30 Cats

It all began when I gave my wife a gift of a kitten that someone had brought to my workplace seeking a home for it. Until that time we hadn't had any household pets and I had no idea what I was letting myself in for. I liked the little cat and the cats that came in its wake. I discovered that I prefer cats to dogs precisely because they are supposed to be less loyal and get less attached and always do what is good and pleasant for themselves and not what their owners expect of them.

When we began raising cats we lived in a sixth floor apartment. The cats were always in the flat. They didn't go anywhere and neither friends nor enemies came to them. But everything changed when we moved to a private home with open space and without as much as a fence. Our cats (in the meantime there were already two or three) began to wander around the house, the yard and beyond it and we found that it was more convenient to place their food on the porch. But before we realized what was happening, we found ourselves feeding five additional cats that had discovered the source of plenty and more and more cats appeared.

Today when I open the entrance door, two cats leap out and three cats creep in and that goes on all day long. Sometimes at night or early in the morning the cats complain and ask us to get up and open the door for them. They expect attention, especially the kittens. But exactly then they are the cutest, like the ginger cat in the picture. Every morning when I spread the newspaper on the table he jumps up and sits on it. Why? Because that is the focus of my attention – and that he wants for himself.