I have always had animals, my entire life, except when I was moving around for 2 years when I ran away from home, but even then I was in constant contact with either dogs, cats or horses.
Over the past 10 years, my partner and I have adopted 4 cats, the most recent one being last christmas.
Sascha is a huge black and white longhaired 10yo cat whom I've had since he was 5, who doesn't really like being patted, but loves being picked up and snuggling up on your shoulder.
He likes to eat hot potato chips, but they must be salted or he won't have a bar of it!
He gets upset quite easily, and will find a hidden spot to pee in if he doesn't have enough food, water, clean litter, or hates visitors that come. He loves my sister and brother because they love to cuddle him.
Pestilence aka Pest is a slinky grey and white cat who loves eating the sticky side of envelopes, rolling in bleach and sitting in small boxes whilst standing still like a statue, she is about 9, and hand raised from 4 weeks old by my partner who took pity on an abandoned litter.
Meeka aka Meekazoid is a sleek black cat who I found wandering at a train station at 5 weeks old, he was extremely ill with cat flu, and nearly died on me.
He grew up being hand fed, sleeping by my neck or side for warmth, and taking showers with me because of the humidity which helped him breathe. He is the kindest, most gentle and cuddly cat I've ever known.
His favourite thing to do is to sneak up on your lap while you are watching TV, first he'll sit on the armrest, then put both paws on your leg, and then slowly slink his way under the radar until he's curled up in your lap and you are patting him without even realising when he got there!
He gives himself away by letting out a triumphant purr and rolling on his side to have his tummy rubbed, then realises he gave himself away and has the decency to look sheepish. If you scratch just above his hind leg on his flank he starts purring, stretching out like a slinky toy to get more of the scratch, and then literally falls over when the pleasure becomes too much.
Neo, aka Nano or the Nanobyte, is a small, slinky pure white fluffball with a light patch of grey on his head, he was rescued at christmas last year when I was browsing through gumtree and saw an ad stating that this man's cat had gotten pregnant again, and if someone didn't take the kittens he would either drown or dump them.
So I promptly travelled 4 hours by train, sexed the kittens, grabbed a male (neutering for females is damned expensive) and convinced him (I hope) to leave the kittens at a local vet.
So I had this kitten hiding inside my jacket collar, peering out with massive big blue eyes and hissing at every passerby who jumped with fright, not expecting a fellow traveller on public transport to hiss at them! He kept cuddling into my neck, or into the crook of my elbow, and still does it when he is scared.
His favourite thing to do is to shred toilet paper rolls, knead my ballet flat shoes until they look like a massacred pin cushion, and eat blueberry muffins.
He HATES his tummy being touched, so the amount of times that I have gone to pat a cat who jumped up on the bed whilst I'm half asleep, and promptly had my hand MANGLED.....well I've lost count!
But that being said, he loves to wait until you're cross legged in front of the laptop, and then he'll come and curl up in the space between your legs and bite your ankle every time you move.
He also doesn't like it when you twitch in your sleep, as it wakes him up, so my partner has been woken a fair few times with a healthy bite, through the blanket, to his big toe.
I love my cats, and as much as I love dogs and horses, the personalities I get off each cat are vastly different, and I'm never bored.
It might also be worth mentioning the time that my partner was sleeping.....and some men wake up with a certain 'condition' *ahem* in the morning......and if it *twitches* under the sheet, the poor innocent kitty may well mistaken it for a new cat toy..........I've never seen someone sit up so fast from a solid sleep, I laughed until I cried.
I actually get anxiety and really stressed if I fall asleep in a strange place and my partner and cats aren't there, I feel really alone because there is nothing like the warmth of a cat against your side to help you fall asleep.
