Nico: an orange tabby hopelessly smitten with a squirt-bottle.

It all began quite innocently as affairs of the heart (or rear-end, in this case) often do. Nico was in the habit of furniture-hopping which played hell with the cherry wood coffee and end tables. In order to circumvent this activity, I'd squirt him. Usually my aim was pretty good and sprayed his hip or tummy, but one fateful day I missed. Big time. The stream of water hit Nico right smack in the middle of his puckered little circle--Bulls-eye! Now, you'd think a cat would be adverse to what paralleled an air-born enema, right? Oh, so wrong! Nico's entire body quivered in bliss--that far-away, dreamy look of enchantment in his eye: it was love at first squirt for my hairy orange pal.

Predictably, one squirt was not enough. He wanted more. One squirt lead to another and Nico's addiction progressed. It got to be a bit much, actually. Eventually I was forced to hide the squirt bottle, but Nico knew where it lived. He pawed, head-butted and even body-slammed the cabinet door, day and night, in the frenzied knowledge that butt-Heaven was just a squirt away. It quickly became apparent that Nico's preoccupation was neither a silly phase nor fleeting interest. I was concerned that a perpetually soggy circle wasn't in his best interest health-wise; it was time to consult a professional. Although the vet had never heard of such behavior, he assured me that rear-end-squirts were safe and even beneficial: a cat's circle can never be too clean.

So, there it is.

Oh, one more thing before I quit blogging about my cat's hind-end: Nico also purred with delight when his temperature was taken.