Started the morning with some walks. Atlanta is a very vocal floor-roller who loves nothing more than to roll over and over on a smooth concrete floor (reminded me of Jazz -- or was it Kaia?--except that Atlanta is svelte compared with them). Her vocalizing alarmed the little birds behind the door by the coke machine, and all the twittering from behind that door interested her. Little Tayla was also vocal on her short walk but did a good job with the actual walking. Stache disliked the collar but did some exploring outside the room, especially in the rest room. Have to be careful with all three that they don't dive under the aisles. We had some potential excitement in that PetsMart had an escaped bird (one of their little finches) who was flying about. It landed not far from one of the cats (Stache I think it was), who luckily just watched with interest but didn't go dashing after it.
((Later I saw it perched atop an aisle trying to peck open a bag of birdseed; they still hadn't caught it by the time I left, though they had a cage with seed in it all set up as a lure.))
Once the walks were over, the cats divided themselves into The Ins and The Outs. The Outs were Atlanta, little Tayla, Stig, Stache, little Aura, and (surprisingly) Jane; the Ins were Genesis, Pascale (who was not only in but buried beneath and behind her blankets), Lemura, and of course Mr. Niko.
EDNA JANE, the most beautiful of all our cats, came out on her own when I moved the short cat-stand she likes near; stayed atop it for a good while, then later walked along the bench and made her way into the lower level inside the small stand on the bench. There she settled down peaceably until well after noon; when it was time to go inside I lifted the whole thing up and tilted her into her cube.
GENESIS, our new dark calico, I thought wanted some quiet time and to be left alone; only discovered late in the morning that she actually wanted attention and was just waiting for it to be offered on her own terms, without having to come out of her cage. I'll need to do better with her next time and give her lots of petting and making much of. Feel sorry for her as a survivor kitty whose owner passed away. Has an unusual mew -- almost a mew-bark.
LEMURA stayed in until lifted out, then stayed out (atop cat-stand #1) until much later put back in. She was pretty passive overall today; friendly enough but unmotivated. I'll have to see if I can't get her involved in a game next time.
PASCALE stayed in all morning, rather than come out and explore as she's been doing. Maybe the full room has caused her to withdraw a bit? Sweet but still not trusting.
MR. NIKO was in a good mood: not at all interested in coming out but welcoming attention (petting, head-butt, game) within his little domain.
STACHE was her usual relaxed, agreeable self. She came out, she ignored other cats' hissing (whether Atlanta or Jane), she found a spot she liked (top of cat-stand #2), she stayed there. Mellow, welcoming attention from visitors, and just plain chilling out. Probably the most mellow of all our current crop of cats.
Mr. STIG was easygoing and quiet as usual. I put him up high, which he loved, settling down in the box far away from the other cats.
ATLANTA is a beautiful cat with a strong personality; think she may well dominate the room. Her philosophy is simple: purr for the people, hiss at the other cats. Loves attention and demands it. Very friendly with visitors -- particularly with one couple that she really bonded with (rubbing legs, purring, following them around); when they left without her she was so upset she hissed at everybody for several minutes. Poor Atlanta -- v. jealous of any attention to other cats; several times I saw her purr when I petted her and then hiss when I petted someone else.
Little TAYLA loves the steps and enjoyed going up and down. She was out and about, exploring the whole time and amusing hersel, until she eventually went into Stache's cube. Stache was okay with that, even with the two of them in there with the door closed at one point. Not fond of being cuddled or held, but loves games and okay with being petted. Friendly but independent. Note: she loves the string game but kept trying to eat the string she was playing with.
Little AURA the newcomer got hissed at by Atlanta (who took a dislike to her) and decided the best response would be to go hide back in the corner by the laundry hamper. Whenever she tried to come out, she got hissed at again, so eventually decided to say there. I'll try to make some one-on-one time with her next week.
--LOTS of visitors, including a fellow volunteer from the adoption room in Renton's The Landing (nice to meet). Most just wanted to pet cats; a few insisted on sharing stories about how their cats died (which made me glad those weren't seeking to adopt). Eventually had to stop inviting folks in so I cd finish up the cages.
--The string game was popular (Tayla, Stache, Pascale, Jane, Atlanta), as was the 'bug' Cher had provided (Mr. Niko). I'll had to see about getting one of those for my cats at home.
--health concerns: none, really, other than ongoing worry re. Lemura's growing passivity. Atlanta had spilled her water-dish, but that was probably just accident (new cube, new place).
And that's about it for another Wednesday.
--JOhn R.
UPDATE (2/3-13)
And, in the delay before I got this written up and then posted, Mr. STIG got adopted (2/2/) and both little AURA AND little TAYLA together. It turns out ATLANTA came to the shelter along with her mother, GEORGIA, who's currently up at Woodinville, and they've decided to re-unite them. Not clear yet whether they'll be together at the Tukwila room or the Woodinville one, but sounds like a great development for them both.
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