And why not?! Brits love their "moggies" and have actually recorded the place they served in the Home Office. From the BBC:
BBC Photo
The true extent of the British love of furry animals and the Civil Service's obsession with keeping records became clear on Tuesday.Papers on the history of the official Home Office cat were among 50,000 files delivered to the National Archives.
A series of cats from a humble mouser in 1929 to a pedigree feline who could not be sacked for "diplomatic" reasons have been employed.
The files were handed over under the Freedom of Information Act.
The records start in 1929 with a request for a penny a day from petty cash to feed the office cat .
After the cat, now known as Peter, had to be put down at the age of 17 in 1946, he was replaced by Peter II.
But he was run over in Whitehall and also had to be put down.
Toilet trained
He was replaced two months later by another kitten called Peter, who shot to stardom after appearing on BBC's Tonight programme in 1958.
In March 1964, at the age of 16, Peter succumbed to a liver infection and had to be put down.
As a replacement, the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle Man, Sir Ronald Garvey, sent one of the island's pedigree Manx cats - famous for their lack of tails.
The female kitten was named Peta in honour of her male predecessors.
When staff complained she was not toilet trained and lazy and suggested she might be "put out to grass", a memo was issued ordering she must remain.
Her appointment had been so public that she had gained "diplomatic status" and letting her go could result in adverse publicity, a memo from 1969 said.
Hopefully there will come a book with pictures of these domesticated servants. Is there one out for the dogs of the White House?
There are several, thought it depends on whether you want just dogs (they have that) or White House pets in general (they have that too).
Check out the White House Pets Museum and look in their store after you get done with the web-based summation.
If you're REALLY interested in this sort of thing, check out Stanely Coren's "Why We Love The Dogs We Do", which analyzes human personality and breed choice. It has plenty to say about presidential choices. (Though in my humble opinion, he has his head completely up his ass when it comes to cat people.)
lets not forget cats... I have this from a source...I penpal with a friend who works in the State Dept. She told me the Bush's cat India brought a dead mouse into the Oval office one afternoon, a gift to the President, who praised her to the constirnation of those present... "Just doing her job, and we want to praise a job well done dont we?..." The President responded... Good for him, think of what life would be like if we didint have rodent control... Sorry to those of you that have rodents as pets, but you know what I mean
Posted by: Hokulea at January 9, 2005 08:39 PM