I would suggest getting what I have — a lovely antique cast stone cat originally designed as a garden ornament. It’s the best behaved cat I’ve ever had, and also provides humor whenever a new cat comes into the house. They stalk it, sneak up behind it where it can’t see them coming, and invariably raise up a paw and smack it on the ear. The stone ear. Then paws are held up in the air and perused until kitteh realizes that there are humans convulsed with laughter… Then shoulders are washed, with the “I did that to amuse you” look. Right….

I don’t know if they sell cast stone bassets, but possibly if you went on e-bay you could score one of those china dalmations they used to reward losers with on Wheel of Fortune…

NTodd uses them on his three.

He might have a point.

We are in the process of adding a stray rescue cat to our family. She is adorable, all gray from nose to tail. We have a twelve-year-old cat and an eight-year old dog who existed just fine with the cat we had (she just passed away).

So we’re gradually letting the new kitty become part of the group by leaving the door open to the spare bedroom where she’s currently living. First time open, the dog sneaks in and eats all of the kitten chow. Second time open, the other cat sneaks in, eats the kitten chow. I am going through a lot of kitten chow for just one kitten. So the dish has been moved to a secure site until the older members get over the whole “resenting the new kid” thing.

You state that a bathroom door was left open. Since the LTC and Ms. T are in Hawaii, and since Beckham and Fenway do not have opposable thumbs, the list of suspects is not lengthy.

Our dachshund recently pulled everything out of the bathroom wastebasket, strewed it all over the floor Hansel-and-Gretel-style, and then threw up what he’d swallowed along the way. Then he rolled over for a belly rub. Which I gave him.