Little Miss Fluffy-Bottom

Otherwise known as Colette (the cat).

We adopted Colette, our gray kitty with white chin and paws, when she was about 9 months old. She was very timid and quiet, and someone had shaved her tail. Her fur was said to be medium-length.

Well, once she made herself at home at our house, Colette was no long shy, retiring and quiet. She became one of the most playful, meowiest cats we've ever had. Oh, and that medium-length fur? Let's just say that is now long. Very long.

Fortunately, Colette loves to manage her fur and can spend what seems like hours grooming it. Occasionally I have to brush her, but that's in the summer when she's been outside gathering all sorts of plant-and-tree debris in her lovely locks.

Colette's fastidiousness extends to her toilet habits. Though she is an indoor-outdoor kitty, she will come into the house to use the litter box. I guess, like many humans, she prefers her own bathroom.

Unlike previous cats who have resided here, Colette is not a fighter. Oh, she will chase another cat out of the yard--if that cat is smaller and easily intimated. With some cats her own size she simply stares at them from afar, occasionally hissing or growing from that safe distance. If another cat seems at all threatening to her, she is up on the shelf outside the kitchen window in almost an instant. We've never had to take her to the vet to treat a wound inflicted by another cat.

From inside the house she will get excited about seeing birds on the deck. But outside she takes that watch-from-afar stance. Maybe the fact that some of the crows out there are as big, if not bigger, than she is has something to do with that. In any case, the birds are safe from her.

Colette takes forever to settle in when she wants to sleep on my lap. She meows and head-butts until I pick her up and place her so that her head is in the crook of my arm. Then there's some more (demanding) meowing until I scratch her head and chin and she finally falls asleep, stretched across me until it seems as if she is at least 3 feet long!

Needless to say, with Colette there is rarely the dull moment. :)