The Googie Song

When I first brought Googie home I had a roommate who later became more. He loved Googie; in fact he named him. His originally name was Apollyon, named for a demon from one of the Left Behind books. Apollyon stung people and caused them to suffer pain that couldn't be escaped. I shortened it to Poli. He had this horrific name because he bit your toes hard when he wanted breakfast and would climb your leg like a tree, digging his claws in. Jonny called him Googie as an affectionate nickname and it stuck. My ex is a lot of things, but he loved that cat. And Googie totally manipulated him. He could not stand to have Googie cry and Googie did manage to sound pretty distressed. He gave in every time, contributing to Googie's weight issues.

We even had a song: Mr. Googs, Mr. Googs, he's the one and only Mr. Googs. He's your friend to the end, he's the one and only Mr. Googs. Silly, I know.

Googie and Toys

Googie loved to play. He loved the laser toy, the kitty fishing pole and the crinkle tunnel. It was fun to watch him pounce all over his toys and play with the other cats. Oliver in particular liked to play with him. Here he is in his tunnel.

Baby Googie

This is one of the few pictures i have of Googie as a kitten. He was so tiny! When I first got him he couldn't even get out of the cardboard box I brought him home in. I wanted a kitten as a friend for Chuckles, who was sad because after years of me being around all the time, was now left alone a good part of the day. I was heading to my day program and took a detour past Union square Petco. Sitting in front was a girl with a box.I'm not sure how, but I knew that box had a kitten in it. So I went over to talk to her. Sure enough, it was a tiny kitten. She had found him in a dumpster in Brooklyn. She heard him crying. He was too little to have gotten in himself so he must have been thrown out. He looked like a mini Chuckles. I told her I'd been looking for a kitten and called my vet to make an appointment to have him tested and vaccinated. She had been planning on giving him to Kitty Kind, but petco wasn't even open yet and she had just started a new job and couldn't be late. So she gave him over to my care. At the time I was spending the weekends up in Larchmont with my ex-husband. I had been bringing Chuckles with me so I brought Googie too. He had two kittens, Strummer and Jones. They were about eight months old-already way bigger than Googie. That is Strummer in the picture.