I can't imagine living without them

I've never thought of myself as a cat person until one day my sister called me to tell me about this one skinny gray cat with an injured eye. I knew nothing about cats and how to take care of them. Neither did she. Even so, we decided to rescue her and give her a forever home.

It was a rocky first week with her being scared and in and out of the vet trying to figure out what happened with her eye and trying to treat it.

We named her Danka and it's her in the picture above. She has been in our lives for almost six years. She was around 6 months old when we found her, so technically, she'll turn seven this year. The vet told us that she is a mix of Russian blue and main coon breed, which means very stubborn, talkative and smart.

You can have long conversations with her, you say something, she replies back. Danka responds when she hears her name or nicknames. We even managed to teach her few commands.

Her health is not the best and it was devastating to learn that she has adenocarcinoma. Her eye wasn't injured, it was a growing tumor. Three years ago she had to have surgery to remove her eye, it was hurting her so badly she couldn't even play anymore. Even though it was tough learning that and waiting for our vet to call us and say that the surgery went well, I'm so glad we did it because she's a happy and playful cat now.

Oh, one more thing about our cats, they all have human names.

A year after rescuing Danka a tiny black and white kitten, of around two months, has followed my sister on her way home. She didn't have hart to just leave her outside. We named her Milena. Just look at that goofball.

Danka wasn't really happy when she saw a kitten we brought, but she got used to her very quickly. We were so relieved because now Danka had company and it was a bit easier to leave her alone during the day.

Unlike Danka, Milena is not really into letting us pet her unless she decides that it is time for cuddling. This usually happens when you are busy doing something else, like cooking, but since you are the chose one you must leave everything you are doing and cuddle with her.

Fast forward two years and we found four tiny kittens, barely three weeks old, hungry and dehydrated. Of course, we took them home. Taking care of them was the hardest and most rewarding thing we ever did. Our vet warned us that maybe not all four will survive since they are so little and god know how long were without food and water and mothers warmth. But we didn't give up.

I'm happy to say that all four survived and found their forever homes. One stayed with us. She was the only kitten Danka and Milena wanted to play with, and cuddle with. Her name is Žika/Žiži.

Žiži is so used to us that sometimes she behaves like a real human, especially when she sleeps. She's the most cuddly one and really attached to us. After all, we are her "pawerents".

We were convinced that no more cats will find their way into our home, since we were exhausted taking care of the three of them. But, faith proved us wrong once more. My nephew found another lonely and starving kitten and brought it home.

Grown-ups agreed to foster him until a forever home is found. We looked for a home for almost a month and other than "he is so cute" no one wanted to adopt him. We were crushed. That would be four cats in our apartment, it's a lot. On the other hand, we couldn't just throw him outside again. Now we have four cats, three girls and one boy, Vlajko. He was around two months old at the time.

Žiži and Vlajko are a team. They are similar in age, not even a year between them. Žiži acted like a mom with him, she even started lactating and feeding him. He's a real momma's boy.

That's how we ended up with four cats and no matter how hard it gets sometimes, I can't imagine a life without them.

The eighth cat we rescued is now with one of our friends. She was found on a parking lot in a busy street. We took her in temporarily until a friend found her a forever home. And just like Vlajko, no one wanted to adopt her. She ended up staying with my friend with a company of a dog, also rescued.

Hope you enjoyed this "short" story about how we rescued our cats.