D.W.'s Furry Freak-out

Summary
D.W. finds a stray kitten and begs to keep her. But the unbearably cute kitten soon turns out to be a lot more than D.W. can handle.

Plot
Arthur and Buster are playing football in the park, with Buster having a bit of difficulty. While a cat is hunting some birds, a tree branch snaps and the cat falls into Buster's hands, which Arthur jokes he is good at. Meanwhile, at the Read house, D.W. is playing with a xylophone.

The cat comes over to D.W. and she finds the cat extremely cute. D.W. wants to keep the cat, but her dad says that her owner might miss the cat and Arthur tries to explain by asking D.W. what would happen if one of her pets got lost. D.W. is so focused and devoted to the cat that she does not care about whether Pal or Toadie were lost.

Arthur and Buster post signs all over the neighborhood, while D.W. plays with the cat. D.W. learns that the cat is not perfect. She learns that the cat's breath smells like tuna, which she doesn't like, that cats' tongue feels like sandpaper, and that cats are mostly nocturnal, meaning the cat will play at night.

That morning she gets a run down from her mother and Arthur tries to help by asking her to train the cat. D.W. tells the cat to sit but Pal sits instead, she tells the cat to roll over, but Pal rolls over instead, and finally D.W. tells the cat to ignore her, and both pets do so. Dad says maybe they should take the cat for a checkup so the vet can look after her until the owner comes. D.W. doesn't like this idea as she still wants to keep the cat and holds the cat in her arms while the cat fights her way to her food. Emily comes over and D.W. wants to show the new cat to her.

D.W. finds a long string of yarn. They follow the yarn to the basement of the house where the other end is attached to a scratched up doll. D.W. freaks out at the doll and throws it to Emily, when the cat jumps out of the corner and right into D.W.'s arms.

Emily is so scared that she wants to go home. The next day, D.W. wakes up and finds the cat asleep on the blanket on the floor. She holds her teddy bear up and finds that it and a great deal of her stuff in her room are scratched up.

Later that day, Arthur and D.W. are at the video store and D.W. tells Arthur that the cat is not normal. Arthur says that she is just "frisky," and that when she grows up she will settle down.

D.W. observes a poster for a movie called The Cat Strikes at Night. Arthur tells her that it is not a movie she would like to see, as it is a horror movie. That night, D.W. has a nightmare where the cat is a giant who can talk and is about to attack her. When she wakes up, she sees the cat on her bed and she runs into the living room, hiding behind the piano. The kitten jumps onto the piano keys, and appears to be "playing the piano."

Then, Arthur, Kate and D.W.'s parents rush into the living room, after hearing her screams. After coming out from behind the piano, D.W, tell them that she was in a scary cat movie. While Mrs Read tries to reassure D.W. that it was only a dream, the doorbell rings. Dad answers the door. It is Dr. Fugue. He asks Dad if by any chance, they had found a missing kitten. Dad says that they had and invites Dr. Fugue into the house.

Everyone is surprised to find out that the kitten belongs to Dr. Fugue. His response is "Yes, though she is not the finest piano student. Are you, you Fur Elise?" He then explains that the kitten is named after a piece of Beethoven's. He begins playing the piano and mentions of visiting the Mozartan academy in Austria. He had returned that night and found Fur Elise missing.

D.W. states that Furry, the kitten's nickname, is the most scary, crazy kitty. Dr. Fugue agrees with her, but says that he finds music can soothe the savage beast, Fur Elise particularly. D.W. then realizes that Fur Elise had first come to her when she was playing her xylophone. She begins playing it again and the kitten comes to her. Dr. Fugue says she even likes out of tune toy music.

When Dr. Fugue is about to leave with Furry, D.W. puts up a slight protest until Dad tells her that Furry already has a home and it is wrong to take her from her home. Dr. Fugue solves this by saying D.W. could visit the kitten whenever she wanted, but only if she could learn how to play her xylophone more "melodiously".

D.W. begins playing again, a little better this time. Dr. Fugue sighs and says, "It's a start."

The screen then zooms out, Dr. Fugue's piano and D.W.'s xylophone still being able to be heard in the background.

Characters

 * Arthur Read
 * D.W. Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Pal
 * Fur Elise
 * Jane Read
 * David Read
 * Emily
 * Frederique Fugue

Trivia

 * Moral: Don't be a bad kitten for your own benefits.
 * Timeline: Arthur expressed a strong hatred for cats in "Francine and the Feline"; in this episode, he is hardly bothered by Fur Elise while she is living with them, possibly meaning he had another thought.
 * One of the images is in wide-screen this is rare for the first 15 seasons to have that.

Episode connections

 * "D.W.'s Furry Freakout" is another Season 12 episode where it shows D.W.'s love for cats. The first time was in "D.W.'s Stray Netkitten".
 * Buster saves a cat, again; the first time was in "Buster Baxter, Cat Saver".

Errors

 * D.W.'s hair is dark brown in the title card.
 * In D.W.'s imagination, when she turns to a corner while calling to the Kitten, her mouth doesn't move.
 * In Go to Your Room, D.W., the rain gutter is on the right side of the house, on the opposite side of D.W.'s bedroom window, thwarting D.W.'s plan to run away by sliding down the gutter. In this episode, it's on the left side, allowing Fur Elise to easily climb up to the window.

Cultural references

 * D.W. attempts to sing ““.
 * Dr. Fugue plays Beethoven's ““ (Bagatelle No. 25)

Production notes

 * This is the first episode written by David Steven Cohen.