Abbers the Half-Cat

Our pets are... odd. Not exotic, like penguins, but differently-abled from others of their kind. One of our goldfish still plays dead, and our cat redefines the feline class to his own ends. I think of Abbers as being half-cat and half, well, lots of other things.

He's like an otter if the stream of water is very small.
He's like a dog when he walks Xena or Nicholas to the bus stop.
He's like a dog when he comes out to great us when we drive up in the car.
He's also like a dog when he goes for a ride in the car.
He's like a 4-year-old human when he makes mudpies.
He's like a ferret as he investigates any crevice, opening, or hole.
He's like a Chinese Gymnast as he runs up and down ladders.
He wishes he could fly so he could reach the most interesting crevices, openings, and holes. He stares and stares, walks around the problem, fixedly attentive to the dark opening beyond his reach. You can see him thinking, "What wonders must lie in there?"
He's like an octopus in his ability to open that which is closed.
He's like an elephant when he gives himself a dust bath (I thought our cat was gray and white...?)
He's like a mongoose as he walks and pounces backwards on any snake-like toy.
He's like a chicken when he eats carrot peelings.

It is very clear he envies us our thumbs. And of course he also does the annoying cat-things: shed, poke my eye with his poop-paws, act surly if we give him the "wrong" food, scratch the carpet and drapes, chase birds, and so forth.

Maybe I should start thinking of him as cat-and-a-half.