The Story of "Obleo"

Today’s topic is Guido. Guido joined the household in November of 1999. The previous month Melody’s cat, Kitty, had passed away after 14 years of terrorizing furniture and fixture alike with his declawed front paws. After a short period of mourning Melody announced she was ready to get another pet. Thus, on Saturday November 20 with our granddaughter Hannah in tow we headed to 3949 Colerain Ave, the location of the Hamilton county SPCA.

The shelter itself is pretty much devoted to dogs, as it had a large area of kennels for unwanted or abused pooches in the main building with families able to walk to and fro between the dog pens and evaluate which potential pet would make little Suzie or Johnny happiest. In some cases I noted they brought along little Suzie and/or Johnny, which only meant that had a much higher percentage chance of coming home with a puppy.

In the front section where the barking noise was concentrated through the kennel entrance was a series of small cages holding the numerous cats that were on display at the shelter. There was an inordinate amount of black cats on display, but we were told that they don’t put them up for adoption for the month before or two weeks after Halloween, thus the numbers had swelled for the ensuing period of time.

One cage was on it’s own away from the other neatly stacked cat cages. It was a larger cage across the room set on a pedestal type structure and within contained a very vocal and large tiger colored cat. What sold me was when Hannah stuck her hand in the cage the cat contained nearly broke it when he rubbed up against her so hard. Melody and Hannah looked at the other cats in the Hollywood Squares section of enclosures, but my heart was really set on this Fat Albert of cats in its own special cage, mainly because it was too fat to fit in any of the other cages. After a short period and debate, we decided that the large tiger cat would be our choice for a pet and we proceeded to take it out of the cage and up to the counter, not unlike checking out at a supermarket, only no barcode.

The lady behind the counter smiled, and said that the cat had been brought to the pound as it’s owner had gotten married and their spouse was allergic to the cat. Also, his name was “Obleo”. We smiled at this, paid our money, and in short order marched out the front door with the fattest cat in the joint and every other family staring at us as if “Obleo” was related to John Merrick. The car ride was interesting with “Obleo” sitting on the back seat next to Hannah with his butt facing forward and his head burrowing into the back of the seat like a starving mole digging for grubs, accompanied by the occasional loud disgruntled “meow”.

Needless to say that “Obleo” is now known as Guido, he still could stand to lose a little weight, and he is a valued member of the household to this day.