could take it easy on herself. At one point our household had 4 adult cats and 6 kittens. Flash sadly passed away last year from circumstances which are still unknown. All we know is that she was found outside with severe injuries but all I can remember is how much I cried that day. I felt so much guilt for Domino, he had lost his mum. Midway through this year, my dad asked me if I could look after his girlfriend’s cat, Shadow, for a few months. At first my mum was against it but I managed to convince her. Shadow came into our home and quickly got along with all our cats, but she felt most drawn to Domino. Although we would’ve loved to see how their babies would’ve came out, both Domino and Shadow had already been neutered and it would’ve been too many cats in one household. Shadow has been living with us up until now and will hopefully stay with us a bit. In my story, I have realised, cats come and they go just as humans do. Sometimes they come back as different cats and sometimes they just can’t be replaced. Cats are like family to me, whether they feel like a brother, a mother, a son or a sister. I love my crazy cat family so much and I pray every night that they get to stay with us.