A Feline Genealogy

In the beginning was Kat Katzenjammer, a beautiful gray striped tabby with white face, chest and paws. Kat is now the matriarch, affectionately known as Mama Kat.

Kat's first kitten died young, and was posthumously named Patient Zero. Her next, another singleton, was KitKat, white and tabby like her mom. Then came two boy kittens, Salt'n Pepper. (Salt'n has more white than tabby. Pepper has more tabby than Salt'n.) KitKat went AWOL some time back. Salt'n has adopted our sister who lives next door. Pepper continues to guard the home front.

And just last month (in March) Mama Kat had a litter of three: Tigger, Popo (short for Potpourri), and Dal (short for Dalmation). Unfortunately, Dal didn't stay with us long. But Tigger and Popo are happily romping around getting into mischief. Tigger is pure gray striped tabby; not a speck of white. Popo is a mixture of orange, gray tabby, and white. Dal was mostly white with a couple of tabby spots.

Soon after Kat adopted me, Kub Katzenjammer, an orange tabby, joined the family. Kub's first two kittens were named Orange Pekoe and Earl Grey. (I'll leave it to the reader to guess their colour.) Her next two were Tigger and Tiger, both striped orange tabby. Then came Roo and Roo Too. Her fourth litter were named Roo Two and Roo Two Too. All the Roos were orange, and approximately identical. Only one of the four Roos is still around today. All her other siblings have left home to follow their own adventures. Mama Kub has found another home too.

So the current home team lineup is Mama Kat, Pepper, Roo, Tigger and Popo.

Update: A couple of months ago Roo started showing a suspicious bulge, so we began calling her "Preggers Roo", expecting that she would soon earn the sobriquet "Mama Roo". Well, the big day came, but it was a very difficult delivery, and she clearly wanted to distance herself from these three little creatures that had caused her so much pain. Mama Kat helped a bit as a midwife, giving the newborns their first wash, but couldn't or wouldn't nurse them; and Roo ignored them completely -- no maternal instinct in evidence at all. With no loving mommy to care for them, what chance would these poor little guys have? They hung on grimly for a couple of days, but eventually closed their tiny unopened eyes for good.

Just last week another small kitten turned up and asked if she could stay. She is almost exactly the same colour as Popo, but about half the size, so she can't be more than a couple of months old. The other cats didn't object, so the newcomer was allowed to join the family, and was christened "Pooh", after the A.A. Milne bear; the name also sounds like the Tamil word for "flower".

So with Tigger, Roo, and Pooh in the family, as well as Mama Kat, Pepper and Popo, I'm wondering if I should change my name to Christopher Robin.