Last year, I had a strong desire to raise a cat in my heart and struggled for a long time between British Shorthairs, American Shorthairs, and orange cats. I shuttled through various pet markets, just hoping to find that little guy who was destined to be with me. Finally, on an ordinary weekend in September, I welcomed an opportunity that changed my life.
I went to a pet store run by an acquaintance (the younger brother of my classmate’s wife’s childhood friend) with my daughter. As soon as my daughter entered the store, she took a fancy to a white cat (not a purebred). She said with joy in her eyes that she liked white cats. This casual remark seemed to inspire my husband. My husband immediately asked the store owner if there were any silver – shaded British Shorthairs. The store owner slapped his head suddenly and said excitedly that he had a litter of silver – shaded British Shorthairs at home. There were two left unsold, and their vaccines had been completed. At our request, the store owner agreed to bring the cats back for us to see.
After waiting in the store for a while, the store owner came back with two silver – shaded British Shorthairs on his beloved scooter. The two cats looked exactly the same, making it hard to tell them apart. The store owner introduced to us that one of them was timid and suggested that we choose the bolder one. So, we quickly made a decision, paid the money, and happily prepared to welcome the new member.
The next day, my husband went to the pet store alone to pick up the cat and brought it home. My daughter named it Xiaobai because she knew I liked Bai Jingting very much. Even she would light up when she saw Bai Jingting on TV, so she extended this love to the cat. On the first day Xiaobai arrived home, we took several photos. At that time, it was small, full of curiosity about the new environment, and at the same time, a little cautious.
When we first started raising a cat, we had no experience at all, so we had to seek advice everywhere on platforms like Zhihu and Baidu. After some exploration, we found that raising a cat wasn’t as difficult as we had imagined. Every day, we prepared cat food and water for Xiaobai, and occasionally opened a can or fed it some wet food. The daily task was to clean its litter. However, there were also some headaches in the process of raising a cat. The biggest feeling was that cat feces were really stinky, and the hair loss was extremely severe. The original robot vacuum cleaner at home couldn’t handle it at all. Later, a classmate reminded us that cat hair was too light, and the robot vacuum cleaner would blow the cat hair everywhere when it passed by. So, during the Double Eleven shopping festival, we specially bought a handheld vacuum cleaner to clean cat hair.
Time flew by. In a blink of an eye, Xiaobai had lived in our home for more than two months. It had grown from that little furry ball into a big “child”. Its body became more vigorous, and its personality gradually emerged.
One day at the end of November, our family went to a cat café to have coffee. My husband and I were sitting face to face. At this time, a Siamese cat in the café jumped onto my husband’s lap without warning, acting coquettishly and asking for a hug. Its cute appearance instantly melted my heart. In contrast, our Xiaobai never took the initiative to be hugged. It always lay quietly about one meter away from people. At that moment, a thought suddenly came to my mind – I also wanted to raise a Siamese cat!
In December, due to health reasons, I took a half – month rest at home. During this period, Xiaobai accompanied me all the time. Although it wasn’t very affectionate and basically didn’t take the initiative to be hugged, especially towards my husband, perhaps because my husband was usually strict with it. Even so, its company brought me a lot of warmth. Every day, seeing it stroll leisurely in the room or lie quietly in the corner, I felt that life became more warm. Xiaobai has become a member of our family. Although it has its own unique personality, we still love it as always. In the days to come, we look forward to spending more wonderful times with Xiaobai, witnessing its growth, and letting it continue to add different colors to our lives.
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