by Laureen Manera

Created on: May 19, 2008

Where do I begin with this one? My family has had so many weird pets over the years it's hard to remember all of them. I guess I'll start with one of the first:

1. Snowflake the Brainless Cat

My mother found her as a tiny kitten sitting in the middle of the street. She was absolutely beautiful- pure white, except for a tiny black spot on her head, with blue eyes. She tried to find the owner, but never did, so we kept her.

She was the daintiest cat I'd ever seen; and looked absolutely feminine. Had she been a human, she'd be a princess. Had she been a human, she'd also be a dumb blonde. I'd swear that cat had nothing even resembling gray matter between her ears. To be blunt, she was stupid.

It first became apparent when she would tease Kelley, a neighborhood dog that we sometimes let inside. Kelley was a very large dog of uncertain breeding. I believe he was mostly German Shepherd. Snowflake showed not the slightest hint of fear of Kelley, even at the beginning. Kelley easily could've made a meal of our fluffy white kitty in one gulp if he'd wanted to; but luckily he never showed any aggression toward her. She, on the other hand, would play hiding games with Kelley- enticing him to chase her, then hiding in places he couldn't go because of his size.

Kelley then would look at us, forlorn, and start whimpering!

Many people don't know this, but most white cats with blue eyes are deaf. Snowflake, however, was not. She could hear just fine. But her thinking process was a different story altogether.

Over the years that we had her, Snowflake's challenged intelligence manifested in many other ways. She had no fear of dogs- any dogs. A dog once came on our porch and up to the screen door where Snowflake was watching through blank blue eyes. The pooch was barking and snarling like crazy- ooh, he wanted to get her- and she just blinked. No hissing. No growling. No furious clawing at the screen. Just a dull, blank stare.

Another time, there was a mouse on the front porch that one of our other cats caught and left there. The critter was alive, and appeared unhurt, and running around there on the porch. Mom grabbed Snowflake and set her on the porch with the mouse, to see what she'd do.

Snowflake saw something moving. She briefly glanced at the tiny rodent racing all around her. Then she looked away and blinked. "Uh, what do I care about that?" she seemed to say.

As ladylike as she was, Snowflake had a terrible temper when something made her mad. And when she was mad, she was mad at

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>