My new feline owner, Grisabella RaggMopp (aka "Greasy Rag") is curled up beside me on the bed as I type.

She obviously used to own some other humans, since she has been spayed and is very affectionate, but when she adopted me (after the untimely death of my young Melanie LaMew this summer), she had obviously been fending for herself for quite a while. Mangy coat, massive flea infestation, and severe scabs from the "flea-bitis," not to mention undernourished, and collarless. When she started hanging around and seeking to be petted, as well as fed, I began treating the flea problem and combing her.

Once I got her into the house, she didn't want to leave, and she stays right on my porch when she is outside. After vet trips, she's healthy and quite pretty, despite having a deformed upper lip (which may partly account for her having been left on the street so long).

This has been an amazing transformation from a street fighter cat, who used to have run ins with Melanie and other neighborhood cats, to a cuddly, playful companion who comes up and taps me on the nose with her paw when I'm lying in bed and then nuzzles me with her nose.

Her main fault (which I discovered today): She sometimes farts.*

Genie

*I'm not saying my friends and I don't. I'm just not used to cats doing it. ;-)