Aside from the pressing national and international issues he is bombarded with daily, it appears that President Bill Clinton has yet another problem on his hands: his cat does not appear to like the family's new home.

Throughout the week, NBC's morning talk show "Today" has been poking fun at Secret Service men and other White House aides walking Socks - "The First Cat" - around the perimeter of the grounds on a leash.

When Jeannie Dobbins was watching one such broadcast in her Cape Girardeau home, she became irritated by the hosts poking fun at the attention being given to the celebrity cat. Obviously, Dobbins thought, the hosts had never before moved their cat as the Clintons were forced to do, and as Dobbins herself had to 19 months ago.

When Dobbins' family moved here from Ohio they experienced a similar transition problem with their cat, Socks.

At a social gathering shortly before they were to leave for Cape Girardeau, a friend told Dobbins what an elderly vet had once told her about keeping a cat at home in a new environment.

The friend told Dobbins that first she had to wash the cat's paws, to erase as much of the scent of home from the cat's body as possible.

"Cats are the most tied to their outdoor surroundings," Dobbins said. "But, if you've ever owned a cat, you know how much they hate water."

Nonetheless, Dobbins and her husband washed the cat's paws, put him directly into a cat carrier and into the car. "We felt like total fools," Dobbins said.

After that, Dobbins' friend had told her to put butter on the paws of the cat and walk him around the perimeter of the property on a leash.

"We walked him on a leash for a while, but thought the butter idea was nuts," Dobbins said.

Their efforts appeared to work; the cat was staying around the house when it went outside. But then, about eight weeks after they had moved, the cat disappeared.

"I thought the worst. I was sure Socks was going to try to go home," Dobbins said. "But my husband said that Socks would have to find the bridge to get to Ohio. That was somewhat comforting.

"We were so worried," she said. "It was like losing a family member."

The Dobbins family ran an ad in the Southeast Missourian for a full week without a response. On the last day a family on Perryville Road spotted the ad and called the Dobbinses to have them come and retrieve Socks.

"When we brought him back to the house, I brought up the butter thing again," Dobbins said. "My husband told me to do what I thought was best, but he was going to have no part of it."

But when Dobbins looked in her refrigerator she only had margarine - no butter. Hoping it would work just as well, she spread margarine on the front paws of the cat, put him on a leash and walked him around the yard.

"I was hoping no one would see us doing this," Dobbins said. "I felt like such a fool."

But since his margarine-pawed walk, Socks has stayed home.

"I don't know what it was - something psychological or maybe his territory just tasted good," Dobbins said.

"I've told this story to people before and they've roared with laughter," Dobbins said. "But as far as my cat is concerned, I'm sold."

Dobbins called the "Today" show Wednesday to tell them her cat story.

"I haven't heard back from them nor do I expect to," Dobbins said. "But you can be sure that we're going to be following the saga of (Clinton's cat) Socks and his acclamation to the White House."