The Cat Report (W. 2/5-14)

Now that poor Sophie Dori has gone back to Arlington, that leaves us with four cats: KABOODLES, SCRUFFS, DANALI, and SEQUOIA.   Hope Sophie Dori has better luck settling in to the next adoption room -- she's a friendly enough cat when something doesn't set her off, but she just cd not abide sharing a room with four other cats. 

KABOODLES greeted me with enthusiasm, rubbing and purring and generally signaling that he and I are pals. Quite a change from his extreme shyness those first few weeks. After his talky walk he went up to enjoy the cagetops. We got along great until it was time for him to go back in at noon. By now he was in the short stand on the bench and made clear he had no intention of coming out, so I picked the whole thing up and held it in his cage upside-down till he climbed out, much put out at me for the indignity. Hopefully he'll forgive me by next week.

MR SCRUFF was equally vocal on his walk, until he got deeply interested in the great big pet-beds along the back wall of the store. He jumped up on one of these and claimed it, then wanted to explore behind it. That last was a no-go, sez I, but he remained much taken with the big cushion, like the one Moreo used to enjoy. Back inside the cat room he settled near the door, as usual. Although he enjoyed chasing the laser pointer's wicked little red dot, the things he likes most are (1) the paper bag, (2) the rather gimpy ping-pong ball I brought in for him, and especially (3) the ping-pong ball IN the paper bag. We played with me sending the ping-pong ball skipping in his direction and him swatting it back my way, like some sort of low-tech pinball. 

SEQUOIA had a brief walk (mostly carried), just to start getting her used to the idea. Thereafter she enjoyed some petting but quickly made her wishes known. Using me as a human stepping stone, she once more got up among the blankets in the top shelf of the cabinet, and stayed there there next two+ hours, snug as a bug in a rug (to quote Ben Franklin). She came down with reluctance but went into her cage quietly, having declined petting in a lap. Good to see her much more relaxed and at-home in the cat room.

DANALI got the last of the walks, and I think will do pretty well once he's got a map of the store in his head; right now he's lost out there outside the room and unhappy about it. Once back in he claimed the floor in the middle of the room, from which he could preside over everything. He played a string game at one point (with Scruffs on the other end). He enjoyed being petted, and catnip, and having a box. I think his ears need cleaning, but he wasn't in the mood for me to do much with them, so that'll have to wait till another day.

All four cats seem healthy. All were v. vocal on the walks. None of them have any interest in canned catfood, though one of the other guy-cats (Scruffs?) was interested in Kaboodle's food, and vice versa. Two of them (Mr. Scruff and Danali) went back into their cages on their own at mid-morning, but eventually came out again. 

Three out of four cats surveyed agree: catnip in a box is a Good Thing.

And that's about it for this week. I took a load of cat-blankets home to wash up and bring back tomorrow or Friday. And we might need a new broom; the old one seems to have gone missing (worn out)? 

--John R.