"When a person has a problem I speak to the cat,” Natalya said. “And the cat solves the situation.”

"How does the cat speak to you"

“Like all cats speak to people,” she said. Meaning he meows.

Cats and female magicians have a long history, but Natalya, who claims a masters degree in magic, seems to be a new evolution. Not only can you go along, pay her 5,000 rubles ($170) so the cat will speak and solve your problem, but you can also leave with the cat yourself.

She has lots of Canadian sphinxes, the hairless breed that looks like Gollum in “The Lord of the Rings” films, and for 45,000 rubles they are yours.

“As the cat is naked, it means he has a heightened magical power,” Natalya explained. “A person chooses a cat, I charge him up — it takes a few days — and I give the cat to the person.”

So each cat is individualized, I said.

“Individualized,” she said, rolling the word around and obviously liking the sound of it. “Yes, each cat is individualized.”

She also has a very rare breed, the Bambino, a dwarf bald cat that was bred for the first time a few years ago and whose inventors will one day end up in The Hague. Cats of this breed cost 150,000 rubles ($5,100).

I suspect that selling cats is frowned upon in older magic circles where a cat was supposed to stay constantly by your side, purring satanically, until the day you lose the handsome prince to the beautiful princess and throw him out of the window of your tower to drown in the moat.

“The sphinxes would probably float,” I can hear the witches sneer.

Things are on a more practical level with Natalya.

“He will be a magical talisman, and unhappiness will not touch any person who lives with such a cat,” she said.

She then asked which paper I saw her advertisement in — cats that look like rats are not good at running a decent marketing strategy unless you do the follow-up questions.

I said the cat wasn’t for me but for a friend. “What’s wrong with your friend?” Natalya asked.

“He’s depressed.”

“Oh, the cat’s perfect for that.”

A minute or two later, I threw in: “He’s also bankrupt.”

“He will have 100 percent luck in business,” she said.

Some time later.

“His wife has left him too.”

“That also can be solved.”

Finally I tried: “Actually he’s more of a dog lover.”

“I’ll explain to him like this,” she said. “Bald cats have a noncat character, they follow their owners around. They actually have a dog character.”