I’d brought them in a treat they all liked: a little bit of cream (a tablespoon or two’s worth apiece). They all loved it, especially Mimosa, who went and cleaned up whatever Diamond and Flurry left behind.
FLURRY was in a quiet, subdued mood. She was the last to come out of her cage and spent more time in the bottom rondel beneath the cat-stand by the cabinet than near the top level that’d become her usual space. She did venture into the cabinet at one point, on her own and without any help jumping in or later back out again. She’d really been coming out of her shell; I was delighted to hear she actually spent time grooming the kittens, showing a side of her we’d not seen before. Guess we all have our quiet days.
MIMOSA on the other hand was very affectionate; she came up and purred at me, which was v. agreeable, and groomed me several times. Midway through the morning she came up and got in my lap, which I consider a complement.
BLACK DIAMOND was the active one: she was all over the place, leaping from cat-stand to cage-top with ease whenever she felt like it. And just a week ago she’d been hiding in the bottom of the cabinet, behind the dirty laundry, and the like. She came up to be petted a stroke or two and then wd be off again. Wish I cd have found the laser pointer, as she had a lot of energy to get out — at one point she went medieval on a roll of paper towels
Once all the cages were cleaned and everybody’d had some petting and a spoonful of wet catfood (the only one who ate any was Flurry, and she just licked off the sauce), we devoted the last hour of the morning to cat games. Mimosa claimed the side of the room towards the door while Black Diamond stayed on the side over near the cabinet; Flurry was hidden under her cat-stand but stuck out a paw from time to time when a particularly tempted target whizzed past.
First there was catnip. Then we all played the feather game (Diamond is a great pouncer upon feathers up on the cage-tops, while Mimosa down below showed herself a true predator by grabbing them and not letting go). Then came catnip bubbles: Mimosa thought they were great and chased them down, popping them in the air. Diamond thought they were terrifying and went and hid till they all went away. Flurry watched them with surprise (what is that?) but no great alarm or particular interest. Then came the string game, with two cats playing with opposite ends of the same string (Mimosa near the door and Diamond near the cabinet). Unfortunately one time chasing the string Diamond ran into Flurry, who’d been quietly minding her own business. All I could see was a bunch of paws batting back and forth at each other and white fur floating in the air, but when they separated a few second later there was a little scratch on Flurry’s nose. It didn’t seem to hurt her, but I felt bad for her nonetheless.
I had already closed up the cat room for the morning when the person who wanted to surrender his cat arrived. I explained that we didn’t take in cats at the adoption room; that only the folks in Arlington cd do that. Gave him the flyer with the main shelter’s email/phone number/web address, and got his contact information, so hope he’ll be able to follow up with that. Though I’m beginning to think this wasn’t a Purrfect Pals cat being returned years later but a longtime pet who needed a new home and he wanted her to go to the Purrfect Pals shelter where she’d be taken care of.
And now as I’m finishing this comes the news that our adoption room will be shut down as of the 11th (two weeks from tomorrow). I’ll miss the cats, and all fellow volunteers as well -- who shd collectively take a bow for a job well done.
—John R.
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