Growing up, we always had cats. First it was Tippy and Smoky. Tippy was a marbled black and white tabby, and Smoky was a russian blue that my parents found in a parking lot as a kitten. When I was about 4 tippy died, and my parents wanted a second cat. We got Tony the Tiger then. We had Smoky and Tony until I was about 12, when my father was fed up with their urinating in the basement, but that was because he didn't clean the box enough, which I just recently found out ... so they were given away to other homes. I was really devastated, and lonely in my now petless home. I am an only child so the cats really helped alleviate boredom sometimes. I'm 17 now, and away at college. I've bred hamsters and had a parakeet since the cats, but nothing compares to a cat. So now I'm considering getting a kitten. I live in an apartment that doesn't allow them though so I will have to be sneaky about it