I fear them.  I loathe them.  I get around them and I feel like I am about to pass out.

I am talking about cats.  Those small, furry, clawed animals that are known to change on a dime, those creatures with their sneaky countenances, pointed triangular-shaped ears, whiskers that poke and prod, and shed all over the living room furniture.

I have feared cats all of my life.  I guess it's because a neighbor's cat jumped on me when I was walking home from school:  I was but a kindergartener then, but ever since, cats give me the heebie-jeebies.

I didn't know if the neighbor's kitty was going to bite me or try to eat my head:  one minute, I was walking home, minding my own business, and the next:  CLAWS!  Fur!!  Whiskers!  A loud,  scary yowling!  Cat!!  It was a orange cat with long fur!!

I got so scared, I peed my pants, and I ran all the way home, screaming my head off, as though I were being killed.

I wouldn't come out of my room for a few days, for fear the cat was waiting outside for me; I felt as though it were stalking me.  I couldn't sleep because all I saw was that damned cat invading my dreams!

Now, whenever I see a cat, I cringe, try to create as wide a berth between them and me as much as possible.  I still find myself breaking out into a cold, clammy sweat, and my heart pounds like a jackhammer, plus I feel breathless, like my lungs are going to pop right out of my chest.  It is horrible; even pictures of cats seem to bring the same reaction, as do cats on television.

I still feel that whenever I see a cat, it's going to jump on me and try to shred me to pieces.  I don't know why, but I don't feel safe whenever cats are around.  Just their very presence, their ways, their noises, are enough to undo me until I am a quaking, quivering mass of nerves.

People tell me I am crazy for having this fear; however, I don't think I am.  I have a very valid reason for hating cats as much as I do.  When I was a little girl, I got jumped by a cat, and ever since, I am absolutely terrified of them!

I have been trying to deal with my fear, by seeing a counselor, but I don't see it making any headway.  I'm still as scared of cats as I was when I first started going to him; it seems to have gotten worse, especially since my damned next door neighbors got a new kitten.

And the kitten looks exactly like that cat that attacked me when I was a little girl so long ago!