Anyone that has ever owned a tabby cat knows they are personality plus. For those of you who don't know what a tabby is, it is defined as "a domestic cat with a striped and mottled coat" in the dictionary. Let me tell you about Yogii and why I fondly call him my "Dennis the Menace Obnoxious Problem Child." Yogii has an enthusiastic personality that cannot be contained. I rescued him from a flea market when he was four weeks old; to show his appreciation, he committed himself to creating a life of laughter for me.

Take for example, the day that he decided to help me while I was cleaning out my 55-gallon fish tank with my foot long Oscar and Pacu in it. Yogii was accustomed to jumping atop the mammoth fish tank and staring the fish down; smugly confident they could never hurt him. However, since I was cleaning the tank, the top was obviously removed so when he jumped up, rather than being safely ensconced on top, he suddenly found himself swimming with the fish. Mind you, these were fish that were larger than him, not to mention they are of the carnivorous variety. Have you ever seen a drowned rat fly?

Then there was the morning he decided to help me while I got ready for work. He sat on top of the toilet, only Yogii is not one of those cats known for his gracefulness and suddenly he lost his footing. When he did, he went face first down the side of the toilet, legs flailing, into the trashcan, even managing to flush it in the process. His dignity took a beating that time; he quickly stalked away in humiliation and I didn't see him the rest of the day.

The prank I will remember the longest, though, is the morning that I was abruptly awoken at 5:00 A.M. to the sound of a telephone ringing. I jumped out of bed just in time to hear one of my closest friends' sleepy voice say, "Hello… Hello?" and then hang up. Well, actually I hung up first because I didn't have the cognitive resources or the heart to tell her that my cat had managed to step on the speakerphone button and then the redial button in that order. Somehow though, I think she would have understood since she has six cats herself!

If you ever want a life that doesn't have a single dull moment in it, you should definitely get a tabby cat. I'm sure you can come up with your own descriptive nickname for him or her too!

Copyright © Lynelle M. Dawson, 2000