Slinky Malinki out to impress judges

Finding a name for his cat was never in doubt when young Jack Jansen spotted a gorgeous black kitten in the window of a pet shop seven years ago.

The fan of Lynley Dodd's Hairy Maclary books knew immediately that his cat had to be called Slinky Malinki.

The fact that it was girl cat was a mere detail, and not enough to prevent a grown-up Slinky from entering Creative Tauranga's Great Hairy Maclary Look Alike Contest.

Jack, now aged 12, is fiercely proud of his Slinky whose habit of bringing things home fortunately stops at birds and mice _ and not the stuff that got her fictional namesake into so much trouble.

Slinky sleeps on Jack's bed every night and has been a regular feature of Te Puna School's pet days.

He says he is very proud of his cat and never tires of reading about the exploits of Slinky in Dame Lynley's books.

``She is full of mischief and knocks things over to get my attention when she's hungry. If there is a full moon she goes on the prowl. She meets up with some of the neighbour's cats and sits on our concrete wall making a racket,'' he said in his entry form.

Final judging in the lookalike contest takes place on Sunday December 2 at Tauranga Vets in Cameron Rd, from 10.30am to 12.30pm.

Dame Lynley will be a guest judge on the judging panel and the morning's activities include a sausage sizzle, fun activities and giveaways for kids and pets. Hairy Maclary book readings start at mid-day. The ``dog's breakfast'' final is free to the public.