I can't hold it in any longer

[NotSuchASmugMarriedNow]

Brought a kitten 2 months ago and can't believe how much we all love him!

It took me by surprise a bit because neither me nor the kids have ever had a pet of any type before (ex didn't like them).

Is it normal to feel like this

Also, how do I stop the bugger from climbing on the kitchen surfaces?

It's normal. Pets are family and your babies. Why would you not all love them? I love my dogs and cats more than my brothers and sisters

Tell me about it! Our two are treated like little princes and we are all besotted, even dh.

They are 1 and 2 yrs old now so the novelty doesn't wear off, if anything we're worse about them. We loved having one cat so much that's when we got the second kitten a year later.

I am a bit ambilvilent about ours now TBH. I do like them, but don't like the shite and hair and not having anyone to feed them if we decide to go away.
They are fun but costly and tieing if that make sense. I don't think I'd be without them, but I don't love them as much as I loved my other cats.

It is normal to feel like this

As for kitchen surfaces, all I've managed to do is train him not to go on them if there's any chance of us catching him

Yes, it's normal :o. When I first started dating DH he hated cats, cats were the evil spawn of the devil, and I had a cat. Cat completely won him over.

Re the kitchen - one of mine jumps up when he's hungry. I chase him off, he jumps back on. Eventually I feed him to stop him jumping up, thus rewarding the jumping up. So he keeps doing it, and I keep feeding him because it's the only way to stop him doing it. It will never be resolved.

All three of us are quite loopy about our cats. I'm not sure if DH is more besotted with them than I am, or if it's just more unexpected with him (he's a dog person really). DD is probably the most rational of us when it comes to them.

Work surfaces - only one of ours jumps on them (when we're watching anyway) and he now NEVER jumps on the surface I'm using. This is the result of me REPEATEDLY clamping him under my armpit and returning him to the floor when he jumped up AGAIN AND AGAIN while I was making sandwiches. He now knows that getting on the surface I'm using will result in armpit and floor. Instead, he jumps on the one behind me and attempts to use the power of his mind to make me give him ham.

Completely normal. My Dad, who spent the entire 5 years of his life calling Mango a Flea-ridden Shitbag, sobbed when we buried him and set aside a special part of their garden for the grave, then lugged a stone bird bath over the top as a memorial

DP, who "doesn't agree with animals living in houses" when he first moved in, was also very upset - and worries about Millie when we go away because she doesn't like being left

I'm just besotted with my animals (currently house cat and house rabbit)

I too am totally in love with my kitties (now two grown up cats over a year old). I adore them and can watch them for hours. Have to watch myself in conversation or I just witter on about them all the time. Getting a head butt or nose kiss from one of them makes my day.

Ummmmm work surfaces. I just wipe them down with kitchen spray before use. My mum is horrified