Being mindful of Laurie's warning that the cats were stressed,** I was careful today and am glad to report there were no incidents. The cats spread themselves out and I was able to deal with them one-on-one, which went much better. All four had walks: Faye went into the men's room and explored, Kaboodle was talky as usual but also went the furthest afield, all the way over to the cat-stand by the far corner; Scruffs got carried around more than actually walked, and Bouillabasse after some initial nervousness calmed down and explored the near horizons; she did v. well. Got to burn some of that restless energy off somehow.
Scruffs went into the box with catnip in the bottom and claimed it for his own. Bouillabasse investigated the catnip in a big paper bag, but it turned out she had no interest in the bag, only the catnip. Kaboodle went high and stayed there till late in the morning. I tried playing a feathers-on-a-string game with him up there, but it upset him badly so I stopped. I put the steps in place and Bouillabasse used them to go up and explore, but she didn't mess with Kaboodle, luckily. Scruffs stayed in his cage some, then came out and went high, spending the rest of the morning atop the cabinet. I had no trouble getting any of them down at noon, for which I'm grateful. Faye devoted herself to staying out of everybody's way, first squeezing herself under the cat-stand by the cabinet. Later she came out and I put her atop that cat-stand, where she stayed the rest of the morning. At one point I gave her a good grooming, which made her purr extravagantly. Bouillabasse was watching, a bit enviously I thought, from atop the other cat-stand (by the door), so I went over and gave her the same treatment, which pleased her mightily. She was pretty much affectionate and wanting attention all morning.
I switched over all the dirt boxes to the now clumping litter. Some of them used it at once. One side effect that I noticed folks shd be aware of: it's heavier.
no health concerns, aside from the usual attention to little things like Kaboodle's ears, Faye's eyes and chin (both of which she let me clean), and the like. Bouillabasse let me do her ears, which are a little dirty but seem fine. B's bottom was a bit messy (probably too rolly-polly to reach it properly herself), but she let me clean it some without much fuss.
A bit odd that both Mr. Scruffs' and Bouillabasse's food dishes were entirely empty. Faye and Kaboodle remain more moderate in their eating.
I was late in arriving (9.30) and stayed until 12.15. Among the visitors was one who's a fellow volunteer at another of the Purrfect Pals cat room, this one up in north Seattle.
And that's about it for this morning. It did me good, I think, to take last week off in the wake of Rigby's passing, but I was ready to get back in there.
--John R.
*and to what sound like dream adopters as well. Hope he has many happy years with them.
**sorry I'd arrived for a visit to the cat-room the day before, after doing a little shopping for our own cats, just a little too late to have helped out with that.
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