Like every great lasagna, Garfield was born in the kitchen of an Italian restaurant on a winter's night in 1978, while outside snow fell like gratd Parmesan cheese. He weighed five pounds, six ounces at birth—that's big for a kitten!—and right from the start showed a passion for Italian food. the restaurant owner, forced to choose between Garfield and closing his doors for lack of pasta, sold Garfield to a pet store. Garfield thought he was a goner until Jon Arbuckle walked in the door. The rest is history.