Uncovering a dark part of my past I forgot existed...

My cat Stud is very needy. He's like a jittery, neurotic 60-year old man with abandonment issues. This isn't a recent development, he's always been that way. He just needs to be touched by a human at all times and not just ME, any human...even you would do.

Stud turned 10 this year and has lived in 10 different places with me; so despite his need for human contact, he's resiliant, strong and adaptable.

As I said earlier, I have been looking through old photos my wedding slideshow, and I stubmbled across this:

And no, this wasn't in Stud's gangster phase. As you can tell by his face he's thinking, "oh my effiing god, how much more of this ess do I have to put up with?"

But he would never bite or scratch; it's just not in his nature. He didn't bite or scratch when I dressed him up as a pumpkin for Halloween to match my costume, or even when my roomie clipped away parts of his fur to give him polka dots...




He didn't even bite or scratch when we did this...

I know it just looks like he's playing in this photo but notice that he has an orange-ish streak running down his head. How did it get there? I think we bleached it!!!

I had "Rogue" (from X-men) streaks in my hair in college (I know I am totally awesome) but I completely forgot that we - and yes I am totally implicating my roommates here - bleached Stud!

I am seriously shocked. I would NEVER EVER do this now and would give a verbal lashing to whomever would do something like this....I am still coming to grips with it.

I did a lot of things in college I regret, but at least they weren't all caught on film. Bleaching Stud's fur didn't cause him any visible discomfort but he had to walk around outside like that! Can you imagine the insults the other cats threw his way...I just hope he wasn't chased relentlessly by a horny skunk.

Upon surfacing this photo I cuddled Stud and said I was sorry for being such an immature moron. I gave him a can of wet food - which is a big treat around here - and promised to never humiliate him again.

Don't bleach your pets. It's mean. Lesson learned.