I like cats. They are so independent and yet they can still make you feel appreciated.
When I was a kid we used to have a cat most of the time. The first cat had a lot of patience with me. I was toddler and I remember it as big as a panther, but it was that I was very small, I could barely lift it.
Then we had another, we called it "Lucky" because as a kitty he rolled over the table when we were going to feed him, but he fell on the soft seat of a chair. This one was white. He was pretty much on his own thing going out and coming back just to eat. he lived some years, showed age symptoms and one day came back with hot oil and water being poured on him. i don't know who did it but it enraged me. he partially recovered or seemed to, and went away, he didn't come back again. We think he just went somewhere else to die. :(
My dad doesn't like cats.
many years after, My aunt cat had kitties and I wanted one badly, she came over just to slide it over for us. The plan was not to let my dad know my aunt agreed in give it to us, that I just found it. My dad threw it on the roof as soon as I said that, saying he'd go away. I told him the truth just as he did that, still in shock. The next thing I remember is him using a broom to get the kitty back. we couldn't keep it. So my Aunt found a different family for it.
No kitties or cats in my life since then.