Petie is a

MOONLIGHTER!!!!

yup. Now, when you say moonlighter, I think of the back hills where someone has a moonshine stand.... however not the case here. let me explain, shall I?

My next door neighbor called me today and said "I just want you to know I will be going to my daughters for a few days and will not be able to feed the cat." HUH?? Um, "ok," says I, "not a problem, Petie gets enough here. " "oh," says Mrs. G. "I was worried about him, because it is going to be so cold, I didn't want him to starve." (seriously, are talking about the same 14 lb stocky, belly goes from side to side cat here??)

then she goes on to say "you know, I am really afraid of him." (who, Petie?? he is a bully to small ish critters and other cats but not to humans. well, except the vet, and you can read about that here) but if you're not a vet, I'd say odds are he will like you. "Why?" I ask, because no one I know is afraid of him. (although he is a bad ass.) "Well," she says, "when he comes in my house," "WAIT," I say, "he comes IN your house?" "Oh, all the time", she says, "most every afternoon, he howls at the back door and then runs through my house, up the stairs and onto my spare bed, where he will take a nap for 2-3 hours." I am dumbfounded at this point, total loss for words, and am trying to figure out that why, if she is afraid of him she lets him IN her house. "Ok, Mrs. G., why are you afraid of him?" (Now i HAVE to know, because I cannot figure out the whole scenario). "well," she says, "he will look at me and arch his back and jump a little bit." I start to laugh a little bit and I say to her, "when he arches his back, that means he wants a pet, that is his way of granting permission." "Oh, no..." says Mrs. G, "last time he did that, I put my hand out, and he tried to bite the leg of my pants, so I am really afraid of him. Some days it is a real battle to keep him out, he is persistent." Oh boy.... so last week when it was super cold out, Petie didn't come home and I worried about him... guess now I know where to look!! Wonder if I need to petition the courts for joint custody????