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Summer has ended on the court and that brings the visit to an end. Last week the 2 Maine Coons who were staying with us this summer were picked up by their ‘person’ and returned home. The Oak Court Cats took their departure much the same way cats react to most any change: Indifference.
Missey was the first to “not” notice that the visitors were not sprawled across her favorite sleeping place on the sofa.
The big guy was able to return to the top platform of the cat tower in the living room, resuming his position as if he’d been there every day during the summer.
Precious returned to the back window sill where she could look out over the back yard; keeping an eye out for any unfortunate critter that tried to cross the yard.
Old routines picked up as if they had not been interrupted at all. Precious was standing on the pillow at 6:00 AM looking for a snack; Missey would wait, patiently, as I put a few treats into her bowl at dinner time and the big guy wold sit by the open back door at sunset, waiting for me to come out back and lite up a cigar and scratch his ears. With the visitors here we had to skip a number of the routine events but, as soon as they had left, the cats resumed . Like I said, Indifference; they are not fazed much by change.
So, as the last blast of summer heat bears down on us, the cats are stretched out on the floor, trying to keep cool. Later they’ll head for the kitchen for a meal then back to cool doorways and garage floors. For the Oak Court Cats, they don’t respond to change; they just ignore it and maybe it will go away.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, we are hosting 2 cats for the summer. Seems their “people” are in the middle of moving to a new apartment and their felines are spending the summer with us.
When the kitties first arrived, they stayed in my son’s bedroom and didn’t venture out into the rest of the house; they were a bit intimidated by the Oak Court Cats. I don’t know why; these visitors are both Maine Coons, one weighing in excess of 20 pounds while the other was at least 25 pounds. However, they went over a month without leaving the bedroom.
This lasted until mid July. Things changed.
Their “people” had told us that these cats had not been with other cats from the time they were removed from the litter and weren’t in to catnip, the occasional need to cleanse one’s butt in front of visitors nor did they growl, hiss, spit or claw. They were well behaved, didn’t jump up onto furniture and never touched the trash can.
Yeah. Sure.
It seems that the Oak Court Cats started to work on their inhibitions. The larger of the visitors has taken to rolling around in catnip for hours at a time (must be a 12 step program for cats somewhere). Missey has taught them to hiss and spit quite well; she greets all cats with a hiss and a swat these days. and they have started to run the length of the house with the regulars now.
Occasionally one of the pride will get the kittiy-crazies at times and will run the length of the house, turn around and run back the other way. Depending on which cat and the mood, this can be repeated a few times. Now I have not just my own cat running, I have 2 big Maine Coons running along side. Tails waving in the wind, they slam into furniture as they miss turns or hit a slippery patch. Chairs have been knocked over, plants are dumped; it may be good fun for them but it’s dangerous to step into their path, sort of like running with the bulls in Spain. With wood floors it can get quite noisy – especially at 3:00 in the morning.
I’ve learned how to read the newspaper with one of both the visitors sitting on the table, on top of the paper I’m trying to read.
At least once a week I find a trash can overturned, contents pulled out as if the cat needed more room for closer inspection (these guys are too big to crawl into the trash cans).
And, to demonstrate their desire to be accepted into the pride, they have begun to sleep on my bed – on my pillows – while I’m trying to sleep.
So, the vacationing cats have finally settled in; it’s going to be rough when they have to pack up their bags and go to a new home in September. Rough on me as I’ve finally gotten used to five cats underfoot. Rough on their “people” as these guys have started interacting with other cats and like the activity. I think that Missey is going to be the only one happy when they leave; she prefers not to share my pillow at night.
Nite.
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