Wonda Faye Jackson, age 10, of Shreveport, Louisiana, for her question:     

How come a cat has nine lives?

Actually this notion is not true    not at all. A cat has only one life to live, dust like everybody else. When she loses her one life, she is done for, just like everybody else. Then how come some people claim that she has nine lives? Andy thinks this nasty rumor was started by people who cannot abide cats. It is cruel and unfair because it makes us believe that it does not matter at all if a cat is killed. If we think that she still has eight more lives to lose, we do not care much what happens to her.     

If you have a pet pussy cat, you do care very much for her. You want to protect your furry little friend from getting hurt and goodness knows, you don't want her to lose her one and only life. That would be the end of all her sweet purring and loving affection. Besides, there would be nobody around to catch the mice and other pests around the place. A cat is a very useful animal in the home, besides being such a nice friendly pet