Anyone who knows us well realizes that we are cat lovers, as both of us grew up with cats in our homes. Today, we have two beautiful cats, Miko and Zoey. Miko is a snowshoe Siamese, a cross between the Siamese, Burman, and American Shorthair breeds. Zoey is an American Shorthair with tabby markings. Both are strictly indoor cats loved, although Zoey has made many attempts to escape and explore the world outside her windows.

Miko came to us through Kitty Angels, a no-kill shelter that rescues stray and abandoned cats. Miko was found as a kitten in the late fall of 1998 abandoned and living behind a department store in Lowell, nearly the same place where another cat we adopted, Koko, was found earlier that fall. We had adopted Koko when he was around eight weeks old and one month later took home Miko when she was around three or four months old. Unfortunately, due to her time “on the streets,” she is a very high-strung cat; though she has mellowed in her advanced age, she usually keeps her distance from us. On occasion, however, she will give us the opportunity to give her affection.

Zoey came to us through the Salem (NH) Animal Rescue League, which is also a non-kill shelter for the abandoned and unwanted animals in and around Salem, NH. We adopted her in December 2008 at about one year old; she is the first non-Siamese breed that either of us have owned. She was found after being abandoned by her original owner at the local mall. Unlike Miko, Zoey shows a lot of affection towards us and displays a high tolerance of the abuse she gets from the kids.

Up until 2004, we also had another cat, Tonka, whom we purchased from a breeder in upstate New York in June 2001 when he was three months old; soon after Jakob was born, we found that he wasn’t happy having the new baby around the house but, fortunately for us (and for Tonka!), Jeff’s parents agreed to take him in and he has adjusted well to his new surroundings.

These are not the first cats that we’ve owned. As mentioned before, Koko was with us for ten years before he passed away in November 2008. Like Miko, he was a snowshoe Siamese and the two of them were nearly inseparable. Other cats include three beautiful Siamese cats that passed long before our kids were born: Saki, Monkey, and Makayla. All three lived to ripe old ages and, though they are long gone, they have not been forgotten for being the wonderful cats they were.