Meet Bella

I had absolutely no intention of getting another cat that looked like Kitty. In facts, I really had no intention of getting another cat until I had moved to Pennsylvania.

However, Mario started acting needy. He had never lived alone as a single cat in his entire life. And I really missed having a cat to talk to during the day. My vet called me, several days after Kitty passed away, and told me that he wasn't aware of what I was good at or not good at in life, but he knew that I was an excellent cat Mommy. He said that he knew that there were cats who would love to come and live with me. And I knew he was right.

So I went to the Animal Shelter and I thought that I would get a yellow kitty, something different. There was one yellow cat and one grey cat. They both didn't want to have anything to do with me. And then their were like, 23 black and white Kitty looking cats. I walked from cage to cage and then I saw this little, what I thought was a kitten, cat. He opened the cage and she walked up to me and rubbed her little head on my face and pressed her nose into my cheek. Kitty did something similar the day I took him home with me. He pressed his nose to my nose very aggressively.

After Bella made her move I was sold. I said "I'll take her!" I was told she was a stray and 2 years old. How do you know that a cat is 2 years old? Especially if it's a stray! I named her Bella. She doesn't know her name yet. I think she'll get it sooner or later. She only weighs 7 lbs. She is really tiny. She has a totally different personality than Kitty. She is a little spit fire when she is upset. She will hiss and growl. The first 3 days I had her I had begun to think I had a demon kitty. I was scared to death of her. All of that has changed and she is sooooo very sweet. When you talk to her she talks back. She has the tinest cat voice I have ever heard. She jumps in my lap. She plays with my hair. She has really made herself at home here.

Mario has been practicing his Taoist ways. He just doesn't have an opinion one way or the other. He isn't happy she is here and he isn't upset by it. He is a cool cat.

About 2 days ago I noticed that Bella has begun to do some Kitty things. The last 2 months of Kitty's life he began to sleep in my dirty clothes hamper in the back of the dark closet. Bella has found that place to sleep. Kitty use to sit on my bathroom counter. I have caught Bella sitting up there. Kitty would sit on my dresser and be watching me in the morning. Bella has begun doing that. Kitty was an alpha cat and liked jumping on top of my desk and the file cabinets. Bella has begun jumping on my desk and file cabinets. Mario's feel have only gotten as far off the ground as needed to get to the bed.

The really cool thing I discovered was "soft claws". It's really cruel to declaw a cat. The vet told me about these little plastic covers that you super glue over their claws. I got them at PetSmart and they even put them on Bella for me. She doesn't even know they are there and it doesn't hurt when she does that mash-potato thing that cats do.

This picture was taken in a chair that both Kitty and Mario love to sit in.

Ciao