UPDATE: I’ve added a picture of Kermit as a grown kitteh.
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Rebecca Rundell, who used to be a student at the U of C, and is now a postdoc at the University of British Columbia, has submitted her cat (or rather, kitten) Kermit. She didn’t win the book, but the cat is adorable:
Kermit has the easygoing worldview, attitude and intelligence of Jim Henson, coupled with the wit and jumping ability of his namesake frog. Adopted from the Chicago Anti-Cruelty Society, the tiniest in a cage of kittens mostly more white than he, Kermit possesses a belt that doesn’t quite stretch around his fuzzy middle. His giant collar from the shelter weighed down his head, which barely made it over the lip of his food dish. Superior eating skills surfaced later. Kermit’s internal poultry detector is unrivalled in the animal world. His domestic habits belie a fierce mousing ability, which was widely lauded among Hyde Park apartment residents. Occasionally found napping, dislodging keys from my laptop with his stiletto paws, getting into precarious shelf positions, flipping a half-dead mouse in the air like a tennis racket, wedging into a crevice to hide from the landlord, or simply dragging an entire turkey carcass onto the floor, Kermit knows how to live. And he keeps you on board with the program, while still keeping cool about it.
He wants a copy of this book. And when he gets it, he will sit on it.
I bet Kermit is all grown up now. Handsome boy!
Is there a more recent picture?
Is he now of a size to have an easier time with turkey carcasses? L
“Internal poultry detector”? Methinks there’s a story or three waiting to be told….
b&
“Belly distended.””Poultry!”
“Internal”
“Detected. Mmmm!”
A beautiful kitteh, for sure!
Holy crap, that is a cute kitten.
I hope people who visit shelters try to adopt the older, ugly ones too, though.
…and here’s hoping those who read these words realize that, as wonderful as shelter kittehs are, it’s even better to keep cats out of shelters by spaying and neutering (not only your own but local ferals with trap-neuter-release)…and by directly bringing into your home in-need and at-risk kittehs rather than waiting for somebody else to first take them to the shelter.
Baihu was born on the streets to a feral mother. Tamar was 12 or so when a college girlfriend’s mom moved into assisted living and couldn’t take care of her any more.
b&
Actually, I think there’s often a case to be made for the shelter cats over some of the other rescues. I agree with you about taking the obviously homeless off the streets, but whenever there’s a person/previous owner involved, my experience has been that the cat in question already has an advocate; and that no matter how desperate the plea sounds, that advocate means said cat is still one step removed from the desperation of the shelter cat, who has no specific advocate left.
It’s interesting, here in SW MI, where over the last 20 years or so a bunch of rescue organizations have sprung up which sweep through local pounds and remove what they consider adoptable animals; this still leaves a population of passed-over animals behind. They are definitely on death row . . .
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IIRC, this is the first real background info we’ve had about Tamar. I’d love to hear more!
No sympathy for the victim:
China tycoon ‘ate poisoned cat-meat stew’
I’m sitting on Speciation instead.
Did someone say “turkey”? I just remembered. I’m hungry.
Such a striking juxtaposition of Kermie with the orcas. (Turkeys watch out!)
Aww, Kermit is a doll! And I loved your write-up, Rebecca!