I can't be the only one who clicked on this hoping for an explanation of why they owned a cat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_Uses_for_a_Dead_Cat
"It consisted of cartoons depicting the bodies of dead cats being used for various purposes, including anchoring boats, sharpening pencils and holding bottles of wine."
"By December 7, 1981, it had spent 27 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list."