Presidential Pets Past and Present

Since my husband and I love having extra time to spend playing with our kitties, whenever a holiday rolls around, our cats are in seventh heaven. This said, yesterday as I was getting ready to write something about President's day, Hush Puppy, our lilac point Oriental Shorthair ambled into my office, leaped onto my computer desk and glared at me. Frankly, I was amazed and shocked and by his somewhat negative reaction to the upcoming President's Day. However, Hush Puppy always shoots from the hip and always offers valuable suggestions. He made it perfectly clear while he understands the importance of setting aside a special day in honor of our presidents; to reflect on the contributions they have made to our country, at the same time he believes only those of our courageous leaders who truly loved cats really deserve to receive this honor. Obviously I had to give some consideration to his editorial input. Since it's no secret I'm passionate about felines, I found myself in agreement with my strongly opinionated furry literary "assistant." So I immediately began surfing the Internet to find some interesting tidbits about our presidents who treasured kitties. To my delight I found an abundance of fascinating facts about cats and the Commanders in Chief. So let's begin our journey with just a few of the famous felines who spent time living in the White House. To get the ball rolling, our 18th President, Abraham Lincoln shared the White House with the original "First Cat" named Tabby. Rutherford Hayes, 19th President was owned by Siam. Given to him as a gift by the American Consul in Bangkok, this special kitty was the first Siamese to reach the United States, in 1878. How's that for cat trivial? John Kennedy, 35th President was owned by Tom Kitten. In 1962 when Tom Kitty went to the Rainbow Bridge the press gave him an obituary notice. Jimmy Carter, our 39th President lived with Misty Malarky Ying Yang, another Siamese First Cat. The 40th President, Ronald Regan had the pleasure of living with Cleo and Sara, Tortoiseshell strays, in addition to several unnamed kitties. 42nd President Clinton was owned by two cats named Socks and Buddy. George W. Bush, 43rd President had three cats. Two were Erine and India aka "Willie" Bush. Cowboy, his third cat died in February 2000 at the age of 12 from kidney disease. Cowboy was reported to be the president's favorite. And even though Hush Puppy is not thrilled, I could not end this piece without mentioning Bo, that famous Portuguese Water Dog, belonging to our 44th President, Barack Obama and his family. I mean, let's cut him some slack since Malia is allergic to dogs, in order to keep his promise to his daughters he went the extra mile to make sure it was kept. I just think it's fabulous that our leaders hold a special place in their hearts for family pets, don't you? Share your thoughts in a comment. Image Source: Wikipedia, Socks