“Valkyrie is my third kitty,” says Jerry. “However, my wife Faith has had cats all her adult life and throughout her youth at her family’s farm. And although we kept her original name, we lovingly refer to her as our gal Val.

“She was very relaxed in her carrier on the way home, and when we arrived, she climbed out of the carrier and spent quite a bit of time exploring our place, eventually finding the cat tree and promptly lying down on it. To say she’s had a good effect on our lives is putting it mildly. It’s so pleasant having her around, and as an indoor cat, she enjoys watching the squirrels, rabbits and birds from the front and back windows of our condo.

“While she has numerous store-bought toys, her favorite ones are the odd things she finds around the house such as marbles. She found our Chinese Checkers game and pawed many of the marbles onto the floor, and although we tried to find all of them, every once in a while, Val finds another one. Both Faith and I are retired, and being home so much allows us to interact with her a good deal. And since Val’s extremely playful, she keeps me hopping.

“Val’s very independent and doesn’t spend a lot of time on our laps being cuddled and petted. Faith would like her to be cuddlier, but because she’s still so young, she’s always on the move, exploring and investigating her environment. And although we try our best to teach her a few manners — like keeping off our kitchen table — she doesn’t understand a thing. But when I ask her if it’s treat time, she jumps up and leads me to her treat dish!

“She keeps us endlessly amused with her various quirks and habits. Examples: When we make our bed, Val jumps on the bed and wants to be covered. She makes her way out as we make adjustments. When Faith does the laundry, Val likes to ride in the laundry basket as it’s pulled along to the laundry room. Faith uses a walker, and Val climbs on and rides through the house with Faith. Val has a habit of hiding in the hall and jumping on me as I walk by. She sits on a shelf behind my computer and goes after the mouse pointer as I try to work. And, like most cats, she loves boxes and paper bags.

“At night, she sleeps wherever she wants, but she does have her favorite places: in the cat tree, in a chair in our den, behind my computer desk chair and in our bedroom.”

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Furry Friends Fur-Ever Stories are compiled and written by Nomi Berger who is the bestselling author of seven novels, one work of non-fiction, two volumes of poetry, and hundreds of articles. She is a volunteer writer for Furry Friends in Vancouver, WA and also volunteers her writing skills to animal rescue groups in Canada and the USA. She lives with her adopted Maltese named Mini.