He was the first of my two boys. Growing up, I always had a cat, one even slept in my crib with me. I always considered myself a cat person. When my mom remarried, my step-dad HATED cats and his mother FEARED them, so our new home did not include any pets.

I the day husband proposed, we went to my Aunt's house to announce the engagement and there were two little orange kittens - it was a litter or 5 but two were stillborn and one female died a few days later. When we visited my Aunt again, we came home with Allen.

We brought him home and had to hide him becuse our dacshund/lab mix dog, Sammy, thought he was dinner. Litterally, she wanted to eat him. Once Allen was big enough to fend for himself, those two would go at it and be a big black and orange tangle rolling around the floor.... but by that time, the fight was play. After Sammy died, Allen went into a shell and missed playing so he tried with Nicki. Poor Nicki is petrified of smaller animals and would go run and hide whenever he tried to play. Imagine a 100 pound dog afraid of a 15 pound cat! Allen would sit on the banister and wait for Nicki to settle down and then - SLAM - fling himslef onto her back!

He's our mellow guy and pretty much doesn't care what you do to him. He's not much on the affection front - only when he wants it. Lately, he's been more affectionate and will accept it when you try to give it to him. He'se even learned to purr!