House pet hierarchy – Hive and Nest

I came back last night from my weekend in Minneapolis to find that my husband, one of the most vigilant cat haters alive, had gotten this while I was gone:

The kids have been bugging to get a cat for ages. We already have a dog, though, which is at the top of the “desirable pet hierarchy”* But all of our older children have read the Warrior Cat series of books. Most girls (and some boys–like mine who have run out of things to read at our house) under the age of 13 have read at least a couple. These books are all about feral cats who have cheesy names like FirePaw. I don’t get it, but whatever. So cats have been a big deal around here for quite some time. And I’ll admit that I like cats better than dogs. Cats are so pleasantly self-sufficient. They aren’t desperate for love and attention like pathetic dogs. But Mister, well, he hates cats. We had a cat ten years ago who was pure evil and that really spoiled it for us.

But Mister was at a garage sale on Saturday and they had a box of free kittens and, well, now we have one. She’s very teensy and she likes to play with toothbrushes.

The family held off naming the cat until I got home, knowing that I am super picky about names. I was thinking of Mabel, Polly or Jemima, which the kids all made gagging sounds about. These were each child’s top picks for names:

Arabella: Ginger, Tillie, Flora

India: Boo, Millie, Katniss

York: Jango Fett, Salacious Crumb, Droopy McCool (those are all Star Wars characters, for all of you not showered with Star Wars trivia 24 hours a day like me).

Finn: Bono, Mistress Evil, Chuck Norris, Slopkin

I finally got out the baby name book and we went through just about every girl name until we found one we didn’t all hate.

*the bottom spot belongs, of course, to beta fish. They don’t even get a cute fishtank. Goldfish are slightly better. Lizards and frogs are a step up. Birds are much more desirable than amphibians. All the top spots belonging to furry animals. There is a grey area for cute but somewhat unfriendly animals like rabbits and chinchillas. Cats are in second place. Dogs are the creme de la creme. If you get a dog you have made it as a kid. There should be no more pleas for another pet once you’ve got a dog. You might think that a pony would be on the top, but you would be wrong. Although most kids want a pony in theory, in actuality they are smelly, slightly scary and you either have to drive or walk a long way to visit it.