The Black Olive

No it's not the name of a new Italian bistro or a swanky new hangout. It's the cheapest, most sure-fire way of entertaining a cat owner- and yes, a cat! My husband and I discovered the feline friendly veggie by accident. One night after dinner years ago, while putting the left-overs away, we were low on clean Tupperware containers and just threw the rest of the black olives we didn't use in our salads in a bowl and sat it on a shelf in the fridge. The fridge didn't close wonderfully with the lip of the bowl sticking out, so instead of throwing the door closed, you really had to push it closed because of that wide bowl. Apparently, I wasn't the last one to close the fridge that night, and the door was left slightly ajar over night. When I woke up the next day and stumbled into the kitchen- the smell of olives whacked me in the nostrils. I looked at the floor and saw 12 mutilated black olives and a bowl askew- they looked more like bugs than like something we ate the night before, and I screamed. Obviously Buddy wanted the olives so badly he went in the fridge for them himself! But why? Wondering what the big fuss was about an olive, I put one near him, and whoa! He went WILD! Rolling and tossing himself on the olive, chewing on it on his side so he could both play and eat at the same time- he was in cat ecstasy. He loved the smell, the shape, the way it rolled; he wanted to be on it! He wanted to be friends with it! And that's my story about the black olive- try it with your hairy babies today.