Introducing Sappho

Initially I was going to keep this blog about Animal Issues, and leave my personal life out of it other than my opinions on said Animal Issues. Then I started writing, and my God is this thing depressing! So much sadness, so much cruelty, always an uphill battle.

But it's not like that for every animal, thankfully. I have three of my own - two cats and a dog - and when I stumbled upon this little gem of a photo, I knew I just had to share it.

This is my cat, Sappho. She's the baby of our family and she's soft and shy and dainty. She rarely comes out from under our bed if we have company over but sometimes she'll surprise us and make an appearance. Until the dog chases her back to her hiding place, loving big brother that he is.

This is Sappho doing what we call "The Bear." I mean...don't you see it? She never fights or struggles when we hold her front arms up this way, even when she knows it's coming, but she always gives us this surly look.

Another funny thing about Sappho is her misunderstanding of the whole covered litterbox idea. She goes in, keeping her front paws and head outside the box, does her business and then proceeds to scrape at the outside of the box - which covers nothing - and hops out, prouder than if she'd used the toilet.

My husband calls her defective, but I think maybe she's just stinking up the place to get back at us for making her do The Bear. And I don't blame her for jumping from the litterbox right into his lap.