The OTHER House Where the Black Cat Lives

There are cat people, and there are dog people.

Then there are cat people who think they're dog people. Take my hairdresser, Robert.

Robert is a total guy. A Harley-driving, rock and roll blaring, "dawg"-owning kind of guy. He doesn't like cats. He'll tell you so.

So imagine my surprise about a year ago when I walked up for an appointment to find a very skinny, very hostile tortoiseshell cat guarding a bowl of milk and kibble on the salon's front porch.

"Oh, we're just feeding her until she goes back where she came from."

Last time I counted, that porch now feeds and sleeps six cats, give or take a few, all descendants of that one little tortoiseshell.

A few months after the face-off with the hostile little tortie, I was greeted at Robert's door by the sweetest, most diminutive black kitten I had ever seen. "Pee-Wee" had recently wandered onto Robert's porch. The other cats were being mean to her, so Robert decided to take her in -- until he could find a home for her.

I guess I don't have to tell you how that turned out.

By my next appointment, Princess Pee-Wee was napping in the best seat in the house, as Robert, in paparazzi mode, snapped photos for the salon's web site.

While my color set, Robert cooed as he rubbed his nose against Pee Wee's head.

Poor Pee Wee. It's a shame your daddy doesn't like cats.

For the longest time, Pee Wee remained the world's smallest (and most spoiled) black kitten. Finally, she began to grow, mostly in her mid-section.

The next time I went to the salon, there were four more identical little Pee-Wees in residence.

Robert's dog-person credentials were now seriously being called into question.

Last Saturday, two of the kittens, now about nine weeks old, left together for their new home. After saying his goodbyes, Robert looked around the now much emptier salon and shook his head.

"Man, that was hard," he said, scooping up one of the remaining kittens and cuddling it close. "Much harder than I thought it would be."

It's always the dog people who fall the hardest.