Kiwi (Princess) is a wondrous, quizzical brown tabby girl, who was formerly located at the MCHS Private Rescue before that humane society no-kill shelter was permanently closed.

Kiwi was surrendered back to the county animal shelter almost immediately by her first-time pet owner.  He said that she suffered diarrhea, but she has displayed no symptoms since returning to the shelter.

At the Private Rescue, she curled up in her little fort, a cubbyhole in the carpeted kitty condo.  When I reached in to pet her, she purred and purred.  If I coaxed her to leave her little kitty cabin, she first peeked her bright green eyes above the trap door, and tried to lure me back in.  She is kind of wiggly when you pick her up and set her on your lap, only because she is so curious to explore about everything around her.

Kiwi was a lively character, who would suddenly appear among the other dozen cats in Private Rescue Cat Room 1.  She was not shy at all, and strutted confidently among the many vigorous and assertive cats.  Somehow, she just had a fascination with playing in her cubbyhole.

Kiwi is in excellent health, with a firm, roly-poly build, broad face, and powerful legs.  She still likes to curl up at the rear of her cage at the county animal shelter.  She purred like mad when I reached in and pet her, but when I tried to call her to the front of the cage, wiggling my fingers and urging her out, she just rolled to her side, again and again, until she was completely upside-down with her paws up in the air, flirtatiously demanding that I should come in after her.

She sat on a fleece pillow for a visitor at a Saturday Cat Adoption Open House, circling round and round and taking in the sights.  When she finally returned to her cage, she contentedly curled up at the back of the cage, peering happily out through eyes almost closed, and soon drifted off to blissful sleep.

From time to time I let Kiwi out from her cage, and set her down, either on a towel in my lap, or on a towel in her own chair.  She looks around her with some interest, obviously appalled to discover all the other cats peering out from their cages.  It’s usually not long, however, before she concludes that she has surely got better fish to fry.

Steadily, she tries to make her way to the edge of the chair, millimeter by millimeter, ever faithful that if she makes no sudden movements, I will not notice she is making good her escape.

Finally, when she has wiggled as far to the edge of her seat as she can, she folds her ears back slightly, and flattens her great, muscular body like some wild, duck-billed platypussy.  Then, chock full of mischief, she flows like water out of my grip, and onto the concrete shelter floor, where she is in no way permitted to stroll.  So swift and silent is her descent, that I have had to pin her neck scruff to prevent her escape, even though I was watching like a hawk from about eight inches away.

This nutty cat is all fun, 100 percent, and whoever makes her the gift of a happy, loving home, will never regret it.

If you can give Kiwi the life she deserves, visit the Montgomery County Humane Society, or call (240) 773-5960 Option 2 for more information.