Short Staffed

Red watching over all of the cats

There were only a few volunteers this Monday night, as it was a holiday weekend. This meant we had to spread out as wide as we could to clean, and had little time to pet or play with the cats. This also meant I didn't get many good chances to take very many photos, sorry! I tried to be as efficient as I could while also giving the cats as much attention as possible, which often meant multiple head pats or a toy mouse dangled in front of a cat's face.

My routine was paused when a mother and child came into the shelter in search of two cats. They had already had their eye on Cash (who no longer lashed out when he wasn't given attention) and River, a young, seemingly rambunctious cat who was new to the shelter. As I scurried from cage to cage the girl followed me, curious as to "why" I was doing anything that I did.

I brought her in to see Zane, a large, mellow cat who has a small room to himself in the back room. Zane unfortunately doesn't get along very well with other cats, and doesn't like being cooped up in his little room. He was adopted over ten years ago, but brought back sometime before I started volunteering, said to have a history of biting. None of the volunteers have noticed any biting, aside from a playful nip here and there if you're petting him and he gets the urge to play with your hand. He's pretty aloof around me. He appreciates it when I fill up his food dish, but after I pet him a time or two he finds it much more interesting to hop up to one of his shelves for a nap.

Zane was curled up on a high shelf when we walked in, but I picked him up and set him on the floor for the girl to pet. She was a little nervous he would bite her, so settled on filling up his cage with as many toys as I would allow. I told her that he liked being petted, and if she was nervous, to let him sniff her fingers first to gain his trust. As I said this, I let him sniff my fingers, and sure enough he flopped over and began to purr loudly. The girl didn't bother with the sniffing, and instead lunged her arm forward for a couple rough pats on his side. Zane loved it anyway, and closed his eyes halfway, purring along. I had never seen him quite so friendly before.

We soon left the room, as the girl's mother came back with the volunteer coordinator to ask questions about certain cats, and I had a lot of cleaning left to do. As I scrubbed along, Zane sat at his door, meowing. He wanted more attention! I told this to the girl, and she made it her job to continue to fill his cage with toys.

We finished cleaning well after 8pm, and I stayed even later, peeking my head into a couple rooms to give those cats a little extra attention.

I had a visit from Andy. Bologna bonded with him.

 Handsome, calm Calloway was happy for some attention at the end of the day.

Eagle was as adorable as ever.

A basket full of cat!

Dave was too high up for me to pet his fluffy belly, but he was happy to pose for a photo.

Mason (returned a 2nd time a couple weeks ago) is as sweet as ever