And she loves it.
She never really bonded with any of the other cats. The closest she came was with Boo, and even they fought more than they cuddled. She was actively hostile with Mike, which was understandable because he was a real jerk to her when she was a kitten. And she eventually grew to tolerate PeeWee, though she was as likely to hiss or swat at him as she was to let him walk peacefully by wherever she happened to be.
Since PeeWee passed, however, Cali has been a completely different cat. She's much more affectionate and seeks us out often for attention. She is also just less crabby in general.
It may be a food competition thing - she calmed down a lot with PeeWee after we made him a feeding box. Or it may just be that she just doesn't like cats. Cali isn't overly fond of the dogs because they are big and noisy and unpredictable, but they don't agitate her like other cats do.
We dearly love our pretty kitty, so it looks like we'll be a single-cat household for the foreseeable future; I just can't see us willingly putting that kind of stress on her again when we can easily avoid it. Just goes to show that you really never know what you're getting when you adopt a kitten. Our totally normal kittenish kitten grew up to be a temperamental feline-phobic diva.
Ah, tortitude.
