** Perhaps one reason why we are fascinated by cats is because such a small animal can contain so much independence, dignity, and freedom of spirit

Jezibel Jones Bell

Taz is in good spirits and is eating well. He seems to have lots of energy and counts on being able to go out and be on his patio. Today is very nice and warm, so Taz is on his patio.

Jezibel is "Taz's counterpart" in ruling the house. We call her our Alpha Female, although she's more like an Alpha Male.

She came to us in February of 2000 and was about 6 months old. I was at work and a co-worker brought her in one morning. Jezibel had been hanging around their house. Mary was a cat lover and had several cats of her own. In fact, she had adopted a stray cat just a few weeks earlier. If not for that, she would have taken Jezibel in, I'm sure. But, she brought her in to see if she could find a home for her.

Everyone went into a staff meeting and since it was my turn to stay in the office, Jezibel was placed in her kennel, next to my desk. She seemed so sweet. I took her out and let her sit on my lap. She was content there. When she started getting restless and wanting down, I tried to put her back in her kennel, but she didn't want to go. So I told her that if she sat still, she could stay on my lap. She sat on my lap until everyone started coming back from the meeting.

At that time, Charlie and I had 3 male cats: Rowdy and Calvin, both about 11 yrs. and Taz, a little over a year old. They got along VERY WELL. We were not even thinking of getting another cat for the house.

I like this little calico cat so I decided to take Jezibel home with me at lunch to see how she would do. Charlie was at home getting ready to go on travel and I was going to take him to the airport and then go back to work. I put Jezibel in the garage with some food and water because I didn't want to expose her to our cats until she'd been to the vet. I still wasn't sure if we could keep her.

I had a back-up plan if Charlie didn't want to keep her. Brian, from my office said he MIGHT be interested in her. We'd just have to talk him into it.

Charlie met her and he was a little luke warm about her, but said she seemed like a nice cat. Maybe we could try her out, but I had to take her to the vet first before she could meet the boys.

I made a vet appointment for after work to take Jezibel. She was to get tested for feline leukemia, get her other shots and then she would be spayed. She was taken back for blood work, etc. When the doctor came in he said "I have good news and bad news. The good news is she tested negative for feline leukemia, but she is pregnant."

Here we are standing in the exam room, Dr. Grady on one side of the table, me on the other, and Jezibel sitting on the table. She was washing her paws and face, unconcerned. I felt like a mother with a teenage daughter, who was in trouble. And there went my back-up plan. Brian would never want a pregnant cat.

We had options: the kittens were the size of marbles, so it was hard not to think of them in there, but I had planned on getting Jezibel spayed anyway......so they could just go ahead with that, or we could let her have the kittens and figure out what to do then. I decided the latter. Our lives would change for a few months and we could find homes for the kittens. I was sure of it.

So, I took our "daughter" home and put her in a room upstairs until I could introduce her to the boys. Of course, they all knew someone was in that room. That night when I talked to Charlie, I told him about the vet visit and what we were facing. He agreed with my decision to let her have the kittens.

Later, when Jezibel was introduced into the house and met the boys, she was still such a kitten that she played, ran around, and practically ignored them. The older cats took her in stride, but Taz was beside himself. The power struggle began and it goes on to this day.

More later....

**Lloyd Alexander, My Cats and Me