By Any Other Name

Officially, his name is Leo the Chinese Lion. And I can see the lion in him, even though we think he really resembles a fox. He’s got a long pointy fox face, a long fox body, and a truly magnificent extra fluffy puffy tail, sorta fox-like.

He is Lion hearted, unafraid to sneak up and goose the snarling she-beast we know as Star. He’s leonine in that he spends the heat of the day rolling around in several naps and conserving his energy.

But we’re talking about his many names today. And oh my does he have more than one. We’re silly like that around here. At least I am, but since It’s my blog, I can say we if I want and no one can counter me, bwahaha! .. um, anyway..

Leo the Chinese Parrot was the first extra name he was given. Mostly because he spent at least half of the eight hour trip home from Chrystal’s (please adopt a kitty from her!) on my shoulder. Nothing can make him come down when he wants some shoulder time.. He’s a very determined pussy cat. Which leads to:

Leo the Chinese Scarf. Or just Leo scarf, but are you sensing a theme here yet? He drapes himself over my shoulder, around my neck whenever I’m at the big computer, and occasionally elsewhere. He’s a very warm scarf. But the purrs are worth it.

Leo the Chinese Cockroach. Ok, that’s a new one since he’s started sleeping on the bed with me in the mornings. He’s perfectly content to stay there, rolling around, curling up, borrowing pillows and generally making himself at home. Until the light turns on. Then he scrambles off the bed and out of the room like scattering cockroaches!

Leo the Chinese Goofball. There are a couple of times during the day that he gets all bouncy and goofy. Morning is one, when he’ll leap on anything and strut around with his tail straight up while he’s looking for trouble to get into. The other time is after snack at night. That’s when he’ll go on bug hunts and stalk Star. Wait, does that mean he thinks she’s a bug? Hmm..

Leo the Chinese Snoop. He inspects everything that comes into the house. I know a lot of cats are like that, but he will even stand up on his back legs, and tall boy that he is, he can see everything on any table. The other day, he inspected my nieces purse, chewed through a pair of ear buds and stole a hair band she didn’t even remember was in there. Which brings us to..

Leo the Chinese Thief. He takes things and carries them around. Tissues are common enough, but he takes newspapers on occasion. Sections anyway. Plastic clam shell packaging is an amazing draw for him. He’s not been extremely thrilled with the laser pointer, but he will go to great lengths to steal the package from it which still has spare batteries in it. Before anyone brings it up, I know how dangerous button batteries are for kitties, if they swallow them it can be very very bad. They are safely put away now.

You know, I never did ask Chrystal why ‘Chinese’ Lion.. and I certainly mean no disrespect by using it in his nicknames so I hope no one is offended. I have looked up Chinese lions, and basically saw two types. The long dragon lions used in parades where several people inside it make it look like it’s bounding up and down the street. Leo is a very long cat and he bounces up and down all over the place, so perhaps that’s it.

But he got his name before he got long and bouncy. Perhaps it’s from the other type of Chinese lion. The carved ones with the ball in their mouth. These works of art are carved from one piece, the ball is carved from inside the mouth, not carved and placed inside later. The mouth is always open to show off the skill of the craftsman who can carve a perfectly round ball inside a lion’s mouth. Leo is not a talker, but if you look at his kitten pictures on Chrystal’s site, it seems like his mouth is open in most of them! And of course, there’s his habit of carrying things around in his mouth, ball or whatever.

Whatever the case, my Leo the Chinese Whatever is a pretty special kitty and I’m so happy he’s mine.

While we’re thinking of Chrystal, why don’t you bounce over to her blog and look over the kitties up for adoption? You know you want one and they are just the sweetest things! And then you can look at the fund raiser bricks! Leo’s got one, you should get one for your kitties or doggies or yourself before she ends the sale! Hurry and be part of the Winnie’s Wish Walkway!



Here’s a little action from Leo the Chinese Goofball and a rather chewed up da bird. He jumps in the goofiest, wildest, most flippy and adorably way for this!

I's loaded like a spring.. I's gonna burst out 'n get you flying fedder!

Mid-turn, skidding on the carpet, trying to grab the bird when it swings the other way

You can't get away from me! I will track you to the end of times! Ahahaha!

Star got in on the fun as she was hopped up on catnip. She's far too fast to get pictures of when she's on the chase, but here she is contemplating her next burst of attack speed.

It will turn five degrees to the left on it's next pass, I'll grab it then...

Wait for it.. wait.... NOW!

For the record, I have tried to give Leo catnip on several occasions. He either ignores it or runs from it. I have never seen a cat act that way with nip. Star got another butterfly like her favorite, it has catnip in it. Billed as zoom around the room high test catnip, she adores it. It makes Leo zoom around the room... to get away from it.