Our ragdoll cat Claudia got her name in the car on the day we brought her home.
My partner and I had originally been looking at Siamese cats from a girl in Carnoustie, and they were lovely but we really wanted a ragdoll.
It just so happened that she had a ragdoll cat that was due to have kittens, and she told us we could have first pick.
When the kittens arrived, sure, enough, we went to pick – but we told each other if we weren’t sure again, we’d just come away.
But the minute we laid eyes on the smallest kitten in the litter, we both knew we wanted her. She was so bonnie, all blonde fur and blue eyes.
We were driving home and I said: “Look, she’s just a wee supermodel, isn’t she?”
I was wondering what we could call her, and my partner said: “Claudia, after Claudia Schiffer!”
‘Tiny’ Claudia gets away with murder
Claudz is a good age now but she’s still tiny. I think that’s how she gets away with murder!
She follows us everywhere we go around the house. And she’ll let you know it’s dinner time by sitting up on the chair at the dining table, every single night, to wait for her food.
And true to her name, she likes being kept beautiful! She loves the brush. Because she’s a ragdoll cat, Claudia needs brushed every day.
She’s quite laid back about it, not like a regular domestic shorthair.
Although clipping her claws is a different story – she hisses at that!
15 minutes of fame for Claudia
Claudia loves attention – she’s even been on TV.
A while ago, I took her to the vet because she had a really crackly meow. But after prodding and looking down her throat, the vet couldn’t find anything wrong with her.
Then a couple of weeks later, I was watching the Australian vet Dr Scott Miller on the TV. So I phoned in and said: “My cat’s lost her meow.”
They phoned me back and asked me to send in a picture of Claudz, and then Dr Miller called me.
I asked what he thought could be wrong and he told me he wasn’t sure, but it could be her thyroid, and that got me thinking. So I took her back to the vet to have her thyroid checked.
Thankfully, they found nothing wrong with her, but it was still a mystery – until I realised she was pretending!
Now, she’s got three meows – her pretend one, where she opens her mouth and no sound comes out, her crackly one, and a normal one.
Regardless of which meow she uses, she’s very good at telling us what she wants.
Claudia loves catnip as all cats do, and she’s got a little mouse toy which she boots about the living room.
Everything’s on her terms, which we don’t mind.
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