I don’t know when it happened, but when I wasn’t looking the women of the house met and decided we needed another pet. This doesn’t happen very often, only when they think I’m going to object. So there I was, reclining on the couch when all of a sudden Domenica (that’s my wife) and Julia and Rosella (our twin daughters), appeared at the doorway to the living room staring at me. At first, I thought I got caught with chocolate on my face (I need to watch my intake), so guiltily I sat up and wiped at my mouth and then I heard a squeaky … "Meeeeww!"

Their argument was this … Rocky (our cat) is getting too old for Cookie (our Boston Terrier) who at times thinks she’s a cat too. They eat, sleep and play together. They even clean each other. Now that’s friendship. But, sometimes Cookie can be a real pain in the fur-ball. That’s when Rocky decides to dust off the top of the kitchen cabinets. So their plan was to get Cookie a new friend … someone frisky and energetic, a sort of fluffy maniac. Enter Jinx … A Rocky look-a-like, only fifty pounds smaller and a hundred times quicker.

It took all of three seconds for me to have the precious little animal purring and rubbing itself all over me. I tugged at his cute little ears, pulled at his long white whiskers and stroked his back from head to tail. He sounded like a motor boat. What makes cats do that anyway? Sometimes, I swear Cookie tries to purr, only to make a noise that sounds somewhat like a seal with a whooping cough. Her meow isn’t much better. I’ve yet to hear Rocky try to bark. Jinx the cat climbed up my leg ("Ow … Eeeeyiii … Ooooo … Ouch … Finally, my lap). He stretched his claws to reach my mouth, which was still quivering from the pain of his ascent (Yooooww! Pierced lip!) He then affectionately head-butted my chin. The girls smiled. Jinx passed the first test. Dad was a pushover.

Cookie is a great companion; she’s full of love and affection. And Rocky is a gentle giant; so big he looks like he swallowed a melon. They’re part of the family and so we treat them with love and respect. How could the girls do this to them? Rocky was the first to check Jinx out. He gave him a quiet growl, turned and made a beeline to the door. Cookie was another story. She looked at the kitten and must have thought … "Oh boy a new wrestling buddy". She ran straight toward Jinx only to be greeted by a flurry of Kung Fu like swipes from the tiny puffed up, spitting tiger. Cookie turned and ran over Rocky on the way out.

When the girls purchased the kitten they were subjected to a screening that was worse than being a hostile witness in a murder case. "We want to be sure they’re going to a good home", the woman said as my wife was being fingerprinted and my daughter hooked up to a lie detector. Oh great, the same woman answered the phone. She promptly told us what we did wrong, instructed us how to correctly introduce the new pet and then quickly called the ASPCA to launch an undercover investigation. Well … It worked. Welcome, Jinx, to the Mancuso household.