My daughter Kristina saw Bella being born, so after such a bonding, she had to take the cat home, right? And Bella would love her like a surrogate mother, right? Wrong!

Bella hates her human mommy. She adores my husband and me, but ANYone else is the enemy -- she hisses, snarls, yowls, shrieks, swipes at them, tries to bite, etc. It's quite severe and a little freaky. I explain sheepishly to our guests that Bella is a self-appointed watch-cat, but how to explain the same behavior towards our own daughter? Who, by the way, is not an infant but a teenager who adores animals and has been an animal handler for years. Kristina feeds Bella and empties her box, and only tries to play, kiss and pet her.

My favorite story is when the three of us were sitting on the steps -- Bella at the top, myself a step below, and Kristina at the bottom. I reached out for Bella and ended up grabbing her tail because she'd decided to leave at that moment. So she looked OVER my shoulder, DOWN the stairs at Kristina, and hissed and yowled at my daughter, not me.