Martha and Skits are about to eat from Carl's trash bin after the holidays, but are yowled at and chased away by a cat. Martha reveals that the cat is female and she's "almost as bad as Nelson". She decides to try to flatter her, but the cat scratches Martha on the nose. Then, Martha sees a box, so the dogs try to sneak past under the box. However, this makes them clumsy because they can't see, and then the cat bothers them again.
On the way home, the Lorraine dogs see images of the cat on TV. As it turns out, the cat's name is Mittens, she's someone's pet, a snowstorm is coming, and she's seemingly pregnant. The dogs run home and Martha calls the station and tells them about Mittens. However, because she talks about being a dog, the guy on the other end thinks she's prank calling and hangs up. To make matters worse, it starts to snow.
Martha and Skits go to the alley and search for Mittens, and find that she has indeed had kittens (four of them, and all cold but alive and already with eyes open and meowing) but she's nowhere to be seen. Martha runs to take the white kitten, who she names Snowball, home with her, while Skits keeps the rest of them warm. She gives Snowball toys to play with and brings the rest home one by one, with Skits bringing home the last one. Martha goes out to the alley to look for Mittens, stopping to eat from the trash. Then, she's seen in a nearby window, but Martha can't get out of the bin.
Helen comes home, with T.D., and finds Skits and the kittens. The Lorraine parents walk in and discover them too. Meanwhile, Martha knocks over the can and frees herself and is about to run away when she hears Mittens meowing. Martha sees Mittens and explains the situation to her. However, Mittens still has one kitten left and can't jump to the window with it in her mouth. Since Carl isn't at work, Martha tries to make a ladder but it doesn't work. However, she then decides to use the box, and (after being flattened) it does work.
Mittens claims to dislike dogs, but Martha assures her that she only intends to help and carries the kitten while having Mittens ride on her back. Martha enters the Lorraine house with the last two cats and explains that this is Mittens the cat from the news. Then, T.D. calls the station. It turns out that due to the snow, Mittens's owners can't retrieve her and her kittens, so the cats must stay the night with the Lorraines.
This episode provides examples of
- Ambiguous Gender: Martha notes that she can't tell if the black kitten is Snowball's brother or sister.
- Animal Jingoism: Zigzagged. Mittens apparently attacks Martha and Skits unprovoked, but then it turns out that she was just being territorial because she was pregnant. However, she later claims to dislike dogs anyway and is afraid that Martha might hurt her kittens. Eventually, Martha's help makes Mittens change her tune.
- Artistic License – Biology:
- Mittens's kittens already have their eyes open and are meowing. Real kittens only meow after about a month and are born with their eyes shut.
- Martha states that "dogs attack by biting, cats attack by scratching". While cats do scratch, the wording implies that they don't also bite, but they do.
- Big Storm Episode: The episode focuses on Martha and Skits saving a family of cats during a blizzard.
- Big, Stupid Doodoo-Head: Martha calls Mittens a "bundle of mean".
- Blind Mistake: Martha and Skits become very clumsy when they can't see where they’re going from underneath the box they use to try to get past Mittens.
- Brick Joke: When T.D. calls the TV station, the same operator that thought Martha was prank calling them answers and asks if he’s also pretending to be a dog.T.D.: Huh? Why would I be pretending to be a dog?
- Cats Are Superior: Martha tries to exploit this trope, believing that "cats like compliments", by flattering the aggro Mittens.
- Coincidental Broadcast: Martha remarks that she hopes she never sees the cat again right when the wall of TVs in the store window she and Skits are walking past turn on to a news broadcast reporting Mittens as a missing pet.
- Comically Missing the Point: When T.D. sees Skits with the kittens, he thinks Skits gave birth to them.
- Dumpster Dive: Martha and Skits are excited to root through the butcher shop’s garbage the day after the holidays and eat all the meat scraps that have been thrown out.
- "Eureka!" Moment: Martha has one when she sees the empty refrigerator box and realizes she and Skits can use it to sneak past Mittens. Unfortunately, this plan backfires when the cat climbs up into the box with them.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: When Martha gets stuck head first in a trash can, she says in a resigned way, "I seem to be stuck."
- Heroic Dog: Martha and Skits bring the cat family home from the snowstorm. If they hadn’t, the kittens surely wouldn’t have made it.
- Honorary Uncle: When talking to the kittens, Martha calls herself "Aunty Martha" and Skits "Uncle Skits".
- Howl of Sorrow: Skits howls when he discovers that the kittens have already been born and are thus in danger from the cold.
- Ironic Name: Martha and Skits find out that the cat that’s been terrorizing them is named Mittens.Martha: Mittens! That’s such an awfully nice name for such a bundle of mean.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Martha calls it a "happy ending" when the cats are safe and sound.
- Lost Pet Grievance: The little girl who's one of Mittens's owners is seen crying on TV, though played with since it's unknown if she's crying because her cat isn't around, or worried her cat will be caught in the blizzard.
- Loud Gulp: Played for drama. Martha gulps out of fear for Mittens and her kittens as she looks outside and sees that it’s started snowing.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: The little girl's catchphrase is "What does [word] mean?".
- Maternity Crisis: Mittens gives birth in the middle of a snowstorm.
- Meaningful Name:
- Mittens is probably named that because her paws are white, which gives the appearance that she's wearing mittens.
- Martha names the white kitten Snowball because it was mistaken for a living snowball.
- Mistaken for Prank Call: When Martha calls the TV station to report seeing Mittens in the alley by Carl’s butcher shop, she describes the situation including how they were there to eat out of the trash and that they wagged their tails and showed their bellies to let her know they were friendly. The man on the phone, of course, doesn’t believe she’s actually a dog and thinks it’s a prank call.
- Mistaken for Related: When T.D. sees Skits with the kittens, he thinks they're his.
- Mister Seahorse: Discussed when T.D. sees the kittens cuddling up to Skits and thinks he had them.
- Nasal Trauma: Mittens scratches Martha on the nose.
- Nature Abhors a Vacuum Cleaner: Mittens ran away because she was startled by her owners running a vacuum cleaner. When Martha and Skits find out about this, they both shudder at the thought.Martha: Vacuum cleaners! They do more harm than good!
- Newhart Phonecall: Both Martha’s and T.D.’s phone calls to Wag TV count because the operator can only be heard making unintelligible babble and they both have to repeat his side of the conversation for the audience.
- Running Gag: Martha keeps complaining about being hungry because Mittens never let her and Skits eat from Carl's trash.
- Snow Means Death: Discussed when the news lady says that if Mittens gives birth in the snow, the kittens may die.
- Stock Animal Diet: Martha says that bones are some of the best trash.
- Stock Animal Name: Two cats in this episode are named Mittens and Snowball.
- That's No Moon: One of Mittens's kittens is initially mistaken for a living snowball by Skits.
- Tropey, Come Home: Mittens ran away from her owners to the street near Carl's butcher shop.
