It's been more than a year, April 4, 2013, that I had to put my precious Wee down.  He was 18.  His whole body was shutting down.  For his sake, it had to be.  He was suffering and wobbling when he walked.  Pitiful.

Gordon was not very keen on the idea of another cat.  He felt that Nolan was enough.  I didn't know how I would pull it off, but I wanted a lap cat.  Nolan does not get on laps.  He does not purr.

My new kitten, I said, would meet five criteria:

1. Female
2. Short hair
3. Would sit on my lap
4. Would purr
5. Would be a grey/black tabby cat

In late January, Billy called and said there was a kitten in his garage that had found shelter there after three days of rain.  He said it was cute and little, but he did I want it to keep it.  He asked me to keep it.  No, not now.  I gave him three phone numbers to call for Rescue.  After almost a month, he had not called, but adamantly said he could not have a cat with his work schedule.   He kept calling.  Finally, I said, find a box and bring it to me.  He had said it had short hair with orange, black and grey.  This told he FEMALE.

He arrived with a small box, I lifted the cover and my heart melted.  It was indeed a short hair, sort of tabby-calico kitten with big, big ears.

She was so precious.  So full of life.  She was a good Cajun right off, she played hard and she slept hard!  

I knew she was going to be a smart cat.  She purred, she was a lap cat, she was so alert and inquisitive.  She would be a great little bit of entertainment.  Little did I know that she was a Mensa Cat.  You know, the smart IQ people belong to Mensa?  

Well this little sister would jump on the bathroom counter With Nolan when Gordon would turn the faucet on for Nolan to drink from the lavatory.  Of course, Nolan is very spoiled and himself is smart, but he is not a Mensa cat.  Gerti Mae may have taken 4 to 5 days of observing; a person turn the handle of the faucet, water came out, cats drank water.  One day, we heard the water in the lavatory running.  We ran to find out what the problem was, and there she was.  She had turned the handle of the faucet and water was pouring out.  She was a little alarmed because it was gushing and making a lot of noise.  We said, "Aww, just luck, she won't do this again."  Not on your life!   We had to find ways to cover the faucet; didn't work,  Then we tried tying the  handle so it couldn't move.  Not working!  Finally, the bathroom door had to be closed.  We did have to mop up water from the floor  when we forgot to close the door.  That happened twice.  Water all over the bathroom, the hall and one bedroom before we heard the dripping.  The lavatory used does not have an overflow orifice.  To make matters worse, we found her sitting on the counter watching the water flow down the cabinets.  

I am training her to walk on a leash.  She wears a harness every day, but not all day.  She is also walking around with a leash trailing her.  Gerti Mae does not go outside.  She has not wanted to go outside.  I imagine she had a frightening time trying to save her life when she found shelter from the bad weather and rain when she found Bill's place.  Not interested in going outside, but she does sit by the window and watches the hummingbirds darting by.  Nolan goes in and out.  One of these days, she will want to go outside, too.  That's why the leash training.   She has a special toy that is like a small ball attached to a larger ball.  It gets stuck under the tv stand.  She cannot get to it.  She comes to me, and walks away continuing to do this until I follow her.  She leads me to the furniture that is too low for her to get under to get her 'toy'.  She watches me retrieve it.  One of these days, she will figure out how to get the swifter under the furniture, then she won't have to get me to do it.  We do the same thing when her food dish is low on food.  

When she first came, her name was Squeaky because she does not meow or mew, she squeaks.  Her vocabulary is increasing with her age.  She is 9 months now.  She has many different kinds of squeaks.  

  At one point, she was smaller, much smaller than Nolan.  Now, she is almost as tall.  Although Nolan was here first, she has become the dominant cat.  He lets her have her way and she takes it.

   In hopes of having peace between Gordon and Gerti Mae, I purchased a water fountain for cats.  She uses it, but Nolan is very strong willed and sits at the bathroom door until we feel sorry for him and spoil him again by letting him in to drink from the lavatory.

She's not too pretty, but she is a personality plus cat who happens to be a Mensa Cat.  

Harness training.