Pepperoni & Pesto appreciation

No, it’s not the pepperoni and pesto you may be thinking of. Though, I like those a lot, too! I’m talking about my cats that my husband and I have had now for about 2 1/2 years.

Let me set the scene. Picture two fluffy furballs, each with striking green eyes. Our dear Pesto is mostly grey with a white belly, chest, feet and the cutest dollop of white on her nose. The bathtub is her happy place, and she loves making biscuits (kneading) and laying on our chest at night while she purrs up a storm until she decides to move to the foot of the bed.

Pepperoni sports the cutest saucer eyes you’ve ever seen, and is pitch black and pear-shaped. Some of her favorite pastimes include sitting on her behind like a person, playing fetch with hair ties and burrowing into cubbies and open drawers. She is a morning bird, and loves to follow me around every morning as I get ready.

I could go on and on, but beyond being our treasured little companions, they’re special to us because they are the first pets we’ve taken care of all on our own. When we first moved into our own place together, they followed soon after and have since become a significant part of our lives.

Ever heard of the cat distribution system (CDS)? It originated from a meme, but now is an increasingly popular way to refer to the concept many people have experienced of cats just kind of showing up in their life unexpectedly. A happy accident, as Bob Ross would say.

That’s pretty much how it shook out with our cats. We hadn’t been at our new place long at all, but knew we wanted to get cats eventually once we were a bit more established, but the CDS had different plans.

It all began at a routine haircut appointment, chatting with my go-to hairdresser. She told me about a pregnant stray cat she had been taking care of who had kittens at her place and she was trying to find homes for them.

I empathized because I remember being in the same situation years back when I lived with my parents. Some of the kittens my parents ended up keeping, but we knew we couldn’t keep them all, so I remember how relieved and thankful I was when friends stepped up and we were able to find good homes for three of them.

Wanting to return the favor, my husband and I agreed to adopt two of the kittens and were excited to do so. Though, little did we know we had a huge hurdle coming our way.

Sometime before we were scheduled to see them, our hairdresser began noticing they were developing bald spots that seemed to be spreading. When we met up to see the kittens and pick which ones we would adopt, my heart sank as I discovered all of them had ringworm, a couple of them especially had probably the worst case of ringworm I’ve seen with my own eyes.

Ringworm is a fungal infection of the skin. It’s not a dangerous condition really, but it’s easily spread and results in annoying, itchy rashes that cause temporary hair loss and keep growing if not treated.

I remember thinking this is going to be a challenge, and it was, but we didn’t let that deter us. Black cats are notoriously one of the least adopted, and cats with disabilities and health issues are as well, so we knew we would take Pepperoni being that she had the deformed paw and also a hernia on her belly.

Pesto had probably the worst ringworm of the ones we saw. I still remember my shock seeing that the whole top of her head was bald from the rash, so she came along as well.

The following months were hard, but definitely worth it. We had to be very careful of where they went, couldn’t handle them nearly as much as we wanted to and did a lot of extra cleaning.

Still, despite our efforts, Eric and I ended up getting ringworm as well, but we were quick to take care of it and, eventually, the ringworm, the bane of our existence for many months, was gone for good.

So our pick of the litter was probably different than what most would be, but we have no regrets. All the love we put in, we got back in bunches.

They developed quite the personalities along the way, and what used to be bald spots is now replaced with the most beautiful, luscious, long hair. They’re now healthy, happy and living their best cat lives.

We do a lot for our pets, but I think they do a lot for us also in all the happiness and companionship they bring to our lives. So if you haven’t already, give your four-legged friends some extra scritches and pets today, and remember to look out for the underdogs. From my experience, they can be some of the sweetest of all.