Elle est descendu les escaliers*

Where else can I practise my French? I'm grappling with the 'etre' verbs in the present perfect tense, and wondering things like "do all the reflexive verbs also take etre in the present perfect?" Does anyone know? To make matters worse, as soon as I get it, I forget it. A five year old learner has a better grip on the language than I have. So why continue? Because it's so much fun, of course.

The title is meant to translate as "She descended the stairs", referring to le chat. More help needed : if cats are 'male' in French, how do I indicate that Parsnip is a female? And will I ever be able to speak a little French one day?

* See corrections in the comments (thanks Tom, and Basil Pesto). I left off the 'e' in 'descendue' by mistake, for starters...