Saturday, April 13, 2013

The Cat Report (W.4/10 and Fr.4/12-13)

Wednesday the 10th we were back up to seven cats again, with the arrival of half-grown kittens MIDLO and CECILLY, a six-months-old bonded pair. Midlo is the lively orange one who's into everything and Cecilly's the shy darkish calico one. Midlo came out after a while, lured by feathers and catnip; Cecilly mostly stayed in, though she watched her brother's game closely. After some chasing after the laser pointer, Midlo spent some time almost playing with Lemura. Eventually all three of them got interested in the box and wound up playing together around the scratching posts at the bottom of the cat stands near the door. 

I offered JANE a walk first thing and she said no, though she did let me pet her a little. She's definitely mellowing. She soon found her way up to the cage tops, where she claimed one of the pink beds (which are surprisingly popular). From there she enjoy first the string game and then feathers. Later she shifted down to inside the short cat-stand on the bench, where she stayed the rest of the morning, by now back into her hands off mode. Of course, she might just not have been feeling well; there was throw-up (digested food) in her cage.

Sweet senior cat TATTOO has named herself  the room's official greeter; I no sooner walk in than she begins to call out and rub herself against the cage bars asking for petting/loving/out! now!/attention. She too refused a walk, settling in her usual favorite place, the rondel beneath the cat-stand by the cabinet. She came out and asked for some attention from time to time, and in general just had a quiet easy-going morning. 
Her water bowl was about half full, so all seems well on that front for now.


MAUI TAT was his usual active self. He had a walk but was v. jumpy, as if he expected that at any moment frogs would fall from the ceiling and land smack on his back. In fact, at one point he jumped when he glanced around and saw me behind him at the other end of the leash: apparently he'd forgotten I was back there. Despite which I think he had a good walk: he explored the men's room and around the water fountain with considerable interest, and of course wanted to go back into the forbidden area off that little alley; he also showed great interest in the fire escape/alarm-will-go-off door near there. Once back in he immediately sought out the catnip I'd brought, fished it out of the box (where I'd buried it in a bunch of paper), and eviscerated the little plastic bag it was in with great satisfaction. After a while letting his paws hang down from the middle-level of cat-stand #1, he went up high, and claimed the other little pink bed (the one nearish the door; Jane had already come down from the other one by now). Here he blissed out, working his paws and purring loudly to proclaim his entire satisfaction with The Way Things Were Going. He got a final treat when Cher dropped by and gave him a walk; turns out he's good at using those hanging steps.


OLIVER BOB had a quiet day and probably would have preferred it even quieter. When I made him leave his cube so I cd clean it, he went underneath Tattoo's rondel; later he decided this wasn't safe enough, whereupon he went into Tattoo's cube and stayed there till end of morning.  

That just leaves LEMURA, who was relaxed early on and playful later. The kittens were fascinated with her, wanting to play but not sure if she'd play along or suddenly go all hissy on them. Luckily she mellowed and they had fun pawing at each other around the cat-stands near the door. She too had a walk, and she too had heard about the frog-falls and kept a sharp look-out for them. 


In general, a quiet, rainy day without many visitors.



A highlight of the day came when a woman dropped by to say she'd adopted a cat (then named ESTELLA, now PURDY) from Cher at this cat room about three years ago. They were doing great; she'd just stopped by to look at our current cats while Purdy was having a check up at the Banfield next door. That was before my time, and looking at the cat-photos we didn't find one of Estella/Purdy, but the woman (whose name was Angela) did recognize Starla, so she must have continued to drop by from time to time afterwards. Anyway, a happy ending that she wanted to share with Cher.


the money box is almost full 


      XXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxXXXXXXXXXXXXX

FRIDAY APRIL 12th
The adoption of MAUI TAT (yay Maui, a great cat) means this morning finds us back down to six cats: E.J., Lemura, Tattoo, Oliver Bob, and The Kittens (Midlo & Cecilly).

The low point of the day was my getting bitten by Oliver Bob (Oww). The high point was taking E. Jane for a good long walk at the start of the morning.

JANE allowed me to pick her up and put the leash on, so off we went first thing for a walkaround. At first she clung to me a cried as I carried her, then the cries stopped as she got more interested in what all she was seeing. Eventually she asked to be put down and did some exploring, particularly wanting to climb up on various pillows and beds and cushions to try them all out. All in all, she did v. well. 

TATTOO also had a walk, except that the rules for walks as she's defining them now seem to consist of dashing from Point X to Point Y, with 'X' being whatever spot I put her down and 'Y' being the cat-room. So her walk was short, after which she went into her rondel, the better to receive any petting or affection I might feel inclined to lavish upon her. What a sweet cat. 

OLIVER BOB did not get a walk, owing to his suddenly going completely feral when I picked him up out of his cage. He bit so hard on my finger before I cd drop him that his fang went right through the fingernail. Ouch. He took refuge in the hollow space inside the short cat-stand on the bench. I got things bandaged up (to keep those spots clean while cleaning up the rest of the cat-cages) and made all the other cats go inside, just to be on the safe side, then cleaned up Oliver's cube and made him go in by lifting the whole stand up and shaking him out into the cage, where he went back into the corner as usual and later buried himself under the blankets. 

Don't know what came over him, given how limp and passive he usually is. I suspect the cage door crashing down on his head yesterday that Bonnie described in her post may have really traumatized him. Either that, or he has some sore spot where I really hurt him just by picking him up -- but if so I've not seen any sign of it till now.

So, everyone, be careful with him for the next few days, and avoid picking him up if at all possible. Here's hoping he soon gets over it.

Poor Oliver Bob.   


Mr. Bob's unexpected antics put a damper on the room; nothing like another cat screaming bloody murder, and meaning it, to make everyone else want to stay in their cages. However, when I asked LEMURA if she'd come out for a big bag of catnip, she responded that why, yes, she would. So she took over the top of cat-stand #1, where she enjoyed the gopher game and the string game too. She enjoyed the gopher game so much that she purred, so loudly I cd hear her from across the room.

Tattoo also came out after a while, but Jane elected to stay in where it was safe, and nibbled her kibble. 

As for the kittens, CECILLY stayed inside all morning, while MIDLO ventured out but stayed close to home base, dashing back in whenever feeling threatened. Cecilly was distressed when I began to take things out of her cage to clean it, so I got the little pink bed they all seem to like so much down from up high and put it in the kitten's double-wide. She loved it, so much so that I left it in there after getting everything else cleaned and straightened up.

We did have one woman come in who was looking for a kitten but didn't want to take a bonded pair; I suggested she check the website to see if there might be a kitten at one of the other adoption rooms that might be right for her. Sounded like she was going to try the Renton store next.

More promising is a woman whose cat died not long ago who was thinking of getting the bonded pair of kittens so each wd have the other for company. She liked both, and Cecilly clearly liked her too, so she said she'd come back in tomorrow with her partner to see how the two of them got along with them both. Here's hoping they really click and Cecilly and Midlo soon have a new home together.

And I think that's about it. Apologies for any typos; O.B. got me on the index finger of my dominant hand, and it's throwing my typing off a bit.

--John R.

P.S. No health problems that I noticed. Tattoo's water had some cat little dissolved in it, but looks like she had drunk some of it before that (maybe a third of a bowl?). She was dis-arranging all her towels when I left, but didn't have time to open things up, convinced her that affectionate as she is she can't come out just now, and tidy them all, so hope it wasn't too bad. Jane also decided she wanted to come out just as I was finishing up, so had to disappoint her as well. Hopefully she'll get a good dose of Up High this evening and tomorrow.


PPS (Friday evening). I've now been to the doctor and he's put me on antibiotics. Looks like I won't be taking a lot of notes or signing my name legibly for the next few days. 
   Fingers. why is it always the fingers.
--JDR

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