u/garlicandcheesiness

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Long and slightly insane rambling: feel free to ignore it and skip to the last two paragraphs wherein I’m actually seeking inputs from CFI pet parents.

I’m new to the pet parent life. Got my li’l kitten home less than 3 weeks ago. She’s my first ever pet (although I’ve temporarily housed injured stray animals in the past), and I’m joyous, excited, full of love, but also scared, overwhelmed, tired, concerned, etc.

Only about 1 out of 4-6 kittens survives the wild, and I can’t imagine a world without my little one in it anymore. I genuinely believe that she and I chose each other. There was a string of events that almost didn’t happen, including a relocation from my end that was about to be canceled, and an escape attempt from her end which failed thanks to a kind and surprisingly fast-running stranger on the road just the day before adoption. (The story is too long for this post.)

I have zero moments of regrets, even when she’s being at her naughtiest. Yet, she somehow made me even more CF than I was before..? Idk if that makes any amount of sense. I love her, of course I do. She’s my heart and soul. But you know what I love the most about her? Her smallness? Nope. Her softness? Nope. Her pretty little eyes? Nope. The little uneven patch of fur around her eye that caused her to become very unique looking and made me choose her purely on the basis of her pretty privilege? Nope. The way she, after her initial misgivings about her new human mom, loves and trusts me so much? Well, that one’s a close second.

The thing that I love the most about her is that she’s not a human child. I’ve always thought of the concept of sharing as BS. As an adult, you don’t share your wealth, as a student, you don’t share your marks, as a spouse/partner, you don’t share your spouse/partner with anyone else. Idk why people teach kids to share their toys/books etc. I’m glad I won’t have to inculcate the “value” of sharing, a concept that I myself don’t believe in. I won’t share her with anyone else, and she won’t share me with anyone else. (At least not until she’s an older kitty who needs a feline companion to boost her activity levels.)

I grew up in a household wherein I owned NOTHING. Everything was either shared or a hand-me-down from my sisters. Growing up in a broke-af family as an unwanted child, and being forced to live in a 1BHK with 6 other family members (7 of us total), I was DONE with sharing at a single digit age. I hate the fact that something’s not entirely mine. I’m glad I don’t have to share my kitten with anyone.

In addition to that, I’m glad that my kitten will never grow up to be a dictator, a terrorist, a billionaire who hoards wealth at the expense of everyone around him, a rapist, an abuser or any kind of criminal. I’m glad that I got her in my lap without going through pregnancy or labor (although I’m eternally grateful to her biological mommy for birthing her, and her previous human mommy for keeping her healthy and happy until I was ready to bring her home) or postpartum depression or breastfeeding or whatever. I grew up with an eating disorder due to my abusive upbringing. It took my YEARS to rebuild my relationship with food even after I left that household, and I still struggle with it and tend to regress during stressful situations, especially when my parents visit me. I feel like if I had had a baby through a pregnancy, I would have resented it for all the damage that it did to my body after I spent years trying to bring my body to a state of normalcy and healing from the trauma. I’m glad that she was brought into my home by my choice and no one else’s, with no pain, and with no uncontrolled hormonal nonsense.

I love the fact that she will always be treated like a princess, and a huntress, as is her natural instinct. And that she will never be forced into corporate slavery or bullying from schoolmates (or even teachers because this is India). She will never deal with heartbreak or job stress. Any home that I’m in, will be hers as much as it is mine. There’ll be no passive aggressive “Get out of my house”, or “I hate you, mom”, or “When I die you’ll understand my value”, or “We just wanted to abort you, but chose not to. So you better be grateful to us”, or for that matter, even “Sharmaji’s cat did this, why can’t you do it?” nonsense in this household. Coming home and seeing my baby at the end of the day has already become the best part of my day, as opposed to dreading it. That’s an unnerving feeling. We will live a beautiful life full of love and joy together. We’ll just be two goofy gals, feeling purely blessed just to be in each other’s presence. If that makes me a lonely and crazy cat lady, I own that title and would wear it like a badge of honor.

Anyway, this is where y’all come in. I want to read about your pets. Any anecdotes. Good/bad/ugly/funny/random. Maybe just a bunch of paragraphs gushing about them like mine. Or anything you love about them. Maybe a picture or two of theirs so we can all gush over them together would be a bonus. Your comment need not be relevant to your CF beliefs. Although I’d be low-key overjoyed if I found someone else whose pet parenting life solidified their CF stances, it’s not a compulsion. I don’t mind if it’s a cat, dog, bird, fish, or anything else. I don’t even mind if your anecdote is low-effort like “My pet blinked cutely today.” As long as you’re raising them, and they’re not a human, I want to read about it.

PS: I just request the childfree+pet-free people to refrain from commenting. I understand and respect your reasons to be pet-free, and by no means am I suggesting or promoting pet parenting for anyone else (I fully get that pets are not for everyone), but this isn’t the space to yuck someone else’s yum. Thank you!

While we’re at it, I’d also like to know people’s opinions as to who the most consistently written character(s) is/are. I think it’s Emily and Paris! ❤️

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I’m 6 weeks binge free. And really trying to modify my food habits. But, I’ve struggled with BED for almost 3 straight decades now. Even as I type this, I feel like my relapse is just around the corner.

So, as a part of this habit modification, I’m trying to space my snacking/meals. Not some extreme spacing to the point of restriction, but a 4-6 hour gap between snacks/meals, and no takeout. Only home cooked stuff, even snacks.

Right now, I’m at approx T-1 hour. My last meal was around 1 PM. It’s been almost 3 hours. I had a perfectly full and wholesome meal. Egg protein, 3 different types of green veggies, fruit, rice, condiments etc. All the good stuff, so to speak. But it feels like I’m dyingggggggg. (Spoiler alert: No, I’m not actually dying. Having a 4 hour gap between meals is perfectly normal, BED or otherwise.) I know it’s a boredom thing. I’m just bored. I associate boredom with hunger. And I feel like I won’t be able to hold off anymore.

As a result, I try to distract myself. Open instagram. There’s the ad for some Mac and cheese thing with a kid licking her lips (m&c is one of my biggest poisons). Then some recipe from someone who’s got “cheat day” in her username. Then the reel from Malcolm In The Middle in which the guy is sneaking sugar into his pregnant wife’s food because he likes to see her gaining weight and becoming “bigger”. I’m annoyed and disgusted. I used to laugh at that sitcom as a kid. But now I just hate seeing that reel. I’d legit have divorced my spouse over it if that had happened.

It’s just everywhere. I close Instagram in frustration, then open a book. There’s a dinner scene. They’re describing the stuff at the dinner table in excruciating detail. I try to go out for a walk, clear my head. The street is lined with people selling all kinds of cheesy and savory foods, and fast food restaurants in almost every single block.

There’s no escape. No way but to ignore the distractions somehow and power through it until my next meal/snack. 6 weeks in, I feel so good. I hadn’t been 6 weeks in since over a year! But 6 weeks of modifying my eating habits are nothing compared to the 30 odd years that I’ve spent screwing them up. I wish I could tell 7 year old me to go out to play or stay in and play instead of using food as an emotional regulator. 😞

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It’s a Toyota Corolla, I’ve had it for over 6 years, I was the first owner. (Location: California)

Dealership or KBB or CarMax or Carvana or what would people recommend?