Ernie: My Scottish Fold Cat

It all started with a book that I read called "The Cat Who Went to Paris" by Peter Gethers. By the time I finished the book I knew I had to have a Scottish Fold!

These are not cats you can easily find at the Humane Society or Pound (a good thing and a bad thing). You can only get them from breeders. Turns out the Annual Cat Fanciers Show was coming to town. My husband and I attended it and there we met our first Scottish Fold. When you first see them you start laughing. You ask "where are it's ears?!!" This is because they have tiny ears that are folded forward and lie tight against the cat's head (there are also up-eared Folds as well which you can learn about when you read the books). We made contact with a breeder and drove to their home.

There I sat amongst the youngest of the litters hoping one of the kittens would reach out to me. There was one three month old who had refused to leave the "baby" room along with his litter mates and remained behind with the little ones. This was the kitten who found his way to me and told me to take him home. It was love at first sight!

Our daughter was attending college on the East Coast and we had recently to put her 6 year old cat Charlie down due to cancer. My new Scottish Fold was replacing him so I felt it only appropriate for Megan (as in "Megan Casey at Squidoo") to name the kitten. She was majoring in English at the time and one of her favorite writers that week was Ernest Hemingway...thus, ERNIE!

Ernie's Cat Fanciers' Asociation name is Gilly Ernie because his parents were Gilly's Perfectly Frank and Gilly's Grey Poupon. Ernie is a Red Tabby Scottish Fold born 4/4/00. The one drawback to getting a Scottish Fold is that the breeders won't let them go until 3 months. For bonding purposes I would have preferred an eight week old kitten. I am not sure if it really would have mattered though. Some cats let you hold them in your arms and some don't. Ernie does not like to be held but he will climb up on my lap and love me. He also snuggles up in bed. All of this is only when it suits him!

Folds are great companions. He will sit on my desk when I am working. He loves to talk and play. I can carry on a conversation with Ernie and he knows what I am saying. If there is a bug on the floor I can just yell "buggie buggie" and Ernie will come running from where ever he is in the house chattering. That reminds me. The breeders made me promise to never let Ernie outside exposed to the big world. We have screened off our patio so he can go outside and sit in the sun!