Anyone who knows me, knows that I love animals. Cats, dogs, birds, fish – you name it, I love it. I had lots of pets growing up, but my family never bought animals from a pet store. There were plenty of stray animals in need of a good home, and I was more than willing to adopt them. But it wasn’t always easy to convince my parents to let me do that.

Callie

  When I was 10 years old, I visited a relative who lived near a river. While we were walking outside one day, we saw a beautiful calico cat that was lost and hungry. She was very friendly, and when she came closer, we discovered she was pregnant. It seemed someone had abandoned her because they didn’t want a lot of kittens, and eventually cats, to care for. It took a while, but I managed to convince my parents to let me keep the sweetest cat in the world. I named her Callie, and she had four kittens in her first litter. We found new homes for three of the kittens and kept the fourth!