Butch, the bovine feline

by Teresa Ginther
(Cat Colony, FL)

My tale begins with Midas (named after "the Hand of...") & Tut, two "brothers" (or so we thought). These two have the most exotic genetic markings I have ever seen. Midas (who has since passed on) was a light gray striped tabby cat with thumbs on all four feet. Now, I've seen 6-toed cats before & this was nothing of the kind...he had THUMBS! I saw him wrap his "fingers" around a lizard, with the thumb on the other side (much like we humans hold a soda bottle)!! It became apparent when sister Tut, short for Tutankhamen, became a beach ball that she should have been named Bast!! She is a beautiful calico with splotches & stripes. The stripes come out of her eyes, similar to the Egyptian cat-gods we have all seen in statues.

Tut gave birth to a litter of 6. Three of them were brown & black tiger striped, two looked like Tut & one looked like Midas. It was early in their lives that the two mini-Tuts & one brown & black tiger decided to ride with Daddy to work under the hood of his truck. Only one mini-Tut made it home... a feisty female we named Rolo because she was aggressive & hungry ALL THE TIME (like Rolo from Disney's 101 Dalmations).

Rolo is mother to Butch-Kitty, a male who appears to be part Holstein cow & part kitten. I tried to think of a cow name & all I could come up with are girl-cow names... Elsie, Bessie, etc... I ask you, the reader, where are all the boy-cow names in modern media??? I created my own...Butch. He does not look like a "Butch;" he is much too cute for his name. But if you add "Kitty" onto the end, it sounds better: Butch-Kitty was born in our yard, with us wondering as to the whereabouts of him & his siblings. We found them one day while raking the leaves in our yard. Rolo had hidden her litter in a stack of concrete blocks; all five of them inside one of the cells of a cinder block! We promptly removed them & moved them to the "nursery" where two other mamas each had their five babies.

Needless to say, we have a "cat farm" currently, with three mamas of five each & the two males from Midas & Tut's only litter. After giving a few away, we still have over 15 cats, all of which are outside "mousers" on our vast farm. We dare not exit the house without food, lest they douse US in barbeque sauce & nibble their way into the house! So without further ado...here is BUTCH-KITTY and the rest of our menagerie! Hope you enjoy!