A few possibilities here:
Her boyfriend in prison.
I wonder if they started out as pen pals before he got locked up (ah ha! Entendre doubled!), or if it was like a kittens for convicts situation and she got adopted out.
Maybe it’s a cover and the kisses are a ruse while she passes information from the four-legged liberation front (FLLF, pronounced floof for those in the know). The network is going to extract him soon, once they figure out how to open doors. He likes the idea, in theory, but also likes the scritches that only the monkey-paws can deliver.