After Martha (with Truman) announces that the vocab is about opinions, the Lorraine dogs are seen sleeping in the living room. They are awakened by Helen saying, "Adorable!". Martha assumes she's talking about her, but then Alice says, "Isn't he?", so Skits assumes they're talking about him. Alice then adds, "We've just gotten him from the shelter". This causes the dogs to think the Boxwoods have adopted a puppy, so they run into the backyard to meet him.
They see the girls, who hope Martha and Skits will be friends with the new pets, but Helen warns them that they must be sociable and not discriminate. Martha is confident that she never behaves in a prejudiced or antisocial way, but then both dogs look shocked when they see the neighbour and find out that he's a cat. The dogs growl and bark at the kitten, prompting the girls to scold them for being prejudiced and bring him into the Lorraine house. The girls play with the cat in Helen's room, while Martha sulks, and Alice reveals that they're only adopting the kitten temporarily so that he can get used to being around people and other animals.
Alice leaves with the cat, then later, Helen, who is painting, tells the dogs, who are playfighting, to be quiet, since the kitten came to visit. She explains that Alice brought him over for fear of him getting lonely, but then Martha growls, "Mine!" at the kitten when he tries to drink from her bowl. When Helen berates Martha for being territorial, Martha just becomes overly defensive and insists the whole property is hers, so Helen carries the kitten back to Alice. She then complains about Martha's bad attitude.
Later, Martha sulks about the kitten again and jumps into the easy-chair, only to find him sleeping there. She starts yelling at him, but he ignores her, then nuzzles her and tries to nap on her belly. She eventually finds this behaviour cute, but when Skits enters, she goes back to being snappy and carries the kitten away. She tells him that she's warmed up to the idea of the two making friends, but still doesn't want to be his friend since it "wouldn't look right". However, when he goes to cross the road despite an approaching car, she saves him and teaches him how to cross properly. When she goes to look for him, he's gone, and she feels guilty, thinking his disappearance is her fault. Luckily, however, he was just hiding behind a bush, and she finally agrees to be his friend, but decides to keep it a secret.
They play together, until Skits, Rinty, Cisco, and another dog approach. Martha hides the kitten under her hat and pretends to her dog friends to still hate him. When the kitten prepares to play with Rinty's tail, Martha tackles Rinty and puts the kitten back under the hat, then lies that there was something on Rinty's ear. Then, the kitten, still under the hat, goes into Bob's yard, so Martha goes off to retrieve him, lying that she's doing chores.
That night, Martha tries to sneak out to visit the cat, but changes her mind when Helen and Skits catch her. Then, she does sneak out, warns the kitten not to wander into the street at night, and starts licking him to help him clean himself. Skits, having followed her, shows up and starts laughing at her. Martha claims that she was just seeing what the kitten tasted like, but then admits that she's made friends with him. Skits laughs again, so Martha tells him off for being prejudiced. Alice then groggily tells Martha off for waking her up.
The next morning, Martha wants to say hello to the kitten, but when she gets to the Boxwoods' house, he's already been adopted out. She tries to catch up with his new owner's car, but can't, so she's sad at breakfast. Thankfully, however, Helen gives Martha a drawing of the kitten and reveals that she's allowed to visit him whenever she wants. Martha then reveals that she and Skits no longer care about the opinions of prejudiced dogs.
This episode provides examples of
- Animal Jingoism: Deconstructed. Martha initially hates the kitten for being a cat, but eventually sees the error of her ways and tells off Skits, another dog, for being prejudiced.
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Broken Aesop: Played for Laughs — this episode has a Prejudice Aesop, yet Martha says that it's fine to hate squirrels even after learning not to hate cats. - Canine Confusion: At one point, we see Martha's teeth but she has no fangs. Later, we see Skits's teeth but he also lacks fangs.
- Cats Are Mean: Subverted. The existence of Nelson made it seem as though this show was portraying cats as mean, but this episode shows that Nelson's meanness is just a personality trait, and that nice cats (such as this kitten) exist too.
- Distressed Dude: At one point, Martha has to save the kitten from an approaching car.
- Dogs Hate Squirrels: Martha says that it's not okay for a dog to hate cats, but it is okay for them to hate squirrels.
- Former Bigot: Martha, and eventually Skits, stops being bigoted against cats in this episode.
- Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Until Martha got used to the kitten, she would growl, yell, and sulk whenever he was involved, and he'd nuzzle her, purr, and try to play.
- Heroic Dog: Martha saves the kitten from being run over by a car at one point.
- Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: Martha pauses a lot when she lies to the other dogs.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs: Martha says that something about the kitten "gets under [her] fur" instead of her skin.
- I Will Show You X!: When Martha is grousing about the kitten, she says, "A nice greeting? I'll give them a nice greeting!" and growls.
- Implausible Deniability: Martha denies being prejudiced, seconds after admitting that cats "bring out the beast" in her.
- Imprinting: Downplayed. Martha apparently reminds the kitten of his mother, but he knows she isn't his mother.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Martha (a full-grown dog) makes friends with a kitten.
- Interspecies Friendship: Martha (a dog) eventually overcomes her prejudice against cats and makes friends with a kitten.
- I Resemble That Remark!: When Martha tries to deny Helen's accusations of not being properly socialised to cats, saying that cats are antisocial, she then growls, "Mine!" at the kitten, who only wanted to play with her toy.
- Jerkass to One: Martha claims that she's very sociable and gets along with everyone, but she's cold and growly towards the kitten (at least initially).
- Look Both Ways: Defied. The kitten starts to cross without looking and nearly gets run over, so Martha saves his life.
- "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: When Helen tells Martha and Skits to be sociable, Martha replies, "Aren't I always? Sociable is my middle name!".
- My God, What Have I Done?: Martha blames herself for the kitten disappearing after the road-crossing lesson.
- No True Scotsman: When Martha thinks the Boxwoods adopted a puppy, she says that they must have adopted a "real pet". They already have a cat and a parrot, so she must think those don't count.
- Oh, Crap!: Martha looks shocked when she sees that the kitten is in Bob's yard.
- Prejudice Aesop: This episode has a moral about how prejudice is wrong; Martha is prejudiced against a kitten for his species, but then learns that not every cat is bad.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Martha tells Skits off for being prejudiced against the kitten:Martha: "You don't know anything about him! You're just being prejudiced! Yeah, prejudiced! It's like when you decide you don't like someone before you even know them! I used to be prejudiced too, but Skits, there are good cats. And there are not-so-good cats. Like there's good dogs and not-so-good dogs. Just give him a chance!"
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Skits is right that Martha has befriended the kitten when she licks him, but he thinks she was kissing him. In reality, she was helping him clean himself.
- Say My Name: Helen irately yells Martha's name when she's mean to the kitten.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: The kitten disappears while Martha isn't looking, scaring her. (Luckily, he's just behind a bush). Justified, since cats are known for being noiseless walkers.
- Terms of Endangerment: Martha calls the kitten "pal" when threatening him.
