Wednesday, February 3, 2016

The Cat Report (W. 2/3-16)

What a change it makes to the Cat Room now that Houdin and esp. Zoe have been adopted; hope Houdin’s second adoption works out better than his first and that Miss Zoe’s new home is so good it was worth the wait.

In the absence of two such active cats, things have quieted down. FLURRY (our cream torbie fluffball) seems to have claimed seniority, despite being the youngest of our current cats, and that’s mellowed the room. The four cats tend to avoid each other but aren’t hostile to each other or to visitors (though Flurry still nips on occasion; think she needs a tennis ball to sink her teeth and claws into and bite and kick). As usual she used my shoulders as a stepping-stone from her cage to her cat-stand. Flurry even came down to floor level on her own and loved it when I later put her on the top of the cabinet: she sat up there like she was the queen of the world. I took her out for a walk — she was nervous but not panicked. So she’s expanding beyond just her cage and that one spot on that one cat-stand. I’m impressed with how much she’s come out of her shell: both last week and this one when I arrived she was buried behind her blanket, as usual, but came out at once when she heard my voice and her name and came to the front of the cage wanting to be petted through the bars, grooming my finger-tips all the while. That’s a tremendous change, and all to the good.

MIMOSA (our sleek little black-and-orange not-quite-a-calico) also had a walk, but she did more actual walking. She too was nervous but fast, exploring mostly around the little hall by the cat room and the passage that leads past the bathrooms. Later on she explored all over the cat-room, in and out of other’s cages as well as eventually putting herself back to bed in her own. She loves her catnip. Saw one bit of odd behavior: she saw a small child outside the room through the glass and hissed and hid. In fact, she acted just as if she’d seen a dog. Not at all like her usual self — triggered some bad memory, perhaps? 

Mr. TEDDY (our gentle furry so-black-he’s-kind-of-brown giant) was his usual lazy predator self — meaning that he enjoyed batting at any toys that came by, but they had to come to him; he was enjoying being all sprawled out too much to actually get up and chase them. He was mostly around the door until I shifted him to the cage-tops, which he enjoyed. Love the little fang he has sticking out on the lower left; it really gives him character. Hope he doesn’t lose it when it’s time for him to see the dentist. 

And as for Miss ELANOR (our little calico tabby), she’s sweet and shy and oh so thin. She kept going up to her food dish and then going away again without eating anything: I saw her do this six times. She did lick all the gravy off some canned food, so at least that’s something, but wish we cd find out her favorite food. 



Health concerns: mainly Elanor’s still not eating. Teddy has dander, but that’d take a good bath to fix. Think Flurry has some tangled hair on her chest but she didn’t want me to investigate further. If so, cutting those tangles out will probably be a two-person job. 

--John R. 

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