Well folks it sure isn't a dull life around here. Nope. I always thought, from my first writing, that one more cat was the way to go, one more animal saved, until I received a "package deal".

If one more cat is better, mathematics indicate an exponential ratio is a far better way to go.

Better it has been! I couldn't bare to see brother and sister separated, and although different in colouring, and purrsonality (remember, Tippy IS a boy), they both have the same build; small, compact, and light as a bird.

As opposed to Cleo and Velvet. Cleo, rugged, black and white, from the genus "Bramptonus Barncaticus", and Velvet, all black, and big enough to have "Goodyear" painted down her flanks, and seen operating at low altitudes around major US sporting events.

Which now brings us to what we have at the front of the cat, the cerebellum. How many operating synapses do we have in each one now?

Cleo is "street smart". As I have said, she cares little for the physics of force and gravity (like opening doors and the like), but when it comes to survival thinking, this cat is off the chart.

Velvet is certainly very high in the Intelligence Quotient when it comes to food. The sound of an opening can of cat food could awake the cat if she were in Pittsburgh. She is good at opening doors, brilliant especially if catfood cans are behind the door.

Tippy, shy and beautiful, puts his just average mind into loving. His sister, me, and food in that order. Remember, he is a boy, so how bright do you expect him to be?

THEN comes Bella, five pound beautiful, thoughtful cat, who, at 20 months old, cannot only open doors, but shut them. Bella is kind, like her brother, very loving, never demanding, but extremely inquisitive, a keynote in determining intelligence.

I'll drop the bombshell now. Bella is a top 5 percentile cat. She learned all the human words she needed to know in about a day after having full territorial reign here. Oh sure, you say, teach a cat anything? Must be dumb like a dog. Oh no, Bella does as she pleases, she just will sometimes take your advice.

She watches TV with me, every night. Not of a moment, but in earnest. I sit each night, resigned to the fact that when I watch "Andy of Mayberry" each night at 7 PM, I have to watch it through Bella's outstretched ears, rounded head and long whiskers. Apparently, she has to sit three feet from the screen on the coffee table in front of me to achieve complete satisfaction. During noisy, fast-moving commercials, she leaves for a bite to eat in the kitchen, or to the bathroom. (sound familiar?) Then she's right back. She likes black and white shows the best. She loves to chase the hockey puck when the NHL is on.

I figure it's a self-cleaning TV screen function.

My Bella, I'm so proud of my genius girl.

Copyright © Bill Mason
March 20, 2002