Evita the Friendly cat's page

The next day after we got back from our first trip to National RV, Diane said she was ready to look for another cat. It was January 8th, 2003. Diane studied what pets were available on the Internet in our area of Greater Seattle, we went to a couple shelters and looked, but didn't find a cat for us. On January 10th Diane noticed there was a King County Animal Control shelter in Bellevue, close the Crossroads Mall, so off we went. At the shelter the woman in front said, "go down that hallway and go through the door, dogs to the left, cats to the right."

Once we walked through the door a kitten started yelling, it sounded like "Get Me Out of Here!" to both of us. There were two cats available for adoption, a cat that was very distressed and this vocal little kitten that pushed to the front of her cage and wanted to be petted and loved. She and Diane instantly bonded and Diane went to arrange the paperwork and payment. Bill was put in an examining room with the kitten and learned how determined she was to be with Diane by leaping off the table and trying to go under the door where she heard Diane's voice. While Diane was working on the paperwork the person who found the kitten came in, a girl who could not adopt her and was visiting every day. Turns out the kitten was outside and soon after being found a raccoon was in the area, it probably ate any litter mates. The kitten was very affectionate and had lots of personality. She was thought to be about three months old.

When we put her in the car with a carrier she crawled in and went to sleep, she felt safe. We picked up some food and stuff and took her home. Here is a picture that first day of January 10, 2003:

Diane pulled out a toy that Mara ignored and the little one played and played till she was panting and played some more, here is a short Windows Media Viewer video off our digital camera:

images\newcat.WMV

Diane couldn't get the song, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" out of her head and she didn't want to call the kitten, Madonna, so she became "Evita". We then learned that "Evita" means "Life", which fits. Diane also likes the Evita story, it is from rags to riches and that also fits.

Evita quickly felt at home and was lots of fun to have around. The vet weighed her and she was 2lb 7oz, as an adult she weighed 10lb 11oz. We knew she was going to get big, the vet said she had to grow into her size 10 feet. Here are a couple pictures from January 12th:

Here are some January 18th pictures, showing how happy Diane was:

And one from January 31st:

Yes, she was growing fast. We figured out from her growth rate she was about two months old when we got her, so she was born in early November. She also ate a lot, but she had a fast metabolism, she also used her litter box a lot.

Since we knew she was going in the RV she only went outside with a leash. Since Diane's allergist said she was mildly allergic to cats, we bath Evita every week, so even though she hates the bath she doesn't fight.

Evita charms everyone, she is very friendly and runs up to people. She is often happy and purrs a lot. But if you are not human, she is not so friendly. She doesn't get along well with cats, dogs and wants to eat most every other critter.

On January 15, 2003 we took Evita to meet Bill's mother, Elena, and Evita charmed Elena. She and Elena's cat, E.T., eyed each other and finally E.T. went to bed. E.T. looks like a grown up version of Evita:

Here they are watching each other from opposite sides of a pile of coats:

Once E.T. slunk off Evita was happy:

You might notice that Evita's feet are big, she has six toes on three feet and five on the remaining back one. Most cats have five on the front and four on the back, so she has extras on all feet. She also has fur between her toes and in her ears, she is built for cold weather and to walk on snow. She also has a large tail. These and her friendly personality are characteristic of Maine Coon cats, we figure she is at least half Maine Coon. The extra toes are called "polydactyl" by the vets and cat society, many call such cats "Hemingway Cats" since that is the kind of cat Ernest Hemingway had in Key West, FL. Evita likes cooler weather, she loves the air conditioner and she does not sit in the sun like many cats, unless it is cold. The house wasn't air conditioned, so when it got hot we would move into the motorhome and Evita didn't mind since she liked it air conditioned.

Evita is a hunter, she is always looking for birds, squirrels and insects to chase and she does want to eat them. In the evening she will watch for insects coming in with us when we come inside, she will chase them down and eat them if she can. Her favorite insect that came in was a damselfly, a small dragonfly, it was captured and eaten in about five minutes. She is a bit leery of beetles, they don't taste that good.

Evita continued to grow in her first year. Here is a picture of her startled by the camera April 2, 2003: