Brigitte: Goddess of Hearth and Home

In August, we got a female tortoiseshell kitten from Maine Coon Adoptions. She was originally named Aphrodite, after the goddess of beauty and love. But because Aphrodite is bit of a mouthful, we have re-named her Brigitte. Since Brigitte is the Irish goddess of heart and home, this little sweetie has maintained her divine status.

However, when we initially brought Brigitte home, our other cat, Max, spent a good 20 minutes telling us that she was not a goddess, but the spawn of the devil! Much of what he had to say I would not want to repeat in polite company, but among his comments were that she was an evil animal, had no manners, was ugly, and smelled bad.

None of that is true. Brigitte is very affectionate; she likes to touch noses and butt heads. She will climb on my shoulder and drape herself around my neck like a boa. She's also very playful, with lots of loopy-tail dashing about the house and pouncing on things. She's fascinated with the cursor on the computer screen and is very good at opening and closing Windows. The morning after we got her, she insisted on sitting on my shoulder, watching me put on my makeup and playing with my earrings!

We initially brought Brigitte home on a Saturday morning. Although wedidn't let Max see her until Sunday, he smelled her immediately. That's what prompted his very vocal complaints.

Initially, he was confirmed in his low opinion of Brigitte. Any new animal brought into a household is also apt to bring along some unseen and unwelcome microscopic hitchhikers, and Brigitte gave Max a cold. The poor guy got a big cold sore on his nose, and blisters bloomed all the way down onto his lip. It must have itched because he wouldn't leave it alone. (I got this same malady in February, and it was miserable.) Max kept "grooming" his face and pulled the scab off several times. On several occasions, he had blood all over his face.

We've had cats for decades, and we didn't panic. Our vet prescribed the same medications for both Brigitte - who had only a slight sneeze - and for Max. We dosed them both each morning. Max spent entire day sleeping beneath the comforter on our bed, then began to perk up.

Within a week, his pretty pink nose healed up and he began to reconsider some of his early sentiments about Brigitte. When I came home about a week and a half after our adoption, I found my retired husband sitting on our king-sized bed with Brigitte in his lap and Max sitting across from them. Mason reported that Max was okay with that - as long as Brigitte wasn't allowed to look at him. (Mooom! She's LOOKING at me!")

The next day, we had a carpenter in to do some repairs, and during his work, both cats disappeared. We wondered, of course, if they had bolted outdoors. (They are strictly indoor cats.) Turned out that they were both hiding behind the futon - together!

It's now been a month, and it's very clear that Brigitte is going to be very good for Max. Because she's a kitten and needs meat, we gave her canned food in addition to her kibble. Max was only too happy to eat her food, and amazingly enough, it seems to have cured his tender tummy. We have had Max for 10 years, and during that no matter what we tried, Max seemed to need to throw up every other day or so. This has now virtually ceased. Max has filled out; his ginger coat is beautiful and his eyes are bright.

I would worry about him gaining weight - but not with Brigitte around! Brigitte wants to play with everything - including Max. She plays with his tail and ambushes him around corners. There's no hissing or anxious body language; it's all in good fun. We are now seeing bouts of cat wrestling and chase games between the two of them.

After watching Brigitte, Max has ALSO discovered a renewed interest in toys: He likes to tussle with Brigitte's "sextopus" (it would be an octopus but it has only six legs).

Brigitte managed to capture Mason's and my hearts in about 24 hours. It took her about 10 days to win Max over, but she definitely has. And I think she will keep us all young at heart.

— Nicolette Toussaint