. . . when she reached into a canister of liver-favored snacks. "There was a claw in my food," Baba revealed to the Morning Hairball in an exclusive telephone interview.

We asked Baba to recount the horrific happening for us, and her story goes like this: "I had just finished my third nap of the day, and since I almost always wake up with the hungry horrors, I automatically dipped into my snack canister. What should I find but -- oh, it's too gross to even talk about! -- a feline claw! I was so traumatized that I couldn't even eat anything. All I could do was take a few sips from the toilet to steady my nerves and then fall back asleep."

Astute reporters that we are, we suspected that one of Baba's claws might be broken. We, therefore, respectfully inquired, "How can you be sure that the claw you found wasn't your own? Are you, in fact, missing one at the moment?"

After a moment's pause, Baba hissed at us, "I can account for all eighteen of my claws! I'm wearing seventeen of them, and the eighteenth is -- right -- here!" With that, Baba allegedly reached into her litterbox and pulled out a claw that, she said, was one she'd sacrificed during her last dung burying mission.  Since we, at the Morning Hairball, didn’t see the actual unearthing, we’ll let you -- and, perhaps, the courts -- decide whether or not Baba actually produced the missing claw.

We, at the Morning Hairball, have already been in touch with famed attorney, F. Flea Bailey, who told us, "If Alley Baba indeed was victimized by a rogue claw in her food then, naturally, I'll represent her against the gargantuan food manufacturing company,  J. D. Liver Sweets of London.  It would be an open and shut case of unlawful claw adulteration, in my opinion, and the punitive damages alone could run into seven figures.  If, however, Alley Baba is -- er -- mistaken about the origins of the claw she discovered in her canister of treats, or in her litterbox, then we would ask for significantly less money.  Either way, Alley Baba is about to become a very wealthy feline, and as her attorney-to-be, I fully intend to share in the proceeds." 

Bailey has committed to rushing the so-called "eighteenth claw" and the "gross, liver-flavored claw" to a DNA lab to determine the authenticity of both.  Depending on the lab's findings, Bailey tells us, "We could be looking at the trial of the century."  Stay tuned for the test results, which the Hairball will report as soon as they are released.