About Our Furry Family

Welcome to our blog, The Fluffy Kitty!

We are so glad you’re here. 🐾

We have been traveling abroad with our adopted cat Yoda since 2015. He was only 12 weeks when we adopted him at a shelter in Tennessee, USA. Nearly one year later, the three of us moved to the other side of the world to Kathmandu, Nepal.

Yoda has lived in seven countries with us. We couldn’t imagine life without him, and so a life of travel with our cat was the only possible solution!

During these incredible years, Fluffy Kitty was constantly growing, sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly. We both distinctly remember when Paul and I spent the whole month of February in 2015 writing articles from our room in Kathmandu! Fluffy Kitty started as a small blog, designed to share our tips and knowledge gained from our experiences with Yoda.

Now, Fluffy Kitty is becoming an internationally-recognized blog for cat parents who wish to travel and live an eco-minded lifestyle with their cats.

But before I get ahead of myself…

Who are we?

Paul (Captain Cat Dad) is from Ardèche, France and I (Bri – Queen Cat Mom) am from North Carolina, USA. We come from two small towns, both tucked away in the mountains.

Our story began in 2011 when we first met as students at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. We’ve endured life together both nearby and at a distance!  At times the journey is difficult, but an adventure is always waiting for the both of us.

In a nutshell, we are passionate about travel, adventure, family, and our furry family – Yoda!

I am a distinguished ‘crazy cat lady’, and Paul has always favored man’s best friend – dogs.  At least until we adopted our first fluffy kitty together, our sweet boy Yoda.

After returning from a year living in France in 2014, I was determined to have a cat of my own but convincing Paul to agree seemed a challenge – until one day we went to visit my sister in Johnson City, TN.

There, we visited the animal shelter, and lo and behold, Yoda was waiting for us that day.

He was the first kitten we laid eyes on and there was an immediate bond.  We left undecided that day if we would return the following day to claim him. The next day with fingers crossed that he was still there, we adopted him!

I was so excited, and Paul was still hesitant. Now, Paul absolutely adores Yoda – and felines in general. 🙂

He learned to love and appreciate them as much as a ‘crazy cat lady’.  The proof is in the work Paul has done for Yoda to make sure he is happy and safe.  And this is what has inspired this blog!

One day to make our home clean-free for guests and to make Yoda his own space, Paul built and painted a personalized DIY cat litter box to store Yoda’s litter box on the inside, where it could be out of sight (and smell!)

It also had two holes for his food and water bowls, and lastly, he had a fluffy bath mat on top for him to rest on.  It was so convenient and best of all Yoda loved it and knew right away it was for him!

This is why we want to share our passion for kitties by posting articles and reviewing furniture pieces that will make your kitty purrrrrr from happiness!

Please send us an email if you have any questions, we would be happy to answer them!  Stay updated for new articles and reviews!

Follow Along on the Adventures — Year by Year

2015: Nepal

After we started our blog in 2015, we moved to Nepal for one year. We took Yoda with us, and if you followed along, you no doubt knew our whereabouts at the time and how much fun we had with Yoda.

2016–2017: Europe

In 2016, we flew home, back to the US, where we stayed for the summer. Yoda lived with his cousins, a bunch of rowdy pups and a furry kitty named Dexter, who Yoda eventually became friends with!

In August 2016, we moved to Europe with Yoda because I (Brittany) was starting my master’s degree in the Netherlands. After six months, we moved to the south of France, where Yoda lived happily basking in the sunshine from our apartment’s windowsill that looked out on an old, adorable pedestrian street.

The summer of 2017 came, and I had to move to Colombia for research. Meanwhile, Paul and Yoda stayed in France and enjoyed the summer together in Paul’s little hometown. Yoda went on walks (on-leash), climbed trees, and got to lick clean lots of empty yogurt containers.

The fall of 2017 arrived quickly, and it was time to move to Belgium for my internship. So with a car full of all our belongings, Yoda, Paul, and I road-tripped from France up to Belgium, where we lived for roughly five months.

2018: Mexico

After I was finished with my master’s in January 2018, Paul and I briefly revisited France, where Yoda stayed for three weeks while Paul and I went to a friend’s wedding in Kolkata, India.

After our return from India, we packed up our things in France and left for the U.S again. It was the first time Yoda was going back to his homeland in nearly two years! We spent five fun-filled weeks with my family in NC and TN, before finally moving to Mexico.

We moved to a small coastal town in the state of Nayarit, on the side of the Pacific. Yoda was a happy, fluffy boy there and has even made a few friends! We also took care of three strays who lived in our complex and fostered another one until he got adopted.

2019: Mexico & Canada (Van)

We continued living in Mexico until July of 2019. We then packed everything into our 1990 van and took a 4-day road-trip back to the States. After a month at home with family, we loaded up our home-on-wheels and made our way to Canada. We drove over 10,000 miles, discovering van life with cats was a whole new adventure.

Yoda loves traveling, and living in a van certainly produces more adventures for the three of us. When the weather is nice, we often take Yoda out on his harness and leash to walk the trails or parks together.

2020: Mexico (Quarantine), USA, Mexico

Wow, what a year… Right?

We last left off in Canada, but on January 1st, 2020, we flew back to sunny Mexico for some relief from the bitter cold in Vancouver. Yoda was happy to find the sun back!

Not long after, “you know what” hit the world, and we quarantined in Mexico until June 2020 before spending the summer with family in Tennessee (Yoda’s birth state as far as we know!).

In the fall, when it was safer to do so, we moved back to Mexico.

2021: Yoda’s Cancer

We stayed in Mexico until spring 2021, when we took a bus and moved across the border to Guatemala.

It’s here where we first noticed Yoda’s unusual growth on his back hind leg. Read more about Yoda’s feline injection site sarcoma cancer story here.

This year, we have moved from Mexico to Guatemala, back to the USA (where we stayed for 4 months to treat Yoda’s cancer which turned him into a tripod cat), and then from there we moved to Guadeloupe island in the French West Indies (Caribbean).

We are hoping and praying as much as we can that Yoda’s cancer doesn’t come back or spread. So far—it hasn’t.

2022: Resuming Our Nomadic Travels

In 2022, we resumed traveling with Yoda regularly. He is the best little traveler you could imagine and we are so grateful for his companionship everywhere we go.

We started off the year in France, then spent two months in Lisbon, Portugal. Then, we moved to Oaxaca, Mexico for two months. From there, we flew back to the USA for a travel conference and to see family.

2022 was also the year we were able to pick back up where we left off on our van life travels. It had been two years since we left it (due to you know what!).

So we picked up our van in Vancouver and road tripped the Rockies and British Columbia for the next two months before driving down and crossing the border into the US where we explored parts of Washington and Oregon.

Now (as of March 2023), we are in La Paz in Baja California Sur—where we have been since November 2022!

Yoda is still living his best life. We took him to the local park the other day where he enjoyed sniffing around on-leash.

Every moment together is precious!

Follow along to see where we end up in 2023.

💛