Stripe-A-Roni Merlin

Stripe was born into one of those apartment complex cat litters.  A coworker’s daughter rescued her from the complex parking lot when she was just a baby and named her Meshaw.   

Not long after getting the kitten, the daughter saw a Stephen King movie and started to fear that Meshaw was going to “steal her breath.”  Also, the coworker’s poodle wasn’t too wild about the newest addition so the coworker decided she needed to find the kitten a new home.

After several weeks to no avail and listening to the coworker go on and on about what a beautiful kitten Meshaw was, I mentioned the kitten to Mike.  He said that we would take the kitten as Maggie needed a companion.  (Little did we know that both Maggie and this one would both have preferred to be the only cat in the house!)  

One look and Mike was sure he finally had another “male” in the house!  As such, the name had to go and he renamed the kitten Stripe, after the mean, cigarette-smoking, liquor drinking Gremlin in the movie “The Gremlins.”  To be honest, I think the name change probably affected Stripe’s personality which is why she can be sweet but is also mean, devious, and sneaky!  

Shortly after getting Stripe, we went to the vet for the initial checkup.  The vet assistant looked at Stripe and said, “What a pretty little girl!”  

Mike disagreed and said, “It’s a boy!”  

The tech came back with, “No sir, this is a little girl!  Nearly all torties are girls.”  

Mike said, “Well, this one isn’t.”  He then proceeded to roll Stripe to her back, then showed the tech to rub “down here and feel those balls.”  

The tech did as demonstrated and instructed before replying, “Yes sir, those are balls…..hair balls.”  

As you can see by this next picture, Stripe matured into a truly beautiful woman!   

Just like the rest of us, Stripe seems to be a bit confused because  it’s quite apparent that she wants to be “one of the dogs!”  When I ask if anyone wants out, Stripe is the first to answer back with, “Oooout!  Oooout nooooow!”  She eats from the dogs’ food bowls, drinks from their water bowl, and prefers their treats to her own.     

Stripe has developed knee problems in the past couple of years and arthritis is setting in - that's why she sometimes walks more like an armadillo than a cat - but she doesn’t let that keep her from getting wherever she wants to go, when she wants to go there!