Lori was, of course, right about Heathcliff and Garfield: two entirely different cats – different in mindsets, attitudes and personalities. She’d done her homework, early on investigating Garfield because she knew comparisons were likely to come up, and then she leaped into the deep end with Heathcliff.

I was coming into Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats a lot later than her, so I had to do the same...and fast! Fortunately, I love doing research. And so I, too, jumped into the deep end of Heathcliff.

I came to understand how, to the casual observer, Heathcliff and Garfield could be mixed up, even interchangeable. They’re both orange tabbies and both have big bellies. But as I dug, read scripts, and did research, I found that was where the similarities ended. In fact, they were diametric opposites. Yeah, both had owners and lived in a house. But Garfield was a house cat. Heathcliff was definitely the outdoor type. He loved to roam the neighborhood and get into all sorts of wonderful trouble!

And where Garfield’s a lazy slug, Heathcliff is an energetic entrepreneur/ rapscallion/scam artist. And I say “artist” because Heathcliff is unquestioningly artful in all that he does. As I viewed the videocassette episodes of Heathcliff, I found a cat who loves to pull off schemes that will net him ever-increasing amounts of fish. He’s tough – surely the toughest cat in the neighborhood. But I also find he’s a true romantic.

A schemer and rapscallion, an entrepreneur, a tough dude, and a romantic at heart. Hmmmm… Sounds like someone I know. I have a feeling Lori knew what she was doing when she put me on this series. This is my kind of series, my kind of cat.