Patches the Cat: How He Brought a New Kind of Happiness to our Family

A few months ago I would never have imagined I would be doing a hub about a cat let alone a cat who stole my heart. You see I have always been a dog person. I have had dogs since I can remember. I was raised with standard and miniature poodles and a basset hound. Then when I became an adult and started to have homes of my own, I've had standard poodles and miniature dachshunds.

I have always had an intense love for animals since I can remember. I'm more partial to dogs and always have been. I had an allergy to cats since I was a small child so it was out of the question to have them but I really preferred dogs anyways. I never thought I would ever have a cat as it did not appeal to me with some of the things that come from owning one.

I live next door to a family who has at times anywhere from 18 to as many as 40 cats depending. My children are also animal lovers with a preference to dogs. I have watched my daughter over the 6 years we have lived in our home interact with all of the cats and kittens next door. I still could never imagine having one and was 100% certain I would never change my mind.

Well, one of the cats next door happened to wonder over to our house a few months ago. I was immediately amazed with him by how different he was from your average cat. He happened to make his way over to visit us at a particularly difficult time in my life as well as in my children's lives.

For the first week he came to our house around the same time every evening. He would come to our house around the same time every night that I step out to go somewhere. When I would open the front door he would kind of roll in since he would lay right up against it. He would come right in and great me and my kids and would wander around the house. We were all so captivated by him that we stopped everything we were doing to see where he would go and what he would do.

He would talk to us and we all thought it was so cute. My son said his meower was broken since he is so quiet and you can hardly hear him. He did the cutest things that were not cat-like but more like a dog. He brought happiness to each one of us. He made us laugh and took our minds off of our troubles. He would just stay for a short time and then would go back to the front door letting us know he wanted back out.

The second week he started to stay longer each time. My son who takes great photos and has a wonderful camera, started taking pictures of Patches.

One evening when he came inside, we lost track of him only to find he had jumped high up on a plant ledge. We couldn't figure out how in the world he got up there but he did. He just made us all smile so much when we found on the plant ledge. My son snapped many photos of him.

One evening when he was inside and we couldn't find him my daughter and I asked my son if he knew where he was at and he said he had gone into his closet. My daughter looked in the closet and discovered Patches had crawled into an open dresser drawer. We all ran to the closet to look and there he was curled up in the drawer looking at us wondering why we were all staring at him. He has brought an added comfort and a new kind of calm and peacefulness to our home.

After a month or so Patches decided he wasn't going to return to his home next door and began spending days and nights in our back yard on the covered patio. He has been an outside cat for the majority of his life and seems to prefer the outdoors but stays in the yard. Patches is almost 4 years old.

He also spends time in our house, usually in the evening hours when he wants to nap but then wants to be let outside shortly after he wakes up. He rarely leaves our patio except to get up on the roof of our house which we all think is so very cute. My kids have placed a ladder against the house so they can climb up with him occasionally. Patches has brought a new happiness and comfort to our lives and to our home.

Because he likes to spend so much time outside, we made him a little house out of a large sturdy box. We flipped the box on its side so he can simply walk into it and lay down. We also put a couple of soft blankets in the box for him and set it on something we have on the patio so he is up higher and doesn't worry about anything being able to get to him. He loves his box house!

When I wake up every morning, I find myself thinking of him right away. The box is right outside my bedroom window so when I wake up in the morning I usually peek out to find him laying there. He knows I'm awake as he can hear me talking to him so he gets up and waits by the door to let him inside to see us.

He is so fascinating and so unique. He has never once scratched any of us even when I gave him a bath in the bath tub a few weeks ago. He is just so very nice. Unlike most cats, Patches enjoys having his tummy rubbed. He also likes his paws massaged which is quite unusual. He is so laid back and relaxed. You can truly feel the love he has for each one of us.

We realized we didn't think about him not having a cat box in the house but he goes to the door to be let out when he needs to go to bathroom. I find this amazing in itself. He has brought so much joy into our daily lives. He couldn't have come to us at a better time - a time when we really needed him the most.

Who would of ever believed? Certainly NOT me! Recently Patches brought his good friend over to see us. Her name is Sophie. They are the best of friends. Sophie can't do anything unless Patches is by her side. Yes, Sophie also belongs to my neighbor as she is one of the MANY cats they own. Since Patches invited her to our home, Sophie has not left.

Sophie has basically taken over the box. She likes to lay inside the box. Patches has moved to the top of the box but occasionally they lay side-by-side inside of it. Little Sophie has brought us as much joy as Patches has but in a different way.

Patches will always have a special place in our hearts because of the time he showed up in our lives as well as the fact of how unique his personality is. Sophie prefers to spend the majority of her time laying inside this box. We feel kind of sorry for her but this is what she seems to like best.

We had a scare the other night when Patches was not home. He wasn't laying inside the box or anywhere in the yard. The next morning we called the neighbor to ask if they had seen him and they had. Patches went over to their house that night and spent it laying on the bed with one of their children.

We aren't sure who Patches really belongs to now since he spends most of his time with us and then ventures next door a day or two out of the month, Thankfully our neighbors are fine with it and say they are happy he gives us so much joy. They also said it looks like Sophie is with us to stay.

Even our dachshund, Pennie, is starting to accept Patches and Sophie being part of the family and being in "her" backyard. We are really enjoying all three of them!