The Cat Household is once more running the races:

The cats are all lined up and anxiously awaiting the starting horn.  From the left to the right in the starting boxes are:  Tiger, the large yellow fellow who has been dominating this circuit for some time; Dusty, the large gray one who has been tight on Tiger’s tail; Salty, a true tiger kitty from way back with lots of tiger ancestors; Cocoa, large-black-bold-and the chosen favorite; Mittens, the small and meek of the group; and the newbie, Shadow, who still has some growing up to do.

The horn blares and the cats are all off.  Tiger is out of the starting box first with Dusty a close second.  Cocoa is third with Salty right on his heels.  Shadow tried to make a good start, but he tripped on his long tail and might be out of the rest of the race.  Mittens is, as usual, moving without any sense of priority.  They come to the first turn and what a race, folks!  Dusty has passed Tiger and Cocoa is right on his tail.  Salty is coming up on the outside, while Mittens is still taking up the far rear of the pack.  Shadow has been removed from the field by medical personnel who claim that his tail will have to be put in a cast so he will be out of the circuit for some time.

The second straight-away and the pack is moving incredibly fast.  Looking at a photo of the pack we can see that Tiger is falling behind, Dusty and Cocoa are nose to nose, Salty has caught up and is moving quickly through the group, and Mittens is still way behind the rest.  Will he finish the race?  He is breathing hard and seems to be slowing down even more.  Hope he’s okay.  The second corner of this large oval and the finish line is dead ahead.  Dusty, Salty, and Cocoa are dead even in this incredible race.  Tiger has fallen way back and seems to be encouraging Mittens to pick up the pace.  Mittens has apparently caught his second wind because he does seem to be catching up to everyone.  This is going to be a tight finish, folks.  Who will cross the finish line first?

Cameras are ready as the five racers battle it out through the last curve.  First Dusty, then Salty, then Cocoa, then they jostle each other and the list is reversed.  Any one of them could win this race today.  What an exciting race.  And, what’s this?  Mittens and Tiger are coming up behind the pack and have actually caught up to their tails.  Wow, what a feat!  Could they push a bit harder and win?  It’s is definitely anybody’s race at this point.

The finish!  It seemed as though all the cats crossed at once.  We’ll have to check the cameras for this one.  Hmmm, it is a tight one.  The officials will have to decide.  They check the photos, they confer with each other and……the winner by a whisker is Dusty.  Isn’t he handsome sitting there at the finish line?  Awwww, soooo cute.

Of course, cats don't really race like that, but they do need lots of exercise to stay healthy. Petco is a good place to start.