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Template:Simpsons character Snowball I, Snowball II, Snowball III, Coltrane, and Snowball V are five fictional cats that have been owned by the Simpson family in the TV show The Simpsons. The differences between them are:

• Snowball I, a white female cat who died and was never shown alive in the series, but has been mentioned numerous times.
• Snowball II, a black female cat which was the cat owned from the first episode up until her death in I, D'oh-Bot
• Snowball III, a brown male cat that only appeared (and died in) I D'oh-Bot
• Coltrane, a white male cat that only appeared (and died in) I D'oh-Bot.
• Snowball II/Snowball V, a black female cat that first appeared in I D'oh-Bot and has been the family cat ever since. In order to save money on a new dish, Snowball V was renamed Snowball II. She is the current cat owned by the family.

The various Snowballs have mainly been background characters but have been featured in several episodes, including Old Yeller Belly and the aforementioned I D'oh-Bot.

Snowball

Template:Simpsons character Snowball, also known as Snowball I, was the Simpsons' cat until she was replaced by Snowball II after her death (which was never seen in the actual series, but occurred "before" the show's continuity began). She was first mentioned in the first episode of the series in a Christmas letter Marge was writing where she explains that Snowball I had died that year. In Treehouse of Horror III, a picture of Snowball I (as a black cat) is shown with the words "1988-90" underneath and Lisa says "she died four years ago tonight" (although that particular episode aired in 1992), because that episode is a Halloween episode, it is possible she died on Halloween of 1990.

Snowball I has been shown both as a black cat (in a picture in Treehouse of Horror III) and a white cat (the above and below screenshots). Snowball was, according to Lisa in a poem, run over by a Chrysler. At a later point it emerged that Snowball was run over by Clovis Quimby, drunkard brother of Mayor Quimby (in a parody of what could be any of the Kennedy brothers, Roger Clinton, Jr., or even Billy Carter). Snowball was so-named due to her white-colored fur, though in a few occasions in the series, Snowball I is pictured similar to Snowball II. She has been seen in heaven by characters who have undergone near-death experiences, and sometimes in flashback sequences. Due to election forgery, Snowball was listed as posthumously voting for Sideshow Bob. In the episode And Maggie Makes Three, Bart is seen riding a white cat. It is not explained if this is Snowball I or a different cat than the one Lisa owned.

In real life, many Simpsons books are jokingly dedicated to her. For example, in The Simpsons: A Complete Guide to Our Favorite Family (in which she is mistakenly colored black), the dedication reads, "We hope that they change your catbox in kitty heaven more often than we did down here." In The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror: Fun-Filled Frightfest, published by HarperCollins in 2003, the more morbid dedication reads "We're sorry you're gone. You would have made a tasty hors d'oeuvre." Also, The Simpsons Holiday Humdinger, published by the same company in 2004, says, "As this snow sculpture thaws on the first warm day, so will our hearts melt whenever we think of you."

Snowball in Poetry

Meditations on Turning Eight

by Lisa Simpson

I had a cat named Snowball

She died! She died!

Mom said she was sleeping

She lied! She lied!

Why oh why is my cat dead?

Couldn't that Chrysler hit me instead?

I had a hamster named Snuffy

He died...

(at this point, Homer interrupts and the rest of the poem is unheard)

Snowball in Song

Homer composed a "schmaltzy" (i.e. emotionally manipulative) song for Lisa to perform in the "Li'l Starmaker" competition (a parody of American Idol) for the episode A Star is Torn:

My kitty died

On Christmas Eve

Daddy told me to be brave.

But instead of singing carols

I was digging Snowball's grave.

It is unclear if this accurately reflects the timing of Snowball's death.

Snowball II

Template:Simpsons character

Not to be confused with the family's fifth cat.

Snowball II was the Simpson family's second cat. Snowball II was named after Snowball I. Though Snowball I had white fur, which obviously inspired her name, Snowball II has black fur.

She first appeared in Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire, where it is explained that Snowball I had died the previous year and they had gotten Snowball II. Neither Snowball I or II were seen or mentioned in the Tracey Ullman Shorts. Until recently, Snowball II received little attention in the series, although she appeared in many episodes, she rarely played any sort of role and was one of the few characters to not have an episode centered on her. This changed in the fourteenth season episode "Old Yeller Belly," when Snowball II saved Homer from a burning treehouse built by the Amish after Santa's Little Helper ran away.

Snowball II and Santa's Little Helper have always been shown as having a good relationship; usually they are seen sleeping near each other. In Fear of Flying, Marge suggests that Snowball II and Santa's Little Helper get married because "they've been living in sin." Although they do chase each other from time to time. In the "Fly Vs. Fly" segment of Treehouse of Horror VIII, SLH chases Snowball II into a transport device and their DNA gets mixed. Two different animals emerge: one with both Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II's heads, the other with their rear ends. Snowball II also found a love interest in Scratchy in the "Terror of the Tiny Toon" segment of Treehouse of Horror IX.

Snowball also had minor roles in Bart Gets an Elephant, where she tries to get attention, in Two Dozen and One Greyhounds, in which she is scared by the many puppies and in Make Room for Lisa, Lisa has a hallucination in which she is Snowball II.

In "I, D'oh-Bot", Snowball II was hit and killed by Dr. Hibbert's Mercedes-Benz G500. She was replaced by Snowball III (who drowned while trying to eat the Simpsons' goldfish) and Coltrane (who fell out of Lisa's window after being scared by her saxophone), and then Snowball V. Lisa renamed Snowball V "Snowball II" at the end of the episode, in her words "to save money on a new dish," although viewers would recognize it as the writers making a subtle self-jab at The Simpsons' often-forced tradition of maintaining a status quo continuity in the series.

Snowball III

Snowball III was the third cat owned by The Simpsons. Snowball III was a male cat that was brown in color. Lisa adopted him from an animal shelter shortly after the death of Snowball II. She passed over a Skunk, a Siamese Cat, a Cat with a bad eye and finally decided upon Snowball III. He drowned trying to catch a fish while Lisa was preparing cat food in the kitchen for the first time. Despite the brief time he spent with the family, a full funeral was held for him.

Coltrane (Snowball IV)

Coltrane was the Simpsons' fourth cat. His name is a reference to John Coltrane, who was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Lisa adopted him from an animal shelter shortly after the death of Snowball III. Originally, she was not sure whether she wanted another cat, but his name won her over. Upon bringing him home, Lisa decided to play Coltrane "some music by his namesake" (the song "Impressions"); the music frightened Coltrane, and he jumped out the window. Although Coltrane's resemblance to Bart Simpson has been noted on a few occasions, in fact the cat's close-cropped, flat-topped, mildly spiky hair approximates the saxophonist's own look in the mid-to-late 1950s. It is ironic to note that Coltrane was the only cat (except for Snowball I) that was actually white whereas previous and future cats are named "Snowball", despite these cats not being the slightest bit white. Since the one after it was actually called "Snowball V," this would also make Coltrane "Snowball IV."

Snowball V (Snowball II)

Snowball V is the Simpsons' fifth cat and looks exactly like Snowball II. The Crazy Cat Lady threw the cat at Lisa who was sitting, mourning the death of the other three cats. Lisa then proceeded to tell Snowball V that any cat that she owned was unlucky and certain to be killed. As it left to cross the road, a car (driven by Gil) was driving past. Fortunately the cat wasn't killed, but Gil's car hit a tree and burst into flames (thereby giving Gil insurance compensation for his meals). Lisa took it as a sign of good luck. Lisa renamed the cat Snowball II to save on buying a new cat dish and vowed to pretend the whole thing never happened (thus maintaining the series' status quo). Snowball II has since been the family cat, and has made several appearances since. Snowball II appeared in a brief subplot in the episode The Seven-Beer Snitch, in which she became overweight and abandoned Lisa for brief periods and goes to a different family that fed her well and renamed her "Smokey". The plot never had a true ending, and Snowball II has since been seen in her previous weight with the Simpson family.

Template:Simpsons characters

• The Simpsons characters
• Lists of fictional animals
• Fictional cats