In the fine newsgroup "rec.pets.cats.health+behav", Priscilla
Ballou <vze23t8n@verizon.net> artfully composed this message
within <news:vze23t8n-56031C.21133017082004@news.verizon.net> on
17 Aug 2004:

LOL

LOL!

The people in this group are nice, aren't they? I've been reading the
group since I adopted my Cristobel last June 6th and this group has so
much helpful information on it!

I haven't seen too much on theories that a human will bond better to a
cat of opposite sex. ie. male human - female cat; female human - male
cat. Is this a myth?

My reason for asking is that I have been having difficulties bonding
with my female cat. Don't get me wrong, we have great fun together and
I nearly had conniptions when she got sick one week. (vet visit). But
I feel like I have bonded more closely with my male cats Fluffy and
Whitey, who passed away at 19 yrs. and 17 yrs.

Or do you think bonding will happen over several years? I had about 12
yrs. in an apartment and no cats, before I moved to where I am now.
Maybe I forgot what they were like. Or maybe it is different when you
have to feed them and care for them, whereas with the male cats, my
parents did the kitty chores. All I had to do was pet and cuddle them.

Or maybe my kitty is just still a precocious teenager? My male cats
were so calm and patient with me (as I was a child when they first
came into the home).

Don't get me wrong, Cristobel and I have great fun playing together
and petting, and she is super cute and I'd rescue two more cats from
the shelter, if I had a bigger house.

It was Cristobel's third time in the same animal shelter until I
adopted her. We did not pick each other out. I almost took a male cat
who had been in there only days. But the shelter people really wanted
me to take her, as she'd been in a for a year, third time round, poor
girl. So I said yes. (And the male cat got adopted weeks after, which
is great as he was a super cat!)

She hid behind my toilet for the first day I had her. This was after
she cried all the way home from the shelter. And boy, can my cat cry!
My first night with her was awful. Neither of us got any sleep. I
contemplated horrible evil pet owner thoughts of returning her. I
thought for certain my neighbours would complain about the noise! LOL
And she cried for about 3 nights in a row until she finally settled
in. Every now and then I'll hear that cry again and rush into the
room, "Cristobel, what is the matter?" And she'll look at me with a
cute look as if to say I didn't say anything!

People have said to me it was probably because she was used to living
in a cage for years and then suddenly, she had all that space and it
was too scary for her!

Now she meows at me when I come home and she is extremely
affectionate. Sometimes she'll sleep on my bed, but not too often.
(new concept for her perhaps). She is clean, uses her litterbox, eats
the good pet food I buy for her, does not jump where she shouldn't,
uses her scratching post (well, we are working on not scratching the
couch and rug still) and when I have guests she's right there to be
petted.

I'd say that for a cat, there is nothing wrong with her. I can see
that she would not do well around children, as she is sensitive to
being picked up and does not like rough play. But lots of cats are
like that.

I think all the dorks who dropped her off at the shelter are really
missing out on a super kitty!

Anyway, that's the story of Cristobel!  

~Melanie