Comic # 3 - Pets for Pets

Written by Cristina Byrne | Illustration by Sarah JL Mapes

Back in 2013, I was living in Arkansas at the time. I had a handful of odd jobs, including working in a frame department. One of my co-workers mentioned she was moving to Chicago, and she needed to find her adult cat a home because her roommates there were allergic.

Without thinking twice, without meeting the cat first, and without asking my Boyfriend (who I lived with) if it was okay. I voluntarily said, "I'll take him!"

I went home that day and said, "Honey, I got Shea (our dog) a pet cat!"

"You got Shea a pet cat?" he asked.

"YUP"! I responded with excitement.

Now, he never had a cat and is what people like to call, "a dog person." People who call themselves "dog people" never actually had a cat and vice verse. Yes, dogs are more maintenance, and cats are a different beast, and they don't greet you at the door with excitement when you get home like dogs do. Even though cats were domesticated about 9,500 years ago, they still don't strike humans as entirely tame. Their behavior IS questionable. Such as blank-wall stares, full-body keyboard plop; they sleep on your head, they run around the apt at all hours of the night, and starts meowing at 6:30 am to be feed.

Plus, I think they are fluffy like stuff animals that I want to squeeze so tight until their eyes pop out! (that's a joke I don't want their eyes to pop out, but I do like to squeeze them super tight because they are so fluffy). A couple of days later, my co-worker comes over to deliver Shea's pet cat. His name is Pan, short for Pantalaimon from the movie Golden Compass. I have never seen or heard of the Golden Compass, so I did not understand the reference to the name. She told me if I wanted to, I could change his name. I was like, "No! Pan is a perfect name!" All I could think of when I think of the name Pan are all the nicknames that go along with it ... Pantalones, Frying Pan, Peter Pan, Pandemic, Pan Cakes, Pansy, Pantdress, Pandemonium...and Bread. Pan in Spanish translates to Bread. Hence why its Bread and Butter. Butter coming from Shea Butter… Are ya'll make the connection?

There are many reasons why people get pets; for the most part, it provides companionship and a sense of emotional well-being. But what about pets for your pets? Don't your pets need a pet for THEIR emotional well-being? Think about it, most of us humans, well nowadays it's a little different because we are all working from home, usually have to go to work and leave our pet home, and that was the case for Shea.

I felt that she needed a companion, so she isn't home all by herself. I then decided to get her a pet cat, Pan, and in this comic strip, "Pets for Pets," we got Pan a Pet fish name Toast. So would it only be fair to get Pan's pet fish, Toast, a pet? What kind of pet would you get a fish? 

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Comic # 4 - On the Catwalk