“The first family might include a cat for the first time in more than a decade when President-elect Joe Biden takes office. Biden and his wife Jill said they will bring a cat into the White House along with their German shepherds Champ and Major, Jill Pauley of “CBS Sunday Morning” revealed in a clip tweeted on Friday. Jill Biden has hinted that a kitty was in the cards before. In an interview with Fox 5 in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, she said she would “love to get a cat.” “I love having animals around the house,” she said. The cat’s name and breed are not yet known. ASSOCIATED PRESS / Marcy Nighswander Socks the cat peers over the podium in the White House briefing room in Washington during the Clinton presidency in 1994. Biden fractured several bones in his foot on Saturday while playing with Major, his office said Sunday. The Bidens’ dog duo and cat will reinstitute the tradition of presidents keeping pets in the White House. President Donald Trump was the first president in years not to have any. Before Trump, Bo and Sunny Obama ― two Portuguese water dogs ― inhabited the residence. ASSOCIATED PRESS Bo and Sunny walk on the tarmac by their handlers to board Air Force One before the arrival of President Barack Obama and his family in August, 2016. President George W. Bush’s family had three dogs and a cat: two Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley; an English springer spaniel named Spot Fetcher; and a black cat named India “Willie” Bush. And before that, when Bill Clinton was in office, he shared the White House with a famous black and white cat named Socks, a stray who jumped into Chelsea Clinton’s arms in Arkansas. Socks was later joined by a chocolate Labrador, Buddy. While the two apparently did not get along at all, they became the subject of a 1998 children’s book by then-First Lady Hillary Clinton titled “Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids’ Letters to the First Pets.” Let’s hope Major, Champ and the newest COTUS have better luck making friends.
