Neither of my parents had pets growing up. My mother did allow us (my brother and I) to have one cat when we were in grade school. But after she died, there were no others.

I must have always loved cats. There is a picture of me, when I was maybe 3, sitting in a haystack surrounded by cats - and I was smiling.

My brother had a black lab, Pal, for years. He took her everywhere - to work, to the nursing home to visit my mother, out on his boat. He was devastated when she died.

And I've had cats all my adult life. When Douglas and I got married, we did get a dog - he had grown up with cocker spaniels. Jenny was a Westie mix - a cruelty case at age 3 months. She lived to the ripe old age of 15. Now we have 6 cats.