We have two Siamese cats, Cedric (my sister’s cat) and Puck (mine). After getting Cedric as a kitten, it became apparent as soon as he was big enough to jump on the counter that unless it was very well hidden, he would quickly eat all the butter he could find. Cedric is the thinner of our two cats, but has always been the one to eat whatever’s on the counter; Puck has no interest. Maybe because Puck is too fat to jump that high.
Anyway, we’ve had to take precautions. We keep one butter obviously placed and one safely out of Cedric’s sightline. The Cat Butter is out on a plate, melting away in the open, and the human butter is up by the glasses, or behind the toaster, covered in a glass butter tomb.
So the term “Cat Butter” has taken over for “Red Herring” at my house, which never made much sense to me, anyway. It’s generally used for food, however:
Me: Hey, are we out of Chex mix? All I can find are pretzels.
Corie: Those are the Cat Butter. Mom hid the Chex mix in the cupboard so Dad wouldn’t eat it all.
I don’t remember why I was telling this story. There was a connection to something else, which I’ll post when I remember… I was thinking about it on my way home from work yesterday and now I’ve totally forgotten. Either way, if you come to my house, don’t eat the butter that’s just sitting out. That’s the Cat Butter.
lacquerbird 