You wrote: "cats are lactose intolerant - contrary to nursery rhymes, don't give a cat milk unless you want it to have a diarrhea fit."

I've read this in books about cats, but in my experience, cats do fine with milk. Suzy got diarrhea once when I fed her two or three dishes of milk in one day, but other than that they've always been fine. Milk is actually a staple of her diet, but I'll get into that next.

You continued, "dry food is extraordinarily unappetizing. semi-moist is better (meow mix) but cans are the best (from the cat's pov of course). If you want her to eat, give her something she might like."

Maybe dry food is unappetizing to YOU, but you're not a cat. Of course, most cats prefer wet food. However, Suzy actually refuses to eat wet food. She's rather odd. When I first arrived at Donna's house this January, Suzy was a few months old. She and her siblings had been weaned onto dry food, and sometimes we gave them wet food as a treat. Suzy would not touch it. She could see the other cats enjoying it, so she'd sniff and poke at it, then she'd look plaintively at me, as if to say, "What's the big deal?" and wander off.

She was the skinniest kitten, the runt of the litter, born last. Some of her siblings were so energetic that she got lost in the hustle, but I started feeding her half and half, which she loved. She gained some weight, her coat got shinier, and now Donna says she's the "healthiest cat". She's definitely grown into her name -- Suzy Creamcheese (from a Frank Zappa album). She'll eat almost any human food, including oatmeal, pasta with tomato sauce, tea, bread, but especially dairy products -- milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, and, yes, cream cheese.

Back to the guestbook entry: "cats are not social animals. Their walking trails are designed to AVOID any contact with other cats. You are all the world to her (as long as the feed bowl and strokes keep coming)."

Based on the group at Donna's house, cats are extremely social animals. Even our original three kittens, who were not related, became friends. They slept together in the sun in a pile, played together, groomed each other. Donna's feline kingdom now consists of several generations of cats, who operate as a herd. There are leaders, dominant cats who claim the highest places (and our laps). There are sub-groups who tend to hang out together. Sometimes there are piles of six or seven cats sleeping on the couch -- they wake up and sleepily groom each other, licking each other's ears and heads. It is beyond cute.

Some of the cats even have "friends" -- a certain cat they spend more time with. Before I stole Suzy from her home, she was close with Max, her uncle.

Here are some pictures that illustrate the social side of cats (stolen from Donna's flickr page):

That last picture is of Suzy with her "friend", Max (he's the blindingly white one).

Lastly, I have a heartwarming cat story courtesy of Donna. (It's about Suzy's mother, Foo.)

"Mother Theresa in feline form -- We feed our cat who most recently gave birth in a separate room to ensure that she gets enough to eat. Yesterday, another cat, Zane, was in the room, but we kept him away from the dish till the mother got her fill. She took bites of food out of the bowl and nudged them towards him to make sure he got some. Isn't that adorable?"