The Return of Cat Walking Wednesday

So, I'm now back from the trip, settled back in, and back at work --both putting finishing touches on my recent project and resuming work on the project I put aside half a year ago to concentrate on the Kalamazoo piece. Which means that last week (7/3) and this (7/10) I got to go in the place I volunteer and walk cats.

Here are two pictures of The Fine Art of Cat Walking. The first is a picture of Tim Tiger, a senior cat with health issues but worlds of personality; the second shows me walking him.

And here's the actual Cat Report:

Thanks to Kimiko and Gregory, who had all three cats out and in a good mood. TIM TIGER was atop the cat-stand, sweet DUBLIN on a bed on the bench, and LITTLE MARY scampering about on the floor level.

Knowing that they were coming to get Tiger for a ride up to Arlington to check his blood chemistry, I went ahead and walked him first thing, thinking the out and about wd do him  good. He was his usual intreped self, going all over the store looking for spilled treats high and low and winning praise from by-passers and staff. After we came back in, a half-hour or so later, he enjoyed some powdered catnip and then shared a game with Little Mary. They mostly played the string game but also bee-on-a-wire and a little with the feather duster.

Thinking we might get Mary used to walking in stages, I managed to put the collar on her (with leash attached) and leave it there several minutes. She didn’t like it, and rolled around trying to get it off, but she didn’t panic like she did last week, so that’s progress. Anyone who feels up to it might get the collar or harness on her for a few minutes at a time while she’s with us: we may make a leash-walker of her yet.

Sweet Dublin passed on the games but was very happy when someone petted her, and purred loudly to show it. A very gentle cat, perfect for sharing a couch. She was worried towards the end of my shift by noises outside the cat-room (they were moving some pallets around over near the new cat-trees location) and so asked to go back in her cage, where she curled up to sleep.

By that time the driver had come for Tiger Tim. Tiger told us, as clearly as he could, that he didn’t want to go in the carrier. To no avail: in he went. I was admiring how much better he looks than when he arrived, now that his shaved fur is growing back again. Think he’s also less boney, thanks to all the work folks put in finding out what kind of food he likes. Hope he’ll be back with us again after his check-up and status report.

Last to call it a day was little Mary, who climbed up and dozed off atop the cat-stand. By the time I was ready to head out, a little later, she was sleeping the sound sleep of kittens, and it was easy to transfer her into her cage.

No new cats, but I had time to clean out and sterilize Tim Tiger’s cage, so we now have two cats (Dublin & little Mary) and three empty cages (one of them the double-high supersize).

—John R.

P.S.: It’s a little late now, but I have to pay tribute to the now-adopted BEAUTY and CORKIE and GALAXY, all three of whom went on walks last week. Galaxy was v. shy and mostly got carried about. Beauty did better but was clearly nervous, so we didn’t stay out too long. Corky was completely different: she sallied forth and walked all over the store. In fact, she walked on her own all the way from the cat-room to the training room on the far corner of the store, the first cat to do so in my memory. So if there’s a follow-up how-are-they-doing message to B&C’s new owners, we might want to pass along word of Corkie’s unsuspected talent.