I recently bought a new collar for Smirnoff from Mog’s Togs. I’ve bought him previous collars at pet stores, but when I saw this one (with my not-so-secret love of Harry Potter), I had to get it. Not to mention I have family in the UK, so I liked the idea of Smirnoff’s collar being British-made.
Even though he’s an indoor-only cat, I’ve always had Smirnoff wear a collar. Certainly, most indoor-only cats don’t need one. (Bacardi doesn’t wear one.) But Smirnoff is a door-dasher, so if he ever did get outside, I want my contact information on him, in addition to his microchip. He also tends to get into a lot of trouble, so the soft tinkle of his collar usually lets me know from the other room when he’s up to no good!
For those of you who aren’t Harry Potter fans, a “Slytherin” is any wizard who belongs to the Slytherin house at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. (There are four houses in total.) Slytherins are known for being crafty, sneaky, cunning, resourceful, and ambitious. Many of the books’ antagonists are Slytherins. So naturally, it was fitting for Smirnoff to represent that house. He’s smart, causes trouble, manipulates people into loving him (but only for his own gain), and uses Bacardi as his minion (like having Bacardi catch all the mice in the apartment, and then taking credit for it).
As for Bacardi, he hates wearing a collar, so I guess we’ll never know which Hogwarts house he belongs to. (But he’d probably be a Gryffindor.) 🙂
Ten Thousand Kittens 
I love this! I’m a Harry Potter fan, too. We just acquired another cat in the house since my friend, Walter, moved here from Florida. He had previous called the cat Mimi, but soon after his arrival I noticed that Mimi had some “extra equipment”! Walter said he didn’t think cats’ “you know whats” would be so small. LOL!!! So my adult son, David, named the cat Mr. Mimi. Mr. Mimi (or Timmy as he is sometimes called now, along with Crash, Psycho, Destructo…) gets into a LOT of trouble. Walter had let him on his kitchen counters but that is a strict NO-NO here. So he gets yelled at a lot. He also flies around a lot, knocking over everything in his path. Our cat, Bsco, was not too happy to see Mr. Mimi and a lot of hissing has taken place over the past week. Mr. Mimi is two years old. Bsco is 10. Bsco is very territorial about some rooms more than others. Like my bedroom and my granddaughter’s bedroom. So a lot more hissing and growling has taken place, mixed in with some nose sniffing and under the tail sniffing. He has also challenged the two dogs in the backyard through the glass doors. They never come in but Mr. Mimi has hissed at them and jumped at the glass. The dogs, who normally don’t bother Bsco, bark at Mr. Mimi.
Before arriving here, Mr. Mimi was a very, very picky eater and gave Walter a hard time about it. But since he has been here, he has hoovered down all of Bsco’s food every day, so now we buy only one brand of food for the both of them. Bsco normally sleeps in my granddaughter’s room at night and the door is closed or in my room with door closed. So Mr. Mimi has full run of the house and the food bowl which is empty in the morning.
I would say that Mr. Mimi might be Slytherin, too.
I love the expression on his face! Definite Slytherin!
Love the collar! Too bad I dont have a cat.