Written by ©Sam.

Crystal & Dreamie are sisters and they came to live with us in September 2001. I wasn't intending on getting anymore cats, although I love cats and want a house full of them! But my mum had recently taken in a stray kitten (Molly) and she wanted a friend for Molly so she went to the rescue centre and she fell in love with Ragnar - who happened to be sharing his cage with these two tiny kittens, Crytal & Dreamie.

These two little kittens had had a very bad start. They were rescued from a flat that had been set of fire with them in it. They were the only two who survived. And thankfully someone took them to the rescue shelter. My mum could not pick up Ragnar that day and asked would I go back the next day to pick him up. She told me about these two little kittens and my heart broke! I never expected I would be taking them home the next day.

When we arrived at the shelter I obviously saw these little kittens and they were so tiny and clingy! I asked my boyfriend could I have them (we lived with his mum at the time so had to get the ok from her, which we did!). So we took the 3 kittens home! Ka-Sa (my tabby cat) did not take to the new kittens I would say about 12-18 months before she stopped hissing at them! They have had some health problems due to the fire. Dreamie especially with her eyes. Crystal would also not eat when we first got her. She was so weak and fragile. I had to hand feed her special food to get her strength up. Once they had lived with us for a few weeks meal times were terrible - for us!! They would climb your legs to get food. Ka-Sa had to be fed high up so they wouldn't pinch her food. Crystal took a year before she found her voice and she has the strangest meow!

Nowadays they are more relaxed but if one has something the other tries to take it! Dreamie is a notorious seat pincher, within 10 seconds she'll take your seat. Another thing is they have never been able to control their claws. When they walk they always get stuck into things. The couch is good evidence of this.

Crystals name came straight away to my boyfriend and I, but Dreamie was called no name at first. At the time we had a sega dreamcast and she used to sit in the middle of it. As she was so tiny she looked so funny sitting on this console. So we decided to use that to name her. Obviously dreamcast wasn't a good choice but it developed into Dreamie. And it's turned out to be the best name for her. She loves her sleep and at night she sleeps curled up with us.

They make me laugh so much, like when Crystal falls asleep standing up (you know when they are in typical cat pose with front legs straight resting on the back ones?). Dreamie likes to sit on top of the chair crying for food. Crystal loves to stand against the kitchen cupboards when it's dinner time.

Photos courtesy of ©Sam (flickr: tofu_catgirl).