Wondering if anybody else feels more drawn to animals than people with their bipolar. I have 5 cats now and I love them all and they have been here for me through all of my depression, cancer, divorce, everything that has been slowly destroying my soul from the inside out.

Most recently I was volunteering at a local shelter and had a cat violently attack me when I tried to clean its litter box. I'm glad it happened to me and not one of the other volunteers or paid employees. When I looked into her eyes I did not see a bad cat, just one that was very afraid.

I put her in a carrier to bring her home and looked up the phone number of the girl who had surrendered her in the shelter records. I called her on my way home to try and find out what went wrong, and found she was moving to an apartment that didn't allow pets so decided to surrender her. Unfortunately she was attacked by a dog when younger leaving her with a case of PTSD that made the sounds and smells of the animal shelter a living nightmare for her.

She's at home with me now, and I've still not been able to integrate her with the other cats, but she has a large room with her own cat tree, screened windows, food, water and litter box and gets play time every day. You know the shelter would have killed her if she attacked anybody else.

Is it weird that I feel a special bond with damaged animals like this? I can identify with her fear, I know what it's like to be so afraid of something that it affects your whole way of life. When she lashes out I know she's not being a b**ch she is just terrified. I get her. And I feel like she gets me too. When I'm feeling down she just cuddles me to no end. She loves people, just can't deal with other animals. Even kittens send her into full blown psychosis.

Anybody else feel more connected to their pets than what some might see as normal? These cats are my family and they will never be put back in a shelter unless I die and can't do anything about it. But I would hope that my other rescue friends would jump in and find new homes for them if there became a need for that.

Maybe the point I should be making here is that I have 5 cats that are my best friends, but basically no human friends except a few long distance ones. Is this because I'm bipolar? Am I becoming one of those creepy cat people everybody snickers about behind their back???