The story of how we adopted Chewie.

I love my pets like I love a human, it's just the way I am! My pets are a huge part of my life and bring joy to me every single day. Whether it be by getting a cuddle from my cats or hearing my birds whistle good morning. It seemed only right that I started sharing the stories of my beautiful pets with you and I decided to start with my eldest cat Chewie.

Chewie got out a couple of nights ago and we couldn't find him. We left food, water, called his name and still he didn't come. It was a very distressing 36 hours but finally at 5am in the morning I heard his cries and instantly burst into tears! I know, cats are meant to be outside some people say to me. But John and I decided when we got him that he would be an inside cat so we would know he was safe, and so that our birds and other animals would be safe too.

My boyfriend John and I adopted Chewie on the 12th April in 2011 from the Animal Welfare League. We both naturally chose to adopt after growing up with pets of all kinds from cats, dogs, fish, birds and snakes (he was the snakes.. ick!). I made a conscience decision when I was in high school that I would never buy from a commercial pet store after finding out about the horrible ways the animals are brought up. With that being said I ended up purchasing one of our three birds, Birdie, from our local shopping centres pet store.

I was walking past the store when I heard an awfully sad cry coming from inside so I went inside and that's where I found Birdie. He was walking around the bottom of his cage crying. And I mean crying. It took all I had to walk to my car before bursting into tears and calling my mum saying I HAD to buy this beautiful bird and give it a good home. So I walked back inside, bought him and took him home with me. That was a horrible experience for me, and even though he is the happiest bird now, that I avoid pet stores as much as possible.

It was such a hard choice choosing between literally 10's of kittens all fighting for your affection. It would be the first time John would be owning a cat so I decided to give John the reigns to choose the kitten he felt a connection with and that's where we found chewie. Chewie hated me. He was sooo playful and he only wanted to play with John. I'm happy to say that once we took him home he softened up to me and now is quite the mumma's boy!

I chose a collection of my favourite photos, in no particular order. See if you can choose which ones are from when he was a lil' bub!

Happy Monday Everyone!

♥ Katie Lou