My cat has trained me well. His name is Bear. He was given to me as a birthday present and barn-warming gift six years ago. I didn't really want or need a cat at the time, so I accepted the gift on a contingency basis; the contingency being, can he catch mice? The first hour at the farm he caught a rat, in the horse barn, almost as big as he was. Bear was only six months old. I decided he earned his keep for the rest of his life, so he stayed.

People who know me are fully aware that I am a sentimental slush when it comes to animals, so all my friends were taking bets as to how long it would take before Bear started living in the house. Our veterinarian won the bet. He said two weeks.

Hunter by day and snoozer by night, Bear caught rodents in the barn, and dozed by the fireplace or slumbered on our bed at night. When winter snowstorms hit, he decided that going up to the barn was too much of a struggle. The snow gets pretty deep in upstate New York, so I drove him up to the barn in my pick-up truck when I went to feed the horses in the morning.

Keep in mind, there was a heated tack room in the barn to which Bear had access, with plenty of cat food and water. Oh yes, and a sofa with pillows. In late afternoon, I picked him up and drove him back down to the house. Am I the only person who drives her cat to and from work?

We sold the farm, but Bear still catches rodents in the back yard, in the woods, and around the flower gardens. He loves going for a ride in the pick up truck, so I accommodate his taste for travel by touring the countryside while he looks out the window.

At six years old, Bear continues to be an avid hunter with an insatiable obsession for our toilet bowl. Have you ever wondered why cats like to drink out of the toilet bowl? Our veterinarian said, "It's because they have little kitty cat brains", so he doesn't know the answer either.

There is no scientific explanation whatsoever for this feline preoccupation with toilet bowls. If anyone can come up with a reason for this phenomenon let me know. I hate to lose anymore sleep over this. It keeps me awake laughing.

Speaking of laughing, just for giggles, we've nicknamed Bear "the tidy bowl man", an appropriate moniker for this tough but loveable feline.

Copyright 2005 by Pamela Beers All rights reserved.