On Sat Feb 28, Ross Sauer said to Brion Lienhart: 
 BL> If you do like _The Cat Who Walks Through Walls_, I'd also recommend
 BL> _The Moon  is a Harsh Mistress_, and _The Rolling Stones_, both in the
 BL> same setting.  There aren't any cats in Moon, although there are
 BL> Martian Flat Cats in Rolling Stones.
 -RS> 
 -RS>I've heard the Flat Cats were the partial inspiration for tribbles.
David Gerrold freely acknowledges that he was probably inspired by flatcats, 
but he didn't conciously think of them at the time. Heinlein says that the 
flatcats were inspired by a short story "Pigs is Pigs" about a pair of Guinea 
Pigs that breed out of control. "Pigs is Pigs" was also made into a cartoon 
in the fifties or so.
 
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