It was February or March of 2012. I got a copy of the SL Magazine sent to me. Not sure how I signed up for them to deliver it, but it came. I rezzed the mag and was in awe with the picture of a cute kitty on the front...oh and Callie too. (jk). I read the article in the mag an wanted to find out more about this virtual breedable. I had been trying the horses but could not understand the traits or how things were passed and so forth.
I did a search for kittyCatS! and found several private stores. One store had a "Wishing Well" that had random kitties inside for 99L. I figured it was not to much to spend to try it out so I bought my first kitty. She ended up being a Russian Black with Midnight eyes. I named her Moosho and still have her- she is permapeted.
KittyCatS have helped me find something positive to focus on when RL gets hard - hugging the kitties brings me peace. And the challenge of figuring out the possible hidden traits, and breed them out, has been exciting and rewarding.