Friday, April 16, 2010

Introducing Truffle...the piggly puss formerly known as "Simply Red"

When I first looked into Truffle's eyes, I swear he hypnotized me. He made me select him to be a Yarnmarket Fabulous Feline. Melanie, his owner says that we made a good choice in Truffle because he's a good color example for a pure ginger cat and he has a "big personality."

I can believe it. I've seen photos of Truffle snuggled up against Melanie's boyfriend, and I can tell you...well...it would be hard to find a woman on this planet who wouldn't want to trade places with Melanie right now. She's got the cat and the guy...and the guy who likes the cat. Life is beautiful.

Melanie fell in love with Truffle as often happens in the modern world -- by Internet dating. She saw him on the homepage of the rescue center. Little is known about his past, but he was found abandoned in the streets of Flensburg, Germany and due his magnificent color the staff at the rescue center named him “Simply Red." One look and she was spellbound, not only by his color but also by his bossy personality.

After a couple of days Mr. Simply Red was given the first name Truffle because his appearance is reminiscent of a piglet. His tail is never straight and he has a very pink nose. Since Melanie loves both the fungal and the chocolaty truffles, the cat was named after truffle pigs. Little did she know then that his piglet appearance was mirrored by his bad habits of snoring quite loudly and well, let's just say he has digestive issues. (I suggested to Melanie that it may be the boyfriend, and he's blaming Truffle...sort of the way Alex tries to convince me that there's a duck living somewhere in our house. But I digress...)

Being a very independent, intelligent and strong-minded tomcat, Truffle spends most of waking hours with outdoor hobbies like ornithology, gardening and, of course, charming the female felines in the neighborhood. Although he's a ladies' man, he prefers to restrict his affection to his own species. He can run quite fast when approached by his human aunties for some hugs and kisses.

Like any pussycat worth his tuna, Truffle has trained his owners quite efficiently in promptly opening the apartment door for him -- preferably in the early hours of the morning -- and locking it quite properly when they leave the apartment. Otherwise, the door would be gaping wide open all the time because Truffle has mastered the art of door opening.

Although Truffle is a "man about town" he's very obedient and comes when Melanie calls him from the kitchen window on the 2nd floor of her apartment block. Then he suddenly appears jumping the high wall from the neighbor's yard, and she hears him running up the stairs to her apartment loudly announcing he's on his way -- well knowing that a delectable cat treat is awaiting him. Truffle quite literally climbs walls to get to his treats.

This clever pussycat has a regular job assisting Kristian (the very handsome boyfriend) as he prepares his lectures in English and History by taking his nap right on top of the pile of essays that need to be corrected. Kristian has tried to convince Melanie that Truffle is actually helping him by doing the first perusals.

We're delighted to welcome Truffle, Mr. Simply Red, into the highly esteemed order of Yarnmarket Fabulous Felines.

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