NAME: Milo Pumpkin

NICKNAME: Pumpkin, Little P

OWNER: Baltimore Sun reporter Jill Rosen

HOME: Butchers Hill

HOW THEY MET: I was looking for a companion for Leo Sesame and fell instantly in love with a furry orange kitten at the Maryland SPCA — a kitten in someone else’s arms. After waiting forever for the person to either put the kitty down or adopt it, I left, thinking it wasn’t meant to be. I came into work the next day with my sad tale of "almost" finding the perfect kitty, and my co-worker turned to me and said, "You want an orange kitty? My friend just found one." Turns out, this same friend had that weekend brought the other orange kitty to the SPCA, part of a litter she found in South Baltimore. The one still at home was his smaller brother — too tiny to be accepted at the shelter. They had found him in a rainstorm, wedged into a wall, crying. He was meant to be mine.

AGE: 1

BREED: Particularly fetching medium-haired domestic orange.

FAVORITE FOOD: "Favorite" implies a degree of discrimination that Pumpkin doesn’t exactly have. He wants food. He wants it now. He wants it later. Just give him the food.

BEST TRICK: Once — and just once — without warning, he leaped from my desk across the room and up, landing on top of the ajar door, like a gymnast mounting a balance beam. I gave him a perfect 10. Also, every night, he waits in the front window for me to get home. When he sees me coming up the street, I can see him meow in excitement. To anyone who says cats don’t give you a warm welcome, I present this as Exhibit A.

FAVORITE ACTIVITY: Aside from eating and snacking, Pumpkin is a huge fan of a toy called Da Bird. It’s essentially some feathers attached by a string to a long pole that when waved around, bears an uncanny resemblance to an actual flying bird. Pumpkin goes nuts for this. No sooner than I have it out of the closet, he’s soaring into the air, leaping and flipping like some sort of furry little acrobat. I aptly call this game "Jump Around," named after the rap song.

IF PUMPKIN HAD A MOTTO FOR LIFE, IT WOULD BE: Eat first, think later.

Photo by Jill Rosen

To see other pets that have been featured in Collared, click here.

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