This time out, I join Leah and Dick as they take their cat, Maxwell Silver Hammer Smith, out for a treat at a frozen-custard joint in honor of his 20th birthday. (By the way, the oldest cat recorded by Guinness World Records was 38.)

To learn more about Max, visit his birthday website, where you can hear him howl, yowl, meow and purr. On the site, you can also read about Max's dietary regimen, which includes distilled water and concessions to his increasingly finicky concept of mealtime. At one time, he insisted upon being served Gerber baby food.

Leah, however, has an easy explanation for Max's behavior.

"For years, I've suspected that Max is an alien," she writes in 'Planet Catnip: My Life With an Alien Cat," a chapter in the just-published book "Cat Women: Female Writers on Their Feline Friends."

"I don't know what planet he beamed down from," Leah writes, "but he's definitely Out There. For one thing, he likes to follow us around the house, watching intently, as if he's taking mental notes on all our doings to report to someone later. I work at home, so his favorite observation spot during the day is my desk. When he's not staring unnervingly at my computer screen while I type, he's sitting on my papers -- he has a sixth sense of just which one I need at any time, and that suddenly becomes his favorite resting spot.

"But anyone could argue that those are 'normal' cat traits. The biggest hint I have that Max is not from this world is his abnormal reaction to catnip. Most cats, when exposed to this herb, become excited, euphorically sniffing, rolling around, shaking their heads, and rubbing against things. Even lions and tigers have this catnip response. Not Max...."

This week, several writers who contributed to "Cat Women" -- including Leah, Margaret Littman and Judy Sutton Taylor -- will read from the book at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 20, at The Book Cellar, 4736 N. Lincoln Ave., in Chicago's Lincoln Square. We'll be there, so stop by and say hey!

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