As I’m on a mini-break post-wedding, I thought I’d share a little bit of a silly post and introduce you to my fur baby, Brian Karnovski Bumstein Pastafazoola, or just Brian for short. She is an absolute spoilt little princess who went from a strong, independent, tortoise-shell kitty to a complete sook and a half. She completes our little family and we love her so very much.

Many years ago, my family owned a caravan park with many residents. Every now and again, people would dump kittens or cats on the park property as we think most have the attitude of “someone will take them in”. Sure enough, many kittens found homes and some were taken in by the family of residents. That’s how Brian appeared. She was a very friendly kitten who enjoyed a good pet but did not ever want to be picked up. I had always assumed she belonged to someone which is what many people must have also thought about her too. After my grandfather passed away, we closed the caravan park and residents slowly packed up and left. Brian was left behind.

We couldn’t leave her, there was just something very special about her. So my brother took her and she lived with him. We officially named her Brian after Brian Setzer, the lead singer of The Stray Cats (they also sang about a black and ginger cat so it seemed fitting). I know a lot of people struggle with calling our child who is female, a male name but we think it suits her, she seems to like it and it works in our odd little family. We found out that Brian was not microchipped but she was de-sexed. She lived with my brother whilst I lived in Dublin and upon my return, I moved in with them both and we all lived together.

Brian is an interesting little creature; we obviously don’t know what her upbringing was but we assume there is some sort of trauma. She panics when picked up or covered; even if I hold her for just a tad too long she can hiss and cry really loudly. We avoid picking her up and luckily, she is happy to appear when called assuming she is not fast asleep somewhere. Another trait we noticed is that she is deathly afraid of bubbles. Yes, bubbles. Whilst hanging out in the living room one day, I had a little tube of bubbles which I decided to blow, Brian took one look and bolted out the door and dove under the bed as if the devil had just appeared. We thought something had spooked her so a few days later, we blew bubbles again and we got the same reaction. No more bubbles in the house from then on. The last thing we noticed was that Brian was afraid of hairbrushes but only if they were in use. If I left my hairbrush on the bench or on a table, it wouldn’t bother her. As soon as I started brushing my hair, she would panic and run away.

We don’t want to stress Brian out so we make sure to not have bubbles in the house and brush our hair when she is not around (easier said than done because she can get a bit clingy). Brian is also afraid of thunder but there isn’t too much we can do about that. Since Brian has come into our lives, she has brought so much laughter and joy. She loves to play games, hunt ribbons, slide into fabric on the floor and chase either myself or my partner up and down the hall way. Sometimes she will get the zoomies and zip up and down the house and all over the couch with a crazy look in her eyes. It’s both cute and frightening.

Besides a good nap on the kitchen stools, Brian loves to nap on the outdoor table. It’s the only table she is allowed to be on so she takes full advantage of this and soaks up the sunshine. Years ago, she would spend her entire day outside but as she’s getting older, she just wants to be close to where the people are. If I move about the rooms in my house, she will change where she is outside so she can see me. Another favourite napping spot is inside her ‘hammock’. My father built a bit of shade cloth to stop the sun blaring into the tv room; Brian found a corner of that cloth and now sleeps in it when the weather is nice and the cloth has stretched to her shape and has an odd little droop in one specific area.

Brian is super friendly. We always need to warn new visitors incase they don’t like cats or are allergic as she will not leave them alone once they enter the house. When she is really happy, she will do the jumping cuddles where she will jump up and rub herself on your leg on the way down. She is also known to tap you with her paw if you have stopped paying attention to her. She always comes up for morning and evening cuddles when I am in bed; a good 15 minus on my chest with pets is all she wants before she goes for a morning nap as I get ready for the day, or she makes her way to the end of the bed or her Ikea box for night sleeps.

Said Ikea box is just a soft foldable storage box my mother gave me as I was sorting my clothes. It really doesn’t go with anything in the room and only holds my house clothes, pyjamas and things I don’t want to fold. Brian started sleeping on it as it’s against the window with good light, a bit of a breeze and close to the heater in winter. One day I decided to get rid of the box and spent a whole day emptying and sorting out the clothes inside, Brian came into the room, walked up to the box, stopped dead in her tracks, looked at me, then back at the box, then back at me and let out a loud cry. “We’ve been robbed!” she seemed to cry, she ran to me in a panic then back to the box, she was lost, confused and very upset. The box is now full of clothes again and she is currently napping on it most happily.

We don’t know how old Brian is as she sort of appeared one day but our vet thinks she is around 9 years old so she’s still our baby but she’s definitely getting a few more grey hairs here and there. I really love her random white whiskers, the tuff of white hair on her tail tip and her oddly coloured toe beans. I love how one half of her face is darker than the other and she has one ginger foot and the rest black and patchy. She may not be winning any beauty contests, but I think she is beautiful (such a proud mum I know).

Brian may be odd, have strange quirks and a complete sook; but we love her and she fits our family just perfectly. She knows when I’m not feeling well and won’t leave my side if my Endo flares up. She is always close by and gets upset when we leave the house for too long a time. We weren’t ready for a cat, but she was ready for us. I can’t imagine our home without her and she brings us so much joy. I love the noises she makes and her super fluffy tail; she’s a princess, a diva and a cuddle-saurus-rex. She even made it onto our wedding invites and menu cards because we couldn’t have our special day without her. I hope you enjoyed meeting my fur baby.

Note: This is not a sponsored post. All opinions and thoughts expressed are solely my own and not influenced in any way. There are no affiliate links and I do not benefit from any link clicks or purchases made.