I don't know why I chose Rocky.

by Derek Garvin
(North Dakota)

My dad took me to the shelter to choose a full grown cat. It was a dog that I had pleaded and pleaded for, but was told that I was not responsible enough to care for it.

Finally my parents agreed that I could have a cat. Somebody said not to get a kitten or a cat from a store, they said that there were hundreds of good cats in shelters and if nobody adopted them they get put to sleep. At first I was not so sure of this, did I want a cat that had been somebody else's?

My parents were sold on the idea so that was that. Well there were lots of cats at the shelter and it was up to me to pick one out. I got it in my head that I wanted a boy cat, I guess that it was some macho thing, thinking that a girl cat would be soft.

A lady from the shelter walked around with us, she open the cage of a cat I took interest in and if the cat allowed, I could hold it.

Rocky was the third cat that I held and I chose him. I don't know why. Don't get me wrong, I'm really glad I chose him, he is a super pet. He is a big cat and that may have had something to do with it, but he didn't act much different to the other two. But I did not want to look at any more cats I wanted him.

He is my almost black cat. He has a white diamond in the middle of his head, it looks cool.

I have great photo of him on my cell phone but I have lost the cable to upload it to my PC. When I can I will send in a pic. I don't know why I chose him but I'm glad that it was Rocky that I picked.