OK, everybody, it’s time for a break. I’ve been covering relevant animal news now for some time and have been helping all of you to the tune of 3000 hits (that’s enormous in internet terms) since the site’s creation a way back who knows when. Would you believe the only animal news on CNN today is this stupid video featuring a dog and a sheep? That’s BORING. So, on this Sunday evening, I’m going to tell you about my cat, Skittles. Well, our cat. Here’s the story.
My fiancee and I had been itching to get a pet. We already have some fish. The biggest fish is Amadeus. When we got him, we also had three others: Punky Brewster, Lucius Tertius and Jimmy Tango. However, Amadeus systematically killed off his tank mates. First went Lucius, then Punky and finally Jimmy. It turns out that Amadeus had been pregnant, though, and he was just making room for his son, Hush Puppy who’s a happy, healthy fry right now. But that’s neither here nor there. The point is fish don’t make loyal companions.
Another bit of important tid-bit of background is that my apartment building, a high-rise in Crystal City (Arlington, VA) is beginning to fall apart. Knowing this, management sold it to Bainbridge Companies, which is definitely the sorriest property management company ever. Just ask Catherine (who’s in the property management business). Well, we found out that Bainbridge was allowing animals in the building when we heard a dog barking upstairs. A couple days later we were at Petsmart perusing the cats. Here’s a picture of Skittles in her cage.
Some time back we had decided that “Skittles” would be a great name for a cat, especially if it was a really mean cat. We named this cat Skittles but she turned out just to be stupid. A stupid cat? Yes. Skittles is pretty dense. She’s extremely clumsy, more interested in tin foil and Catherine’s hair than very realistic rabbit’s fur mice and she doesn’t bury her treasures in the litter box.
Actually, the litter box situation is pretty funny. See, Skittles LOVES to eat. She eats all the time and throws a fit if her bowl is empty. And with all that food she produces a lot of waste. Cleaning litter boxes doesn’t bother me at all. Even scooping Skittle’s box daily would have been fine, but daily isn’t enough with this cat. Since she doesn’t bury, a fresh box is only fresh until she uses it, which is very, very frequently. It was getting to the point where my entire apartment smelled like her litterbox everyday when I came home from work. We got the Littermaid to clean up after her for each visit to the box just so the apartment would be tolerable.
Here’s Skittles inside her food bag, eating, because she finished off her bowl.
Unusual traits aside, Skittles is a really great cat. I think we’re going to get her a buddy, though, and name him Kringle. Kringle will probably be a Siamese.
