What's this? Not a picture of Duchess? Not a picture of a niece or nephew? You're such a keen-eyed observer. No indeed, this is a picture of Ping. He's my brother's cat, and he'll be staying at my house until his family gets a more permanent living situation.

Personally, I think Ping is the prettiest cat I've ever seen. He's a mix between the traditional yellow tabby and a siames - thus a creamy white coat with yellow/orange points.

He's kind of old and cranky and isn't too thrilled about having a puppy for a roommate. Duchess thinks it's ever-so-exciting that there's a cat upstairs under the bed, or in the bathroom or whatnot. Ping has given Duchess a few good swipes, but no one has drawn blood so far. Duchess desperately wants to play. Ping just wants to sleep and look cool. Hopefully they will make friends eventually - or at least learn to ignore and tolerate each other.

First unwanted side-effect..... Duchess doesn't understand why the cat can go to the bathroom inside, but she can't. Wouldn't be so bad if Duchess would also use the litterbox, but no... right next to it seems to be close enough in the dog world.

Also, cat food seems to be more appealing than puppy food. And bark, bark, bark! The cat is on _top_ of the bed instead of underneath it like he was before! Bark bark bark!

How did I go from zero pets to three within a matter of months? (I've got a fish too. A very quiet red beta.)