Taz the Terrible

You don't want to be messing with me. I've been around here the longest and I was named after the Tazmanian Devil. Something about climbing door frames when I was a kitten and holding my own against the dog, whose head was bigger than I was . . .

I'm the father of the Terrible Trio - not that that's any great accomplishment. It's not like I was allowed to discipline them as kittens, and their mother babied them something fierce. She wouldn't even let me protect them from the dog - when the dog would start barking at them I'd go after her, but then Panda would come after me! A guy just can't win around here.

So mostly I keep to myself these days. Or I try to, anyway. Julius just won't give up the idea that we can be best buddies. He wants to cuddle, for crying out loud. Romi and Dante are just plain annoying.

Not one of those kids is fluffy, like me. And the only one who inherited my extra toes was the girl, Josie, who lives with the Treat Lady. That's right, I have extra toes.The technical name for it is polydactylism, but I preferred to be called a Hemmingway Cat. Maybe someday I'll even write a novel of my own.