Before her couch potato days, Mimi, my calico-tabby mix, stared after customers through an acrylic window in the local PetSmart. I stopped in for something for a saltwater aquarium. I can’t recall what I looked for, but I remember seeing a cat with a patch-like coat of dark hair on her back. I stopped to read her story, knowing I probably shouldn’t.

Mom was the name the shelter gave her, not Mimi. The good people at CARA’s house, Companion Animal Rescue Alliance, posted Mom’s story near the window where she lay. Her marble eyes closed as she rested her head on her paws while I read about the long months she’d been with the shelter and then PetSmart. Mom watched her kittens leave the store after they were adopted. She watched her babies go with customers.

I remember thinking at the time, what a thankless job it felt like to be a mom. My son, a teenager then, had distanced himself from me. I couldn’t imagine losing him entirely. How do cats do it?

No wonder Mom didn’t bat an eye at my approach. She didn’t meow or inch closer for me to pet her as cats often do in the pet store. She may have been thinking, why bother? She expected me to leave her to her enclosure, the small walls of her jail cell, and I did.

I wanted to take Mom home instantly, but I knew my husband didn’t want another pet. He was tired of cleaning, organizing, and perfecting things at home. He likes everything in our home symmetrical, and I have my own set of problems with obsessive-compulsive disorder. I get it. One more pet in the house might cause him to have a coronary. It would be something else he felt the need to clean after, but to me, Mom wasn’t a thing.

She deserved a home. She had earned her place in the heart of someone who would love her, and I knew that person was me. It had to be.

Mom stayed at the PetSmart that evening while I thought about telling my husband I was bringing home another cat. A part of me thought he should approve of my choice and be happy that I wanted to welcome Mom, the homeless cat, into our family. It’s the right thing to do. I broached the subject of another cat, Mom in particular, but the conversation went nowhere. Even as I recounted Mom’s story, the kittens adopted out, but not her- he was as unmoving as stone. It was a resolute no, and I couldn’t stomach the thought of leaving Mom in PetSmart another night. How would he feel if it was him? Neither of us spoke after that seemingly one-sided conversation. I was ticked off. How could he be so unreceptive? I needed to hear someone agree with me, someone who was open-minded and loved cats.

I called my sister, Jenny, the next day. She always knows how to cheer me up. She has a cat of her own, even though she’s allergic to cat dander. We’re both allergic to the dander, but my allergies are more manageable.

“What should I do?” I told her Mom’s story. I explained how my husband felt.

“Go get her, Missy,” she told me.

"And my husband?”

“Why ask for permission when you ask forgiveness later,” she told me. It may not be the correct answer for everyone, but I took her advice. I still live by that line; believe it or not, I’m still married to the same man. We’ve been together for almost two decades. I learned a valuable lesson that day. He doesn’t have to agree with me or even like what I do.

That afternoon, Jenny met me at the PetSmart after work.

“Is this the cat you want?” She looked at Mom.

There were several cats at the store now, but it was Mom that I came back for. I wanted to give Mom the life she deserved. I wanted to love her if she would let me. I needed to ease her sorrow and the loneliness I was sure we both felt, even if Mom couldn’t communicate it in words. I was projecting my feelings on a cat, which sounds crazy. It’s not the worst, though. I’ve worked in public service for years and seen much worse than a woman projecting her sorrow onto a cat.

Mom dug into the walls and started her ascent up the narrow hall wall behind the enclosure where she stayed. She didn’t get far with Jenny and I racing after her. She was quick, but tired quickly. After being trapped for a while, her leg muscles must have burned. Jenny caught her. Mom sank her claws into my sister’s arms, earning a brand new name that I won’t repeat in this post. Poor Mom desperately sought the familiarity of the pet store she’d grown accustomed to. She might have missed the walls of her tiny cell. Her scent probably lingered from the open door behind the window she had stared out of forever. She didn’t mean to claw Jenny, who thought I was crazy for still choosing to bring Mom home.

Mom landed in a cardboard carrier in my Jeep after the adoption paperwork. We headed home, and the phone rang as I opened the garage door to let myself in the house.

I hefted Mom in her carrier with the familiar logo and the blue and red words PetSmart splashed on the front into the house before I answered.

I knew it was my husband, but what did he want? Why was he bugging me? Didn’t he have work to do at work? I’d forgotten all about the camera over the garage door. I waited for the interrogation to begin.

“Did you go to the pet store today?” he asked. “Did you go shopping?”

I told him no, and it was true that I hadn’t shopped. I adopted. When he asked me about the pet carrier, I laughed at him. I couldn’t stop laughing; before I knew it, he was laughing too.

Reason #1 is to adopt a cat because they improve your mood. Mom improved my mood instantly. I was right, too. My husband adores her; we only now call her Mimi.

Why should you adopt?

Adoption saves lives. Take, for instance, Mom, who originally came from CARA’s house, Companion Animal Rescue of Ascension, before it became an intake shelter in the community. CARA’s house is a no-kill shelter, meaning they don’t euthanize or put an animal to sleep because the building is overflowing with pets. The shelter relies on donations from the community, volunteer help, and fosters, who look after the animals in their home if needed. Adoption is an excellent option for a cat and the community overall. Why support expensive breeding when you can save money and bring home a cat like Mom who needed a loving family?

Adopted cats may be less likely to develop specific health problems. They are often crossbred. Researchers at the University of Guelph in Ontario found that crossbred cats aren’t as likely to develop “female reproductive issues, heart disease, immunological diseases, and lower respiratory infections” than purebred cats. They are also less likely to suffer surgery complications. Found at https://bvajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/vetr.2778

Cats in general may improve health, both mentally and physically. Interactions with felines stimulate the “prefrontal cortex” (PFC) and the “inferior frontal gyrus” (IFG). The PFC’s primary task is cognitive control, also known as executive functioning, a fancy word for a set of skills that include planning, completing multi-step tasks, seeing goals through to completion, and keeping impulses at bay.

Researchers didn’t point to a cause-and-effect relationship between cats and PFC activation in the human brain. Still, human emotions activate the PFC, according to the literature I’ve read. Study participants reported that interaction with the felines left them in better spirits. Found https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7316254/#pone.0235188.ref010

Additional studies highlight the potential brain benefits to older individuals caring for animals. Found at

ww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10339988/

What’s holding you back? Adopt a cat.

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References:

Hadar BN, Bonnett BN, Poljak Z, Bernardo TM. Morbidity of insured Swedish cats between 2011 and 2016: Comparing disease risk in domestic crosses and purebreds. Vet Rec. 2023;e2778. https://doi.org/10.1002/vetr.2778

Nagasawsa, T., Ohta, M., & Uchiyama, H. (2020). Effects of the characteristic temperament of cats on the emotions and hemodynamic responses of humans. PloS one, 15(6), e0235188. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235188

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7316254/#pone.0235188.ref010

Tepper, D., Shnookal, J., Howell, T., & Bennett, P. (2023). Can Interacting with Animals Improve Executive Functions? A Systematic Review. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 13(13), 2080. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13132080

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10339988/