The Cygnet, the Cat and the Goldfish

by The Cygnet

Year 2, age 7 ½

For Christmas last year, I got a kitten. She is dark grey all over with tiny white socks on her paws, a white belly and chest and chin. I called her Yuki which means snow in Japanese. It looks like she’s been walking in snow.

So, now I have a question to ask you. What team do you think my cat supports?

Mum thinks she’s a blue, a Carlton cat. It does say on her birth certificate that she is ‘blue with white paws.’

Dad thinks she is a Giant. She has orange eyes with grey and white fur. What about the pupils in her eyes? They’re black!

The Vet says that she thinks Yuki might have some Burmese in her. And there’s only one team with a player who’s Burmese – that’s Sydney, with Trent Dennis-Lane. Sydney, that’s my team!

But back to Yuki … this is what I think. All of those guys have forgotten something, and it’s an obvious thing too. What’s blue and white, has whiskers (stubble), runs fast and loves to chase a ball? A CAT!! How could they be so stupid. She’s a Geelong Cat.

Whenever I’m training in the backyard – ‘backyard footy’ I call it – she chases me down the wing. I think she’s an outside midfielder. Whenever I throw a scrunched up paper ball down the hallway of the house, she retrieves it (maybe she’s a Dog!?) Her favourite toy is a very large bird’s feather, which she attacks with great strength. But the feather keeps going. Maybe that’s why the Crows, Swans and Magpies have beaten the Cats recently!

She’s not the only pet in my house to be involved with footy. Let me tell you about the apple snails that live in my goldfish tank. You put apple snails into your tank to help keep it clean. I’ve always named my apple snails after Sydney Swans players.

My first two were Lewis Jetta and Gary Rohan. Gary Rohan somehow killed Lewis and then I was left with one. Then I got Jed Lamb, who killed Rohan, which left me with one again. They were happy days, until Dad and I decided to get Jed a friend – Sam Reid. Jed was fine but after a few months, we found Sam’s empty shell on the bottom of the tank one day – he must have disintegrated. Or? That was about the time Sam Reid’s kicking started to go off the boil. You’d think we’d be smart enough not to get another snail, but Mum and I were near the aquarium one day, when we said, ‘Let’s get Jed a friend’. He was a giant snail. We called him Tony Armstrong, cause Tony had just made his debut. We did notice Tony climbing up Jed’s back a few times. Then, after a couple of weeks, Jed was dead. Which left me with one again.

Footy and pets are a great match. I wonder if Mum and Dad would buy me a Swan!