Alva Mae

A friend found her wandering around the UT Women's Coops, starving and abandoned. They couldn't keep her because of lease restrictions and I was more than happy to take her in. I had always lived with cats and was sorta missing them since I moved to a coop at school.

Here's some better shots of her.

Alva as a kitten
Both my women!
Alva tromping around in the snow during the Great Austin Blizzard of '96

Alva is a longhair Manx (or Cymric). I formerly thought she was a mutt, but even if so she displays all the common physical and tempermental characteristics of the breed. She is an extremely fastidious groomer (gotta be with all that long fur) which results in the most beautiful coat I have ever seen. She is very friendly and loyal, but only to "her" people and very shy otherwise.

In fact, she used to greet me at the door and still does to a certain extent. I spent a summer at home one year in school while I worked for rent, tuition, and books. Whilst avoiding my parents' cat, she would wait at the window by the driveway for me to come home. When I drove up, my mother tells me she would run to the door making short, staccato meows. The greeting was nice, but as always, we didn't settle in for a good petting until after dinner -- she's always been a "fresser", perhaps from her abandonment. Once in a while she would mistake the sound of my brother's truck for my car. When he opened the door she would look dejected and return to her post. (Ain't she cute?)

Fortunately for us all, I've been out of school for several years now and we don't have to live in cramped apartments. One of her favorite games of all time is chasing a ping pong ball (or paper ball, or whatever is available) up and down the stairs. She could get so worked up in her younger years that she'd start panting! Nowadays she mostly tears up and down the stairs when she gets the "rips".

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