Martina - Cat of the Week

Martina is a fun cat - she's tiny, cute, affectionate, incredibly curious, has an impish personality, does cool cat stuff with every move, is a great lap cat, and has a beautiful, chirping voice - most of the time. When pissed off or frightened, she can utter a gawd-awful shriek that's enough to raise the dead. I guess she can be called a "rescue" of sorts... one day my gardener drove up with Martina in her truck, and pleaded with me to take her because she (the cat) had been hanging out in the back yard, and she (the gardner) was afraid her husband was going to damage the cat. Now, my unfortunate gardener happens to be married to the world's biggest jerk, and whether or not the cat was in danger, I'll never know, but I was unwilling to take the chance, knowing some of the capabilities of said jerk. On that day, I happened to be ghastly sick with the flu, so I asked the gardener to take the cat directly to the vet and leave her in their hands. I called and explained the situation to the vet, and requested they clean the poor baby up, test her for FIV, give her the necessary shots, and "fix" her, and my husband would pick her up when she was ready to come home.

Several days later, with me still sick out of my skull and nursing the most gruesome fever-induced headache I've ever experienced, she came home and we got our first taste of her vocal capabilities. At the sight of 20-some other cats, she propelled herself, shrieking, out of the cat carrier, did a complete over, under, around, and through circuit of the house, then rocketed up onto the top of the highest kitchen cabinet, whencefrom she proceeded to issue that blood-curdling noise for a solid fifteen minutes, until she got hoarse and her voice gave out and she finally stopped. She then stayed on top of the cabinet for the next 24 hours, refusing to come down to eat or pee, steadily glowering over the edge and starting up with the screaming again any time one of the resident inmates came over to check her out. All of the others were, of course, extremely curious, and filed past her at regular intervals, day and night, and caused one and all a totally strung-out earth orbit.

Finally, the next day, she came down and we immediately grabbed her and shut her up in a bathroom with a couple of litter boxes and a bowl of food. Several hours later, when we opened the door, she walked calmly out as though nothing had happened. Whenever she saw another cat, though, she gave a loud, calculated scream, accompanied by a vicious swipe of the paw, and the other cat backed off. She headed for the top of the cabinet again, and stayed up there for a week or so, coming down only to eat and use the litter box.

After what seemed like forever, she finally adapted, and things are much more pleasant around here these days.

Favorite place to snooze...

Nosy, snoopy, always into something...



Loves to pose for the camera...