What Only Hardcore Office Fans Know About The Cat Andy Gave To Angela
For a show about the mundanities of working life, the American version of The Office has a surprisingly rich lore concerning the workers of Dunder Mifflin Scranton, and new tidbits are still being revealed even eight years after the series finale. Months after The Office departed Netflix for Peacock, co-hosts and former Office cast members Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer confirmed a long-held fan theory about one of the cats belonging to Kinsey's character Angela Martin, Dunder Mifflin's resident cat lady.
The two-part episode "Money" from season 4 aired in 2007, and one of the subplots involves newcomer Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) trying to woo Angela. Andy finds what looks like a stray cat roaming the office park near Vance Refrigeration and gives it to Angela as a gift. Angela finally agrees to go out with Andy as a direct result.
In a recent episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Kinsey fessed up that this cat wasn't just some random feline; it was the same cat who appeared a couple episodes earlier.
We've seen that cat before on The Office
On Office Ladies, Kinsey and Fischer confirmed that yes, the cat Andy gives Angela is in fact "Garbage," the same cat Dwight tried to give her a couple episodes earlier. Season 4 of The Office begins with four two-part episodes comprising eight episodes total. In the season premiere, "Fun Run," Angela and Dwight are secretly dating. She asks him to look after her ailing cat Sprinkles, and it doesn't go great. Dwight, always practical, decides to euthanize Sprinkles by putting him in Angela's freezer. When Angela discovers that her boyfriend is a cat murderer, she's understandably distressed.
In the next two-part episode, "Dunder Mifflin Infinity," Dwight tries to make it up to Angela by giving her a new cat he finds in his barn. This would be Garbage, who's named after his fondness for eating it. Angela is unimpressed, so Dwight simply abandons the cat in Vance Refrigeration's office. In episodes 7 and 8, which make up "Money," Andy tries the same tactic to win Angela's affections, and we now know he used the same exact cat. Fans on Reddit have speculated that these are both the same cat, and Kinsey just confirmed it.
There's just one last detail still in doubt. Kinsey went on to say that Angela renames Garbage "Bandit," the cat who makes several later appearances on the show, and whom Angela keeps hidden in her desk. Fans have pointed out that Garbage and Bandit have slightly different fur patterns, but this may just be due to the realities of TV production and using animal actors.
According to Angela herself, Garbage is definitely Bandit.