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I was born about 6 months ago. My Mamakitty and I lived with two humans in a pretty small place (they called it an apartment). Mamakitty told me that she had been living outside until the lady that lives here found her and took her in. The lady didn't know it at the time, but I was inside Mamakitty then. There was also a dog that lived with us.
Anyway, after I was born, the lady and man started talking about the apartment being too small and going to a larger place. I thought it would be great to have more room to play! But the lady and man said they didn't want to take any cats to their new place. Then one day, some people came to visit and took Mamakitty with them. I never saw her again. Then some other people came and looked at me, but they didn't want to take me with them.
Finally, the man said he was taking me to a shelter if somebody didn't take me by Christmas week. Nobody did and he took me to the "shelter" . What an AWFUL place! Lots of other cats and we were all in little cages. We were all scared and cried LOTS. There were nice people who fed and watered us every day, but I had never been closed up like that before. Cats aren't supposed to be closed up like that, are they? How can we properly explore the area if we're locked up? I was REALLY scared then and cried and cried.
Anyway, there were lots of people coming in every day and looking in the cages. Sometimes one of the people at the shelter would take one of the kitties out and take it away. Sometimes it would come back, but other times it didn't. I didn't know where they went. An old cat in the next cage told me they were getting "adopted" or "put down". He said that adopted was like when the people took Mamakitty away. He had been adopted twice and said sometimes it was OK but sometimes it was bad. He said that being put down was like going to sleep FOREVER. I don't want to sleep that long. I'm still a kid and have lots of kitty fun left in me. Besides, I wasn't sleepy at all!
The shelter people were all talking about Christmas day and how happy they were. Well, on Christmas day, all the humans must have been really happy and too busy for kitties. We just saw one human all day who put down more food and water.
The next day there were lots of people again. Kitties coming out of cages, kitties going back into cages. No matter how much I cried, nobody looked at me more than a few seconds. I got so scared I hid under the newspaper in the cage so maybe they wouldn't put me down too.
Then one lady and man stopped at my cage and were talking. They stayed longer than the other people had, so I looked out from under the paper. The lady said "She's precious!" and was talking to me. Next thing I knew, one of the shelter people took me out of the cage and handed me to the lady in a little room. To me that was just a bigger cage and I was SCARED even more. The lady hugged me up and petted me. That was so NICE! I tried to make the lady like me by purring as loud as I could. She and the man took turns holding me and I purred my best for both of them. But the one of the shelter people took me back to my cage anyway. WAIT, LADY! I can be cuter! Come Back! Don't leave yet!
In a little while, one of the shelter people came back with the Nice Lady and put a different collar on me. Am I getting adopted?! But no, the Nice Lady and the man went away. Nobody else even looked at me that day or the next.
Two days later, one of the shelter people took me out of the cage and took me to another room. He said something about being spayed (what?). Anyway, that scared me even more. Then they put a thing in my face and it had a funny smell. I got really sleepy then and couldn't stay awake. When I woke up, my tummy felt funny and hurt, but not too bad. The shelter people came several times and looked at me. They were real interested in my tummy, but then it was back to the cage again.
The next day, Nice Lady and the man came back and got me. They put me in a little plastic box with a door like a cage and took me away. The box had a furry mat and some toys in it. I was so scared I hid under the mat and cried. Nice Lady talked and talked to me but I was too scared to come out. When we stopped, Nice Lady took the plastic box out and took it to the kitchen and set it on the floor. Wait! This box is too small for me to live in --- and there's no litterbox! Next thing I knew, there's a bigger cat looking in the box at me. I think he likes me but I don't know about him. He said his name is Smokey. Uh-oh.There's also a little Darned Old Grump ( DOG, for short). I don't think she likes me much. She came up to the plastic box and sniffed and sniffed then growled a little and went away.
Then Nice Lady opened the door to the plastic box but I was too scared to come out at first. But then she put down some food and water right in front of the box. WOW! The GOOD STUFF! The DOG came over and wanted some of the food, but Nice Lady wouldn't let her have any of it and took her somewhere else. Then Smokey came and sniffed some more but Nice Lady wouldn't let him have any either. She put his own food down for him and he went to it (but mine's yummier!).
After I ate, Nice Lady took me downstairs and showed me a litterbox ('bout time!). There was LOTS of stuff downstairs. After I got done in the litterbox, I roamed around downstairs. Nice Lady and the man weren't watching close enough, so I found a long dark closet and hid in there for a nap. I heard them call and call for me but I was too sleepy and scared to come out. The man stayed down there and played with a toy on his table (he calls it a computer). Smokey came down and looked for me and called me too, but I didn't know him enough yet to come out. Later, I thought everybody had gone away so I came out to the edge of the closet. I mewed a little bit and the man found me and took me upstairs to the Nice Lady. She held me and petted me and talked to me. That was so-o-o good! Nobody had done that in a long time. She said my name is Mistletoe, 'cause I was a Christmas present from the man but they were going to call me Missy.
When I got down, Smokey came over and talked to me for a little while. I guess he's OK now. At least he wants to kitty-play, but he's bigger than I am so I'm not ready to go THAT far yet. Later, the DOG came over and sniffed me and told me her name is Scooter. Next thing I knew, she had given me a little lick (Eek - dog slurp! Had to give myself a bath right then!).
That night when everybody went to bed, Smokey and Scooter jumped right up on the bed with the Nice Lady and the man, but I wasn't ready just yet. I curled up under the bed and went to sleep.
This might be a good place to be after all. And Nice Lady is too long for a name --- think I'll just call her Mom!
Editor's note: 
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