A. J. Alexander’s Writing Assistant #3

On April 9, 2020, I published a post about how I got my ‘Baby Boy,’ my ‘Writing Assistant #1‘. A couple weeks back I published my Writing Assistant #2.

In my first Assistant post, I published about 2 feet of information about Maine Coon cats. In this post, I’ll spare you from the same information. If you like to read about it, go back to the first post.

Instead, I’m going to introduce you to my second ‘Baby Girl’, my ‘Writing Assistant #3’.

This girl, too, is a pure breed Maine Coon cat, including beautiful Lynx-tips. Indeed, this one is a former ‘Best of Show’ champion.

After I got Charlet, I saw, her breeder had a breathtaking Calico Torbie female. I told her: “I never wanted a third cat, but if you EVER retire that one, I’ll take her in. She laughed and informed me she had a waiting list.

Surprisingly, a few months later the breeder called me up and asked me if I would keep my word and take her in. She said, the beautiful kitty had a bad delivery with her last litter and she needs to be retired, but also she had arthritis and was barely three years old. That’s why the entire ‘waiting list’ didn’t want her anymore. Of course, I kept my word and picked her up. Only a short time later I realized the kitty had difficulties eating and I took her to the vet… long story short: Esme had cancer and after fighting for her life for eight months, I had to admit we lost the fight and I had to have her euthanized. She fell asleep in my arms, Jake was with us…

When we got back home, it took me a while to realize that Esme had taken over the pack lead from Charlet. I had not known that and was surprised that Jake and Charlet started fighting badly and Charlet scratched and bit Jake seriously a few times. They had to figure out again who was the boss and even after months they could not decide. I had two cats who couldn’t stand each other anymore.

Finally, I knew I had to give them something else to concentrate on. A kitty would have been a possibility. They would have to focus on the baby and would stop fighting. (or Charlet, as a former mother would have pulled the kitten to her side and they both could have sided against Jake).

I never had a kitten before and was considering getting one. I heard of a breeder having two litters with Maine Coon kittens. Of course, I had the chance to cuddle with the cutest kittens on Earth.

Picture courtesy of Google.com

But then, somehow, I did not have the right feeling. I sensed that I was about to make a really bad decision. I told that to the breeder. She seemed disappointed. And started to hand out treats to her adult cats… and there I saw her. An elegant, breathtaking pitch-black panther cat, with a beautiful bushy tail and green eyes…

I asked the breeder: “Erica, this black cat… you don’t consider giving her for adoption, right?” She started laughing. I was a bit disappointed and said “I understand… she’s far too beautiful.” But Erica shook her head. “No, that’s not why I’m laughing. But before you arrived I talked to a breeder friend of mine and told her, that I would soon retire Tjara from breeding, since she’s 4 1/2 years old, almost five. But I have two litters with kittens, who will want the five-year-old cat? You are now the first one checking out the two litters and you’re asking if you can have the adult cat.” We laughed together… and the cat I fell in love with, was mine.

Usually, when I take cats home, I’ll keep them separated for a few hours, in the room where the litter boxes are, prepare water and make sure they relax and start getting the smell of their new home.

This cat didn’t last even one hour. After twenty minutes she scratched the door and demanded to see the rest of her new home. I laughed, shrugged, and said: “Good Luck.”

Jake and Charlet were waiting outside. Tjara licked Jake’s nose and let Charlet hiss at her. Then she walked through the rest of her new home. After about half an hour, she sat on the carpet, looked around, looked at me, and seemed to say: “New home? New Mommy? New subordinates? Fits – MINE.”

She had taken over the pack within not even an hour and is the boss ever since. Not even two days later even the connection between Charlet and Jake had normalized, that’s how strong Tjara is as a pack-leader.

I’m very proud of my strong kitty-cat. She rules with an iron paw, but at the same time, she’s helpful and cuddly.

Here we go: