I have, in the past, PROVEN that I am not a crazy cat lady (yet), but here’s a little piece of information that implies, perhaps, that there is hidden brilliance in my CHOICE of Kitten Children:

The favorite horses of both Alexander the Great (Bucephalos) and Julius Caesar both had atavistic mutations – extra toes.

See – great conquering world leaders of ancient history had beloved MUTANT animals. And BOTH of my Kitten Children have significant genetic mutations; they are both “authentic” tri-coloured cats – BeBe is a tortoiseshell (with a brindled coat) and Fioana is a Calico (indicating that she has the “piebald spotting gene” which allows for the big white patches of fur). This means that they both inherited an X-linked gene – the “O” gene – which causes a cat to have orange or “ginger” fur. In the case of a tri-coloured cat, they do not inherit two “O” genes, which would make them a genetically “orange” or “ginger” cat. Moreover, because of a process called “X-chromosome inactivation,” some cells activate the “O” gene, causing orange/ginger colouring, and other cells randomly activate the same position as the “O” gene on the other X chromosome. Therefore you can automatically assume that most tri-coloured cats are female (since it’s the reaction in the two heterozygous X chromosomes that cause the unusual colouring). So any male tri-coloured cats are GENUINE genetic mutants, usually sterile, because it is often gender anomalies (they sometimes are XYY or XXY instead of the “normal” male configuration of XY) that allow them to have the X-linked colouring.

Thus, either I am brilliant and should capitalize on my natural head for government/leadership and I will be extraordinarily famous, or I am a narcissistic megalomaniac and will die young, yet extraordinarily famous. It all depends on how you look at it.

I was named after Catherine “the Great” (Catherine II of Russia), but it was completely arbitrary (and my Parent’s didn’t even keep the spelling – which is fine with me – I much prefer the letter “k” and think two syllables are quite enough). So you may keep any vulgar equine-related jokes to YOURSELVES.