Is a blog really a blog if you only update it once a year? Anyway for my annual site update, I'm doing a more personal post about my awesome cat River.

River was born on June 5, 2013. Her mom was a stray found on the street, and fostered by a kind woman named Wendy. After taking her in, she discovered the cat was pregnant and soon gave birth to 3 kittens, all female. Right around that time, I decided on a whim that I wanted a pet cat to keep me company. I had been living in my own place since 2006, and while I'm an extremely independent person, we all get a little lonely sometimes. I've always been fond of furry animals, but was never allowed to have one as a kid, so I didn't know the first thing about how to care for one. Luckily the internet exists now, and a cat sounded like the perfect balance of a fun and low maintenance pet. I scoured craigslist for a few days, and eventually came across a listing with 3 adorable gray tabby kittens. There were two left when I went to meet them, one was very hyper, the other very chill. I chose the hyper one, and took this picture with her.

River is named after River Tam, a character from the greatest TV show of all time, Firefly. The character in the show is extremely graceful and agile, but also capable of killing just about anything with ease, which is exactly what I think of when I think of cats. As a kitten, River was extremely sweet and cuddly. Her favorite place to sleep was a human lap, and she purred very loudly.

As she grew up, she became more independent, but still seems to gravitate toward people. She follows you to whatever room you are in and sits close by. Some other random factoids: She likes to play fight, often times too aggressively, which has resulted in a lot of damage to my arms and legs. She's never been picky about food or litter. I did notice when switching to higher quality food, her fur became drastically softer. I feed her 1/4 cup of Wellness dry food, and 1/2 can (2.75 oz) of Trader Joe's canned food per day, and her weight is stable at 11 pounds. Her favorite human food is bread/bagels. She will only drink water out of a regular cup instead of a bowl.

River just turned two years old recently, and overall it's been a great two years. She's by far the most fun and loving pet I've ever had (compared to a hamster and parakeets). I've been suprised at how easy it is to take care of her. You just refill food and water, scoop the litter box, and they really just take care of themselves. I highly recommend if you're looking for an easy pet. Cats are awesome!