by Veronica Beaudry

Created on: March 25, 2008

It amazes me how much I love my cat. I have had pets in the past but I never loved any of them the way I love my current pet, Duchess Anastasia.

She is the first pet I have ever had that is really and truly mine. Not counting the guinea pig I had as a child, I was too young to really appreciate having a pet; all of the other pets that have been in my house have really been my Mom's.

I adopted Ana from the Animal Rescue Foundation four years ago. I remember putting my hand in the cage to pull her out and she licked my finger. For some reason, that did it. I fell in love with her at that moment.

My sweet Duchess Anastasia is one of the craziest, funniest, coolest cats I have ever seen. She is definitely the greatest cat I have ever lived with. Realizing that I am probably very biased, I think that the previous statement is still true. My Mom's two cats are nowhere near as interesting or funny. Although I have heard a couple of stories from my Mom that did make me chuckle.

One of the funniest things that Ana does is lie upside down. Seeing her belly exposed and her paws sticking up in the air still cracks me up after all these years.

She also has this thing about the laundry. Just the other day I was sitting on my living room floor, sorting the laundry, when Ana decides to rub herself on my husband's karate uniform. As she buried her head under the sleeve I began to laugh. She was rubbing with such intensity that it looked like she was on a mission to get rid of the existing scent. It was a very amusing sight.

Later that same day I was folding up the clothes and putting them away. I tend to keep the drawers open when I do this and Ana decided to go exploring. For some unknown reason she began to dig around the sock drawer like a dog digging for a bone. I couldn't help myself. I stopped what I was doing and watched for a few minutes as Ana continued her exploratory dig.

I have also had moments when Ana makes me feel really bad. We have a pair of long, narrow windows on either side of our front door. There have been a few times, when my husband and I go out, that she has stood by one of those windows and looked out as we got in the car and drove away. It is almost heart breaking seeing her sweet little face pressed up against the glass watching us leave her behind. It makes me feel so guilty but what can I do? I can't take her to the restaurant with me. I guess I'll just have to stop looking at the little window.

Having a cat has been an amazing experience that I will continue to cherish. For anyone out there who is also a cat lover, I now whole-heartedly agree that cats rock.

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