Therapy Cat Tales from 1/25/12

Tabby writes:


Sorry I didn't write about our visit two weeks ago!  We were job-shadowed by two students from Benson High School, and it was fun showing them what we do.

Today was rainy, but we were inside for most of the big downpours.  I had my nice raincoat for the small showers.  Typical weather for January where we live.  It snowed a couple days, but now is back to rain again.  While we were waiting for the rain to stop, buses to come, and on the bus, we heard a lot of cat stories!  We always love hearing about other people's cats, and they love telling us about them.

One lady told us a horrible story about three cats each jumping out a window and drowning in the water tank, all years apart.  That story wasn't so nice, but she decided to not have cats as pets again.  She loved visiting with me, though.  Another lady had a bad story that has a good ending.  She decided to use a cheap flea product on her cat.  She got it from Safeway, where they don't carry Frontline, Advantage, or other veterinarian-approved flea products.  Her cat lost all her fur and had to go to the vet because she was being poisoned by the flea medicine.  She is just now starting to grow back her fur, but not her tail fur yet.  Please, please, PLEASE only use Frontline, Advantage, Advantix, Revolution, or other top-of-the-line flea products on your pets!  Please do not use Sargents, Hartz, Bio-Spot, or other cheap products.  They're not worth it!

We heard about a kitty who loved to sleep in a baby-doll buggy!  One day, his people couldn't find him, and were looking all over the house for him.  They found him in the little girl's room, asleep in the buggy, curled up with the doll and blanket!  A lady on the bus told us about her sister's cats, who live with her because her sister lives with her.  They have as many cats as we do!  One of their cats got hit by a car when he was just a little kitten, but he lived and is doing well now.  A lady on the MAX light-rail train told us about a cat she rescued when he was about 4 months old.  He was down to skin and bones and the vet didn't think he'd make it, but he survived and is a big cat now.  She also has a girl cat who came to her doorstep and was probably thrown out of a car.  That family also has two new kittens, a present they got last Father's Day.

They are still working on the ceilings at H., but I wasn't interested in looking up the ladders today.  Now it seems normal to see men up ladders into the ceiling.  Our friend Dr. W. died a few days ago.  We'll miss seeing him and his visitors.

G. was sleeping when we went to see her, but she woke up right away and petted me, scritching my forehead the way I love.  A. was sitting beside her, smiling as he watched G. pet me.  E.  didn't have her kitty pillow around her neck today when we went to visit her, so she smelled a little different (the pillow has lavendar in it), but I let her pet me anyway.  She put her hand down on my stroller at one point, and I put my arm across her hand to comfort her.  Another E. was talking with her niece, M., so we didn't want to interrupt, but M. called us in because she wanted to see me.  It turns out that M.'s afraid of cats!  She wasn't afraid of me, though!  :)  >^..^<  She wanted to know all about me, my training, and exactly what my job is.  S., who is that E.'s roommate now but used to live upstairs, was telling M. all about me and S. and I demonstrated together how I love to snuggle on beds and with my friends.  We also showed how I ask for pets by putting my paw up to tap the person.  M. was very impressed, and told our supervisor that.  She also told our supervisor that her aunt E. loves when I and the therapy dogs come to visit, always calling her after the visit to tell her all about it!

We went upstairs to see P., who was very glad to see us.  I visited with her for a long time, staying just within arm's reach so she could scratch my ears.  I played a game with her with my tail.  Not the regular game of tails, but a different game.  She likes to hold onto my tail, wagging it back and forth, then letting it go.  She'll pet me from my head to my tail, then hold my tail again and let it go.  I slap her hand with my tail, then she pets me from head to tail and holds my tail again.  We play this way because she is visually-impaired.  I know she can't see my tail well enough to play regular tails, so I play this only with her.  In the hallway, we visited with two new friends.  I might see them again, if they want to visit with me next time.

Torbie Thursday: Miss Marble's Weather Report

Miss Marble writes:

This picture that Mommy took is what my world looked like the past three days!  It's now back to normal:  wet, cold, and windy.  This white stuff is called "snow", and it sticks to my fur!  It's very cold and wet, and turns to water when I lick it.  I can't walk anywhere when it snows, but I can pounce in it.  It's hard to catch mice in snow, I found out yesterday.  I pounced from the deck onto a mouse, but then it slipped from under my paws.  I'd bitten it, so it couldn't get far, but after I got it again I looked at my sister and at Mommy (who was watching from the door), asking for explanations on why my mouse almost got away!  My sister was as confused as I was, and Mommy was laughing!  My sister and I ignored Mommy and went under the deck to eat my mouse.

I've been coming inside more and more, now that it's been snowing.  There is a lot of new stuff inside!  There are things called toys!  I like rolling toys, I've discovered, because my auntie Freya keeps rolling them to me to play with after she demonstrates how they work.  I like a ball that used to flash, so the humans keep that by the door for me.  Auntie Freya gave me one of her special toys, which she calls a roller!  Actually gave me it!  It's the core of a roll of doggie poop bags, but she loves to play with the roller (the core), and now so do I!  Auntie Freya brought it out to show me, then pawed it around in the dining room so I could see how it works.  Then she pawed it to me!  I wasn't quite sure if it was ok for me to play with it, so I looked at her, then at the roller, then at Mommy.  Mommy hit the roller with her shoe, and then I batted it with my paw.  Fun!  I batted it even more, then picked it up in my mouth and carried it a little closer to the door.  I batted it some more, then picked it up in my mouth again, inching it even closer.  Mommy opened the door and I took my special toy out into my world!  My first favorite toy, besides natural things!  I've played with grasses, rope, and other outside things, but this is my special, inside toy that my auntie gave me!

There is something called a heat vent inside, just on the other side of the door, that keeps the house warm.  I like to stand by it and play with the blinds as they move in the wind.  Striped Girl and I have learned that the spot outside across the door from the vent is the warmest spot to stand, but now I know why!  I still get a bit nervous when the heat starts up, because it makes a whooshing noise, but then I like to play with the blinds as they move.

Daddy has been shutting the door when I come inside, to keep the warm air in.  Mommy has, too, but Daddy makes a game out of it.  I come inside, the door shuts, then I paw at it and wiggle.  The door opens and I bat at the track and at the door.  I go outside, come back in, and the game starts all over again!  I get so into the game that I sometimes forget that I'm not supposed to bite the humans.  They understand, though.  When that happens, they tell me it's time for me to be outside for a while to calm down.  I get to come inside again later, though!  I'm even beginning to purr out loud when I'm petted inside.