My kingdom for a kitten!

This might sound like a silly thing, but I want a cat. Let me explain. I have been brought up with cats & dogs. I have never... EVER been without a pet. We firstly had Snoopy who was such a softy he would guard me when I was a baby, tiger the cat who was a tortoise shell cat, when tiger died and mum knew she was pregnant with Alex, I was asked, "do you want a puppy or a brother?" "PUPPY" naturally! So, we got Prince who was officially my dog. A year on, we still had Snoopy & Prince, but I got my own cat thrown into the mix now too, Mr Fish. Snoopy died and a few years later, we got Maxi, a stupid golden hairball of a lab who was as soft & daft as anything. Mr fish, then prince passed away and my family had Dave the cat move in, but he was never a very nice cat at all. Maxi has now gone, and Dave lives in Cornwall with mum who I haven't spoken to in 2 years. So, always I had pets, up until now.


My man, J, my knight in shining armour, has an Achilles heel - he gets bitten to shreds by the presence of just one flea. Our August trip to Cornwall where we stayed at dads, ended up with him being covered, literally, from head to toe in itchy, irritating bites. We were there for close to a week, and he hated every second of our stay. We could be sat in the bedroom or the living room, and I could count anything from 2 or 3, to 20 fleas all over J's legs. My dad doesn't live in a flea pit (despite what I've written), he's just inherited a stray cat that they've called Nero and he brought along lodes of little friends with him. Unfortunately for J, dad never gets bitten (neither do I for that matter!) so didn't notice the scale of the problem before we arrived. J was already reserved about the idea of us having a cat, mostly because of the fear of fleas, but I think that trip really pushed him over the edge and in his mind, all animals have fleas permanently, and if we had a pet cat, it would mean he would be bitten every day for the rest of the cats life. I keep trying to assure him that this is not at the case at all. Last night I asked him how many flea bites he had when his family owned a dog, Tina. None that he can remember... so.. what's the problem? That surely shows that having a pet does not automatically mean that fleas will be present. But alas, no, I can't convince him.


The reason that this has come up, is because someone I know through work has 2 kittens.... they looks so beautiful, only 10 weeks old. Now, I firmly feel that if we had a cat, we should have 2 so that they would keep each other company since we're out at work all day, I know that would be pushing it, but one of them is a gorgeous orange & white one, she looks like she has the same markings as Mr Fish!  she looks so cute & I would love to adopt her. J still has major reservations... "what if she gets ill? what if she gets fleas? what if......." . I really want to own a cat, J knows I've wanted one for 3 years, and yet still, to no avail.


Don't get me wrong, I have tried to just get a kitten in the house, we owned one for all of 2 weeks, we called her cosmic. A friend had 4 15 week old kittens who needed a home, I told him the problem, and he suggested that we take her in, and if J doesn't like her at all, we could give her back. Well, the expected happened, but my friend wouldn't take her back! So, we offered her up free to a good home, and 2 weeks later she was adopted & taken to a home with other cats & some chickens! At that time, J's only reservation was that we had no outside space at the time. Even he was upset when she left. Now we have a garden, and yet, he still says he doesn't want us to have a cat. 


I don't think he understands how much it's upsettng me. I do feel very strongly that pets have a very calming effect on people & with the stresses of my job, I think I would really benefit from it. I miss having a little bundle of fur greeting you as soon as you get home, and I always feel that I should be doing something & I never relax, but when I have a cat to cuddle, I really am able to stop & take things easy. I'm just so down that he doesn't want us to have a lovely little kitten, I don't really know how else I could sell the idea to him. 3 years of talking about it and it's never happened, I think I've got to just accept that it'll never happen.


Still, every birthday & every Christmas I still half expect to get a meowing parcel