1. Caligula the cat is in fact named for the "crazy Roman Emperor" as so many folks ask me. Those who know a little latin comment on how appropriate it is that she is named "Little boots."
All of my husband's cats have been named for Roman emperors and when I asked to get a cat, he said we could but he wanted to keep the naming tradition going. |
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2. Caligula is a calico cat. All calico cats, except for chimeras, are female. The orange and black colors on cats are carried on the X chromosome. So the only way to get orange and black colors on a single cat is to have two X chromosomes (and therefore be female).
The white color is not carried on the X chromosome. An orange and red cat with no white is called a tortoiseshell. With white, it's a calico. |
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| 3. Caligula is 12 years old. We got her in December of the year that we were first married. I guess she was my wedding gift from my then new husband. Caligula's birthday is ten days after Harriet's. |
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| 4. Caligula has been very patient with both children but she and Harriet have always been especially close. |
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| 5. Like her namesake, Caligula has a certain fondness for horses. She likes to watch them when we take her to "cat camp" over the holidays. She stays at Shamrock Ranch in Pacifica, a place that boards pretty much any four legged animal but they specialize in cats and dogs. |
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6. Caligula is the first cat I've owned with yellow eyes. I know it's a fairly common color but my previous cats have all had green eyes. It was the one feature about her that I really had to get used to.
Caligula is also the first calico cat I've ever owned. |
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| 7. We adopted Caligula from the Pasadena Humane Society. We didn't pick her; she picked us. She bopped me on the elbow by sticking her paw out through the cage. I took that as a sign that she wanted to go home with us. |
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