Guest Post: A Kitty Named Mitzi

By Janis Grover

So, you may or may not be aware of the upheaval in the Grover household as I've had to tackle the curious questions of life from my almost 7-year-old son. It all began when one of his classmates began talking about her father's upcoming vasectomy and went downhill faster than a jumper on the Empire State Building. It was a painful time to be the mom of a clueless, misinformed first grade boy who had heard about the "naughty spot down there" and that this surgery would keep boys from having babies. He didn't know boys could have babies, and I was quick to assure him that girls are the ones who have babies. I should have been more specific, but who would have guessed it'd come back to bite me so fast?

Well, we'd pretty much gotten to the point that the vasectomy questions had wound down.finally.and I was beginning to think I might have actually handled it okay and wouldn't have to deal with any further curious questions for a little while. My mistake.

We got a kitten a few months ago from a family who could no longer keep her in the house because they'd had a baby. My husband went ahead and brought her home, and after an evening of observing the hell-raiser, we named her Mitzi. She's a pretty kitty, except for that occasional psycho streak that exists in all cats, and she adjusted to living with us okay, so we decided
we'd keep her. Jaylon had wanted a pet anyway, and since I'm not a dog person, this was a nice fix.

I'd been out to my folks' house this past weekend and saw several of the mama cats on the porch. They were all so teensy except for their bulging bellies, and I told Mom that Mitzi was huge compared to her cats even thoughshe was only about 7 months old. Then came the question that rattled in my head for two days, "Are you sure Mitzi's not a boy?" Well, the previous owner had said she was a girl, and I didn't want to traumatize her with a
full-body search right after coming into the house, and after she'd been with us a few days, I didn't think about it again. I'd even called the vet to find out how much it would cost to spay her. But after the conversation with Mom and because I was getting bothered enough by her size and the fact that she hadn't gone into heat yet, I chased Mitzi's butt down and gave her
a physical examination last night.

Yep, you guessed it. Mitzi is a mister. *sigh*

So I told Jaylon this morning that Mitzi is a boy.

"But Mitzi is a girl's name!"

Yes, I am aware of that.

"Is she still gonna be able to have babies?"

No, Jaylon, Mitzi is a boy, so he won't be having babies.
"Then why did *insert name here* have a vasectomy?" which was quickly followed by an
agitated "Why do we even have boy cats?"

We have to have boy cats and girl cats so they can have babies.

-And he's in full panic mode here-"BUT YOU JUST
SAID BOYS DON'T HAVE BABIES, MOM!"

Not what I needed at 7 a.m. while trying to put on eyeliner. Not what I needed.really, ever. I hope Jaylon didn't end up balled up in a corner crying after I dropped him off for school. Jeez.