Originally, Spike lived with coyotes, but after he left them (when they tried to eat him) he moved near Needles and, on October 17, 1983, found a cactus to live with for company. From then on, Spike started talking to the cactus, and some other inanimate objects, as if they were his friends. The cactus is never seen with speech bubbles talking back to Spike, unlike the school building that talks to Sally, or other inanimate objects, but Spike somehow seems to understand them. He claims that the cactus has told him many things.