Josie

Josie was brought into the No. 5 Rd. shelter a couple of years ago, a frightened stray with kittens. As frightened as she was, staff there didn't think they'd have much luck adopting her out and so passed her on to the cat sanctuary where she could live at whatever level of tameness (or lack thereof) she felt comfortable with.

Josie turned out to be not simply tame, but really quite delightful. One of those "what's not to like" cats, she's friendly and responsive without being needy.

OK, not needy when it comes to most of the world, maybe just a little bit needy when it comes to staff member Doug. Josie may like the rest of us, but she looooves Doug. Sometimes when I'm doing my dinner shift in the doublewide, I'll suddenly hear this squealing like a pre-teen at a pop concert. I'll look around, and sure enough, there's Josie, over the moon about getting some cuddle time with her hero, Doug.

As if the squealing isn't funny enough in itself, what sets Josie off the most is if Doug lightly and repeatedly slaps her back at the base of the tail. Vanessa and I tried variations on the theme to see if we could get a similar response out of Josie and were rewarded with a few light squeals, but I think she'll always save the loudest and most joyous for her Doug.