A Day In The Life Of A Cat

Flash Those Pearly Whites

Today I was reminded of something that happened a really long time ago.

I won a "prettiest teeth contest".

Well, *I* didn't exactly....my cat did.

I can just imagine the confused look on all your faces right now.

I was about 10 and was on the Humane Society newsletter mailing list. I have always supported adopting animals from shelters rather than buying from a breeder or a pet store. My Dad used to take me down to the shelter once a month so see all the animals and he always made a donation. So anyway, one day during the summer I get my monthly newsletter from them. They announced they were having a contest. There were various categories: ugliest dog, pet with the biggest ears...stuff like that. When I saw the prettiest teeth category listed, I ran out to my Mom and told her we had to enter my cat. I got a look from her, but she could see I was really excited about it.

The deal with this cat was, he would jump up on the sink when I was brushing my teeth. He liked to lean over and drink the water as it coming out of the faucet. This next part I'm a little fuzzy on. I either let him bite on my tooth brush or we had an old one we let him use. I can't imagine my Mom would let me share my tooth brush with the cat, but I honestly can't remember if we had a special one for him or not. I do know I shared everything else with that cat. When I ate lunch, I always shared with him. He always slept on my bed ~ seemed he was always around if I was outside playing. Me and this cat were like peas & carrots. Plus, he was way cool. You could pick him up and carry him around, he never bit or scratched people....really laid back.

Mom said okay, but she wasn't going to buy an expensive cage to drag this cat to a prettiest teeth contest in. So I got all the scrap wood from my Dad's workbench and started building. I bet my Mom never thought I'd be able to make a cage and therefore would not have to go through with this nonsense, but I did it! Made a cage out of scrap wood and old window screen. *LAUGH* It looked like a gigantic bug cage. It was sturdy enough to hold the cat tho ~ I must have used 1200 nails on that thing.

The day of the contest arrives and I was sooooo excited! When they announced the prettiest teeth category, I took my cat up in this homemade cage. There were probably 15 other people with their pets up there with me. They all had the nice store bought cages and none of them had a cat ~ it was all rabbits and dogs. My cat was just as laid back as he always was....wasn't freaked out by all the people or the other animals at all. So a clown was judging and he was going down the line looking at all these dog and rabbit teeth when he spotted me and my big orange tabby cat at the end of the row. He smiled at me and went back to judging. When he got to me, he asked me my name....he hadn't asked any of the other people their names that I'd heard. Then he asked me why my cat had pretty teeth. I explained. He grinned. He picked my cat up and held him high in the air and accounced he had a winner! I think I might have cried I was sooo happy. I got a ribbon and was listed in the next newsletter as the having the cat with the prettiest teeth.

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The Humane Society has a new shelter that opened today! Visit their web site and make a donation. It's a very worthy cause.
http://www.sdhumane.org