Merry Meowy Christmas

Earlier this week, I brought in a holiday bow to see what the cats would make of it:

Charmin: No response. I suspect the ability to ignore being dressed up, decorated and other indiginities is bred into Persians as a survival trait

Daisy: Always happy to pop a pose. She would like to suggest a calendar or series of greeting cards.

Groucho: Amazingly, did not pee on the bow. Did wander over and pee on the rabbits' cage as soon I was done taking his picture.

Lincoln: Not interested in expending energy on something that doesn't appear to involve receiving tuna.

Carreen: Responded to the introduction of a large red bow in the way I'd frankly expected most of the cats to do - with an experimental chomp.


Merry Christmas, everyone, and enjoy the holidays in whatever way makes you happy.

 Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller

Charmin

Even for those who may consider themselves at least passably fluent in feline, cats can sometimes be a bit hard to figure.

The signs providing information on any cats being kept in cages will sometimes include a note warning that this particular inmate is especially determined to get the heck out of that cage at the first opportunity. This is understandable. We don't tend to think of cats as really relishing the idea of a cage. And then we see cats like Aurora, who have no interest in leaving the cage once the door has been left open -- indefinitely. And then there is Charmin, who can't seem to resist scooting into any and every cage at the first opportunity. When I'm opening the doors to various cages at dinnertime, she'll often appear by my feet, looking for an opening to slip in far more eagerly than the cat on the other side is looking to zip out.

As far as distinguishing characteristics go, Charmin's other one doesn't require the opening of a cage door to notice:

Yes, another member of the RAPS one-eyed cat club. 

Here's her story, told by Leslie (originally published in The Love Blog, July 2009):

"Charmin, our one-eyed Persian, was surrendered to RAPS as a high-strung young cat many years ago. We found a loving home for her, but her situation deteriorated a couple of years later. The young couple had a baby and then decided to get a puppy. All of that activity was too much for Charmin, and she started to urinate around her home. RAPS has a policy of always taking back the animals we adopt, and Charmin has a permanent home at our sanctuary."

I'm told that Charmin originally came to us with the full ocular complement, but somewhere along the way suffered a rupture of the right eye, leaving her with just the left. Persian cats can be particularly prone to eye problems due to the shape of their faces.

This doesn't seem to stop Charmin from doing any of the things she wants to do, though, from presenting herself to available visitors or volunteers for a little attention to conducting regular inspections of any cages she can wrangle access to. Always making sure she's not missing out on a thing.