HappyPurr.com
An online resource providing advice written by professional veterinarians and insights by real cat owners.
The Bosses
Mocha
Mocha is a Siamese (or at least part Siamese) cat than came to us one night as a kitten. She was crying outside our house. We eventually took her in, and she is the most active member of our cat family. She is the most loving, affectionate, and vocal of our cats. However, she also has a temper and can have mood swings if she doesn’t get her way. She is very protective and is like a little attack dog!
Update: Mocha had some issues with one of her eyes. She eventually had to have an eye removed, but she has been adjusting really well and is still very active!
Gypsy
Gypsy came to us as a kitten too. She was crying outside of our home together with Mocha. Gypsy is the by far the quietest. She can meow loudly, but even when she does, she sounds like a kitten! She is very, very shy, and will run away from strangers. But she is very smart, and can even outsmart our other cats.
Update: Gypsy had severe kidney issues to deal with. She was a fighter, but unfortunately, she lost her battle and left us this year 🙁
Charlie
Charlie came to us when his past owners moved away and left him behind.
He is one of the most chill cats I have ever met. He is super friendly and will even go up to strangers, but can spring into action when needed. He is always hanging around the house, always watching for anything suspicious.
Beau
Beau is an adorable and calm cat. But just like Gypsy, he is timid. He is always running around outside but will quickly come into the house when he’s alarmed. He likes being on his own more than our other cats but has tons of chasing bugs wherever he can find them.
Pee-Wee
Pee-Wee came to us as another stray recently. He is getting to be the biggest cat in our family, and it try to establish his dominance. However, he is just as laid back as Charlie, and is a really loving cat. He has really gravitated to Maxi, and they are always playing, sleeping, and comforting one another.
Maxi
Maxi is the youngest addition to our family. He is also very mellow and laid-back. Since he’s so young, he can be found chasing running around the house, chasing bugs, and jumping all over the place. He also loves to take walks and follows you wherever you go.
Mochi
Mochi, which means “rice cake” in Japanese, definitely looks the part. Mochi is actually nee of our neighbors’s cats, but we took him in because the wife (the cat-lover) moved and couldn’t bring the cats. He was kind of left them to fend for himself. So usually is at our house for mealtime and to play with our other cats. Mochi is a beautiful, white cat and is VERY vocal. She will not hesitate to meow to get your attention for anything. She is also very affectionate and loves to be pet on her head.
My Story: The Beginning
When I was in elementary school, I wanted a pet more than anything (like many other kids). After weeks (probably months) of endless nagging to my parents, they finally agreed to get me a pet. I couldn’t understand why my parents didn’t want any animals around the house, because they are both animal lovers and had many pets growing up.
Truth be told, I wanted to get a dog, but my mom being the cat-lover, insisted that we get a cat instead. I was just happy to have any pet be a part of our family, so I happily agreed.
We went down to the local shelter and was blessed to find the most adorable yellow kitten who stood out immediately. He was calm and quiet, but very friendly and absolutely adorable.
Our decision was easy. We knew right then and there that we found the perfect cat to be a part of our family. We called him “T” and we instantly fell in love with him.
I know everyone says this about their own cat, but he truly was the best cat in the world. Even my friends who hated cats (forgive them, they don’t know better!) loved my cat. He was just so friendly to everyone. Wherever you would go, he would run along behind and keep you company.
I would love to come home and see him run to greet me. He would rub against my legs and happily purr as I played with him. As you can guess, that is why I named this site, “Happy Purr.”
As any cat-lover will tell you, just hearing your furry pal purring makes your day much better.
Saying Goodbye
I never understood the saying, “all good things must come to an end” until the day I had to say goodbye to T. I hated that saying then, and I still hate it now.
We had nine incredible years together before he left us. Saying goodbye to T was devastating. So much so that we didn’t want to get another pet after that….and we didn’t.
Saying Hello
Fast forward to a few years ago. It had been almost 15 years since T had passed away. I heard the faint sound of cats meowing outside of my house. I checked my security cameras and saw tiny kittens sitting in front of my house.
It looked like they were abandoned or something happened to their mother, and they had nowhere else to go. So, I went to my refrigerator and grabbed some cold cuts to feed them.
It took a while, but eventually, they got used to me and happily accepted the food. They must have been famished because they gobbled up all the leftovers I had in seconds!
Two of the kittens kept coming back every day, and I kept giving them food and water. It took some time, but I eventually gained their trusted and could pet and play with them. After a few weeks, the cats just decided to call our place home. And just like that, we had two cats become a part of our family. We named them Mocha and Gypsy, and you might have already met up them in the biography above. 😊
Saying Hello..Again?
The story doesn’t end there. A few years after Mocha and Gypsy became a part of our family, another cat named Charlie came to join us. He was the cat of one of our neighbors. They neighbors moved, but they didn’t bring Charlie with them. I guess cats attract other cats, so Charlie found his way over to our place, and we just took him in as well.
Then, a year or two later, we found another small kitten crying on our doorstep. He was very shy but very loving, and we named him Beau.
Can you guess what happened next? I have a feeling you can!
A few years after Beau, two more cats decided to move in with us!
Mochi and Katsu were the cats of one of our neighbors. To be more precise, they were the pets of a wife who lived near us. Her husband doesn’t like cats, so after she started living in another apartment, the cats were kind of on their own. And just like Charlie, they found their way over to our place.
And you know what else happened? We now have more stray cats coming to our place to join this cat family!
I’m not sure how many more cats we can take because the spay and neutering fees alone set us back. But the joy our cats bring us makes it so worth it.
My family also feeds a few abandoned cats around town. These cats were already spayed or neutered and were from loving homes but were abandoned by their owners. Since they are already spayed or neutered and are older cats, the Humane Society can’t do much more for them. So we visit them daily to feed them and make sure they are okay.
It’s crazy to think that we went from having no pets to having so many cats join our family within a few years!
Why I Started This Blog
As our family of cats grew, I searched the internet to find answers to all of the questions I had. “Can my cats eat vegetables?” “Is milk good for cats? Or is it bad?” “What is the best food to give my cats?” “Is my cat sick? What should I do?”
I had tons of questions that I wanted to find REAL answers for. There are so many websites out there about cats, but I quickly noticed something… Almost none of them were written by professional veterinarians or at least people with a degree in animal science. In fact, it seems that many of these websites were created by people who didn’t even own a cat before!
I realized this when I got real advice from my friends, who are actual veterinarians. The information they gave me was different from what I read online.
Also, having so many cats in our lives, we have had a LOT of experience trying out different products and listening to advice from different veterinarians. I hope that our experiences can provide you with insights to make your cute, furry friend the happiest member of your family.
So I decided to create this site: An online resource that provides helpful advice by professional veterinarians and insights by REAL cat owners.
My goal is to provide you with the best and most helpful resources and information to give your cats the love and happiness they deserve.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to contact me at any time. Until then, I hope your life is filled with lots of Happy Purrs!