I can't think of anything in this world that means as much to me as my cat does. My cat’s name is Rick he is two years old. He is very fluffy and soft, almost like a rabbit. I had never had any real pets before him, only some fish and a hamster here and there. Rick was originally my brothers cat, but I fell so in love with him that I basically stole him.

My brother got Rick in the summer of 2016 from a breeder and spent $400 for a cat that should have cost over a thousand. He was taken away from his mom too early, had cryptorchidism, and was born with a virus. We didn’t know all this until one night he started to sound like he was choking and began to scratch at his mouth until his paws were red with blood. He was still just a kitten, and we thought he may have swallowed one of my mom’s sewing needles. We took him to the vet, and my mom and I ended up staying there until 2-3 am on a school night. That is when we found out he has a virus that caused his throat to swell up and cause him pain. This experience brought me closer to Rick and it made me feel as though he was more my cat than my brothers. About a year later of switching Rick off between mine and my brothers houses, I decided that I wanted to keep him. So, I locked myself in the bathroom with Rick until my brother decided to let me. My brother is not easy to persuade, but I think he understood just how much this cat meant to me and finally let me keep him.

Every day I come home from school I search the house to find Rick, and if I don't find him right away, I start to panic thinking he got out, so I search the house. I look in and under every bed, in every closet, and in all the sinks until I find him. I do this because he loves to go outside and chase the squirrels and the birds when he is on a leash, but he also loves to try to run out the door almost every time we open it so he can have that sense of freedom again. It makes my heart sink thinking about him getting lost or hurt outside. I love my cat because I always know how he feels. He never lies to me or pretends he’s something he’s not. He tells me when he’s hungry, when he needs his litter changed, and when he wants to be pet.

I think another part of the reason I feel so strongly about my cat is because I don't really have any other things to put my love and energy into. I've never had many friends because all the friends  I seem to have end up distancing themselves from me or turning to bad habits such as drugs. I prefer having just my cat because I know he won’t do any of those things to me, but having my cat as my best friend also means I worry about losing him too much. I don't know if other people feel this strongly about their pets, but I hope more people can understand that people like me are not necessarily ‘crazy cat ladies.’ I think animals are simply nice friends to have around that don't really leave you or hurt you.