I love how I have three cats with completely different personal boundaries.
Here's Boa. Most of the time, she's in the same room as you.
But you don't know that — until some shadow suddenly gains eyes. Until some shadow suddenly decides to move — and gives you a heart attack.
This is Boa — you have to approach her very carefully, and any contact starts very consciously, because she's scared of everything. She's a cat with trauma. But sometimes — you're both sitting on the couch — and you start petting her, slowly bringing your hand closer, giving her time — and a second later, she starts purring. And you know — yes, everything is okay.
Here's Nami. Nami just teleports half a meter away from you.
She has big round eyes, staring straight into your soul. Nami doesn't care about you. She's just here — and you can't move her, you can't push her. If you touch her — she'll get loudly upset and bite (gently)
She doesn't like being touched — she complains and growls — but she's still here.
She sleeps within arm's reach. But you can put your hand a centimeter away from her — and she'll start purring. And gentle touch. That's enough. Sometimes she decides you need to be grooming — and you can't do anything about it. Because if you try to move away — she'll use claws and teeth. So she just lick all my arm loudly purrrs.
And then there's Merry. Merry genuinely believes your personal space doesn't exist.
She just lies nearly to you. She just lies on you. She'll gently hit your hand — demanding pets. You can hug her like a stuffed bear — and she'll purr. She'll kick you off your pillow because she wants attention — and if she needs to lie on your face for you to notice her — she will lie on your face.
This is Merry. You can pick her up at any moment — and she'll start purring and melt like butter right in your arms — because she's happy.
This is Merry — and other cats' personal space doesn't exist for her either
Recently I witnessed Nami and Merry sleeping together in a little ball. But then Nami woke up — looked at Merry very confused — like 'who are you and why are you here?' She hissed — started gently hitting her with her paw. It was like: 'why are you sleeping here?! what are you doing in my bed?! wake up, wake up, wake up!'
Merry woke up. Merry made a chirp. Put her head more comfortably on Nami — and went back to sleep. Nami just complained loudly — sighed deeply — and lay back down to sleep.
When my cat Vesta passed away in 2024 after twenty years with me, I told my mom that for my birthday, I wanted a cat. I was grieving, but coming home to an empty house — with no one there — felt impossible.
Getting a kitten as a gift?
Why not.
I only had three conditions:
1. A girl.
2. A kitten (under three months).
3. Ginger.
I don't know why, but I just knew I wanted a ginger cat. I didn't care about breed or where she'd find one — honestly, I was expecting one of those mixed-breed kittens people give away for almost nothing.
Instead, a few days before my birthday, my mom texted that she was coming to see me. With my brother. And my new cat. (The breeders said she had to be picked up right away.)
As a preview, my mom sent me the first photo of my future cat.
It was her in a carrier. Already in the car.
Do you see this little one? Gorgeous. I remember screaming into my pillow after opening that photo.
I wasn't expecting a Scottish Fold, but... okay. She was perfect. She still is.
All I can say is — we matched perfectly in energy and personality. The grief inside me softened just a little.
Her birthday is December 1st.
Nami came to me in mid-January 2025. Such a tiny thing.
Why Nami?
Remember how I said I wanted a ginger cat? Of course, with the thought of having a ginger cat, I'd prepared a list of names. Ten of them. So when they asked me what I'd name her, I said — I don't know. My list probably won't work since she's not ginger. Hmm, I need to think.While I was thinking, my brother found the list on the table and started reading it out loud. At some point, he got to "Nami." And well. Two One Piece fans just... understood that maybe this was the name.
Now let me tell you about Nami.
She's incredibly independent.
She loves being about a meter away from me. Loves being everywhere she's not supposed to be.
She gets very vocal if you pick her up or move her. Yells at closed doors. Yells even louder if that door separates her from me. It took me a long time to teach her that I can leave the house for hours — otherwise she'd just... scream at the door. She's better now, especially after Merry and Boa arrived. But she still hates it when I go into the bathroom without her.
Nami loves to bite. It's her primary instinct — catching things with her mouth, hunting toys with her teeth. She taught Merry to bite as a sign of affection.
If you pet her, she doesn't purr. But she will purr while eating your hand. She'll lick it first, then you're allowed to pet.
She can go outside.
Loves walking on a harness. We often take the metro and car rides together — I trained her to be calm in her carrier, and she's incredibly relaxed in it. I even unzip it sometimes to pet her, and she just lies there, enjoying the attention.Very talkative. Loves chatting with me when I come home.She does zoomies around the house — fast, long, often.
She doesn't care if she has to run over me while I'm sleeping. She's teaching Merry to do the same. Boa is still too scared to show any aggressive behavior toward me.
Nami and the new girls.
She was 9 months old when Boa and Merry arrived.
Before that, Nami had already met other family cats (my brother's cat) and it went well — after a week of hissing, they became friends. But maybe that worked because Plush is a very slow, calm Persian cat. Very chill. Plus there were family dogs around.
Here, Merry was just learning to crawl, and Boa was trying to simultaneously understand her new home, protect her only baby, and realize that she was safe too.
At first, Nami hissed every time either of them came within sight or within two meters. Then she'd position herself so she could watch them from across the room. Ir they just be like this. With Merry in the middle and the invisible border
When Merry started walking, she immediately decided Nami was her favorite thing and would follow her everywhere. It was hilarious. Nami would try to hiss and gently push away this tiny gray fluffball with her paw, looking utterly confused, constantly glancing at me for help.
Probably two months passed before Nami stopped her warning hisses at them. She looked completely bewildered by Merry's existence. And finally — finally — she started playing gently with her.Before that, she just kept her distance and watched.Boa watched from afar.
(Nami supervising Merry discovering the world.)
I blinked, and suddenly the two girls were sleeping curled up together on my bed.
Yes, she's named after Boa Hancock from One Piece.
All three of my cats are named after One Piece characters. Oops.
(also it really hard do photos of her because she doesn't like it)
It's time to show you my cats!
I got Boa very unexpectedly. More accurately — I saved her.
From a distant relative. With a lot of drama attached. Oops.
Boa is the most gorgeous cat, and before the rescue, I'd only seen her once — when she was a kitten. That's the only reason I know she's barely three years old.
By my calculations, she would have turned three around New Year's 2026, but when I got her in September, she was most likely still two. I still decided when i need her birthday.
A little bit of a tragic backstory:
And her baby Merry
Her owner doesn't... feel things for animals. The classic mindset of someone from the countryside, a farmer's mentality. She always kept her dog chained up outside. I mean always.
Which I didn't know back then. She never considered dogs part of the family. So with the cat — Boa was only needed for catching mice. She didn't even have a name.i hive it to her, after rescue.
And okay, fine. Maybe that's... whatever.
BUT. She didn't spay her. (Which, in my country, is incredibly easy — a half-hour drive to the clinic and about $30.) But she thought it was better to just let the cat roam outside.
There was a tomcat nearby. A huge, giant gray cat that would attack this little one every time she went out. While I was there, I found out Boa had already been pregnant three times. When I arrived, she had just given birth to a litter of four.
The cat herself was barely three years old. Health guidelines say cats shouldn't have more than about eight litters in their entire lifetime. !! (15-20 years)
This was already incredibly stressful for her. At this rate, she'd be dead by five, her body completely worn out. (And I learned her previous cats didn't live long either.)
But you know what else this woman did? She drowned the kittens. Right after they were born.
I never knew this.
Any respect I had for this woman just... died the moment I realized. Any family feelings, any connection — gone. We wasn't close before like 5 times meet?
We were only visiting for a few days. And just days before we arrived, Boa had given birth. This woman drowned them all. All 6
Except for one tiny one. Who I think Boa managed to hide.
Meet Merry. (Yes, named after the ship.)
(here Merry after a week at my home)
That woman admitted she would have drowned her too — but simply didn't notice her. (She won't do it now, obviously — either out of shame with us around, or maybe she figured two cats are better since Boa won't last long at this rate.)
I couldn't just stand there and watch. You know those moments in life when you know you'll hate yourself if you just walk away? I knew. I couldn't leave things as they were.
That woman refused to give them to me. They weren't "cats" to her, and she decided what happened to them.
For the sake of other family members, I tried to be reasonable. I offered to take the kitten and pay for Boa's spaying. She refused.
I offered to help with spaying anyway. I offered to take both cats and return Boa after she was fixed. I tried to explain all the health risks. I tried so hard not to kill (this woman ) right there when she said with full confidence that drowning kittens wasn't wrong, that they'd been doing it for centuries. Honestly. I tried so hard.
Morals changen now people have another choice. They have another choice nad it on you doing this.
Also — the police would have been useless. It's the middle of nowhere. A village. And yes, that's always how it's been done there. Plus, proving anything would be nearly impossible, and it was a different region from where I live — the legal process would have been a nightmare. She can kill this animal and no one can say it was her pets.
So. After a massive argument on the day we were leaving, I broke into the house and stole both cats. (Literally broke into after she thinks we drive away and she go to shop we sitting in the car like hours)
Meet Mama Boa and baby Merry.
I can't say Nami was thrilled when I left for a week (the first time I'd been away from her for so long) and came back with two cats.
Here Boa and Marry in the of October
Now:
Boa is vaccinated. The vet examined her and said she needs to be spayed — but only after she's fully recovered and gained some weight. (That'll be January-March. I got Boa in September.)
I think Merry was born on September 15th.
Now they're both healthy and happy in my home.
Nami (my Scottish Fold, who was 9 months old in September) was hostile to Boa at first. But now, after all this time, they're actually quite sweet together. They still squabble often, and I constantly have to tell Nami to stop bullying her. Nami loves to corner Boa — under the bed, under a chair — and just sit a meter away, staring at her. Sometimes they just... stare at each other from half a meter away, completely tense.
I don't think Boa ever had positive interactions with other animals before. But slowly, she's coming out of her shell. And she really is as beautiful and graceful as her name suggests.
Here all 3 (it was a rare shoot) but New Year!
Name and Merry have a little fight while Boa looking
Merry, meanwhile, is the most affectionate, clingy cat I've ever known — and I've known a lot of cats.
(sleep in my bed)
Boa loves to be up high, in any kind of hiding spot. She's scared of loud noises, and some days she won't leave her little house — so I have to bring her food there. Sometimes she lies under the bed, and I can hear her purring loudly when i ready to sleep. Fells likes she purrs under my pillow.
She loves watching cars through the window.
Sometimes she and Merry have zoomies around the house — but Boa always gets scared when Nami joins in. Merry has to run with her mom first, then with Nami. I've also noticed Merry sleeps either with one cat or the other — there seems to be some kind of schedule.
Boa loves Merry so much.
(this is them yesterday in Boe's little home looking in the window)
So one night, I was taking pictures of my cat because she was sitting perfectly and the lighting around her was just right. They were some great shots.
And then she decided to yawn. I didn't even notice it while I was taking the photos, and I took about forty more after that. But then I looked at the photo shoot later.
And boom.
This strange, eldritch creature in my cat's body.
I laughed for a solid fifteen minutes when I saw it..
Like,here she is, an eldritch creature.
And then a second later, she's back to being a normal cat..
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