Little Angel

Angel Kitty Rescue in Kennesaw is where I bought my lovely Castiel; it’s located inside a PetSmart. He was seven months old at the time. When I walked in, there was a row of cages stacked on top of each other. Little meows filled the air, and I looked at each cat eagerly. I knew I was looking for a boy, preferably not one too young, seeing as I was in college full-time and working. They each had names, genders, and ages posted to their little doors. One, in particular, stood out to me. A small ebony thing rubbed himself against the bars. He was trying harder to get my attention than the others – some of which didn’t so much as twitch in their beds. I walked closer to where he was in the far corner. He had the cutest little white tips on his paws. It made him look like he had toes. He looked at me, so eager and excited, and I couldn’t help but pet him despite the sign that said not to reach in the cages. Anytime I tried to walk away, he’d howl in protest. There were a lot of cats and kittens there, but only one chose me. I knew I would be taking him home, but I wasn’t going to keep the name the rescue gave him. Bocephus? No, he was Castiel, my little angel. 

I spent more money on things for him than I spent on actually purchasing my cat. I got the food and litter box, of course, but I also got toys and stuff for him to scratch and climb. I wanted to make sure he was as happy as possible, seeing as I would be gone for hours at a time. As I was filling out the paperwork, the lady told me that cats could take a few days to adjust and get comfortable. If he avoided me for the first day or two, don’t get discouraged. Castiel took to me right away, though. From the first day home, he’d follow me around and show me endless affection. He is such a sweetie. Every day I’m grateful he chose me. People have a lot of misconceptions about cats. They think you can’t bond with them as you do with dogs, but I have first-hand experience to prove that wrong.

Every time I come home, it doesn’t matter from where or how long I’ve been gone, Castiel comes to the door to greet me. He always meows and rubs against my leg before laying on his back to demand that I pet him. If I get changed first, he stays on his back and wiggles around as if to say, “Don’t you see how cute I’m being over here? Come pet me!”

When I wake up in the morning, there are usually several toys in the bed where he brought them to me in the night, wanting to play. He loves playing fetch, and I didn’t teach him that. The day I got him home, I threw his favorite mouse, and he brought it back to me. We play it daily now. He’s so playful and full of personality. I can’t see how people think cats are incapable of feeling or getting attached. If other people come over, he’s timid and keeps his distance until he’s deemed them okay for himself, which means he’s not just acting loving towards me because I’m the only person in his vicinity.  

Castiel is incredibly intelligent, and sometimes that gets him into trouble. He went through a phase of opening all the drawers in the bathroom and bedroom so that he could get behind them. The drawers of my dresser don’t come out. I had to take everything out and coax him from behind the drawer. It wasn’t fun. He knocked all my medicine out of the cabinet a few times. I had to train him not to do that. Yes, I know. Cats can be trained? What? Despite what most non-cat owners think, you don’t have to suffer from your cat being wild and tearing everything up.  All you need to do is put in the time to teach them what’s okay and what’s not.

Training your cat isn’t all doom and gloom. You can teach them fun things too! For instance, I taught Castiel to play dead. It took a few days, but it was worth it. I called him to me and put one hand on his back, and my other hand was used as the “gun.” Next, I said, “bang” and gently pressed down on his back, until he was stretched out on the floor. We repeated that a few times a day, and I’d give him a treat every time he was down. After the first day, he would fall over as soon as I touched his back; it took a few more days for him to wait for the cue. It’s so adorable now, and I want to teach him how to high-five next.

If you want to learn a little more about popular cat myths that are untrue, click here to be taken to the infographic I created about the subject. Below you’ll find the video of Castiel playing dead like the smart baby he is.