Cat Visit to Victoria RSPCA: New friends and plots of global domination

On Sunday, with postcards done, we headed over to the Victoria RSPCA for our 'treat' of playing with the cats. Nothing like a purring cat in the lap for a bit of better. There were some new additions and some adoptions. One new addition drew me, maybe because this is how I think I might be if I was a cat (but the cat is less neurotic).

Here are Pickles and Mango, who act like twins and are intelligent to the point of scary (or as Cheryl says, ‘With the TWO of them, they will figure out how to use the can opener!”). You know that secret language that twins have, well these two have it as well and they don’t meow but they are talking to each other all the time. Pickles on the right seems the ‘brains’ while Mango is more active but together....watch out. Splitting them up would be a crime since they are so good together, but imagine waking up to the steady fascinating and silent looks from these two in the morning. The question isn’t, “Am I being trained?” but “Am I being trained as a pawn for cat’s world domination?” Pickles definately has that "Once I was the pupil but now I am the MASTER!" look going. That's what I'd want to be as a cat.

We gave them a mouse to play with and Mango enjoyed playing with it, including Standing on the hind legs and bringing it up with both paws face upward for a taste. Is that normal? It is like someone tasting the wine at a restaurant. There was some wild playing while Pickles used the Cat telepathy to say, “It’s okay!” and kept a close watch on all the happenings. It ended with Mango having one foot on the ground, the other firmly on top of the ‘mouse’ (keeping it to play until later) and then grooming itself. These are lovely and fascinating cats and would certainly keep themselves occupied, but beware walking in on them while they are building the ‘Make the owner give me more treats now’ Ray gun.

What I found both heartening, disorienting and confusing was that all of the cats previously shown in my blogs were gone, regardless of time spent waiting for owners. Jasmine was adopted, that green eyed cat ‘who likes to express an opinion’ and likes to play with my finger and kill it (but not draw blood, like Harvey, who was also adopted), as well as try to steal my camera! These three cats, Jasper by the footplate and Thomas as the winner of the two shoving each other to determine who will have the prime spot under the wheelchair, even though they are black cats, ALL of them: adopted. Also Angel, the two year old white cat who loved to play and rub up against my hand and cute Rose, who always sat on my lap was also adopted. EVERY cat shown in the last post was adopted.

This cute faced cat who had two readers ready to adopt it, was adopted, even though there were still kittens left. And an orange tabby by the door, shown once in photos, who was in the same basket time after time, also adopted. As for Miracle, the grey cat that seemed to like high places and Linda’s breasts, it seems that someone else noticed Miracles’ good taste! I had noticed that 50% of the cats we showed, of the 4 or so I try to limit it to each time were adopted, which I thought was pretty good since most of them had been there months. But to have EVERY cat I had shown gone from the Victoria RSPCA even those who had been there for eight months? Was I a very lucky charm for cats? It made me feel bad I didn’t show the other cats, like the pure white one who couldn’t take snacks. But also, since it had been a couple weeks, it meant that my active memory was wiped out. I did not really know where I was, and felt a lot like I used to going to elementary school on the first day. I did not have a friend, I was not even sure where I was. This is just part of the condition, plus that loss of memory and the ability to remember medium and short term.

I looked into the kitten room and got a little bit angry. The last time the room had been teeming with kittens (literally 9 on one shelf), now there were kittens left and ALL of them were black. Over a dozen kittens and every single kitten was black. Now I understood why the woman who was an RSPCA officer didn’t like the kitten so much or the people who went there and never saw the ‘cat room.’ Because the reason people were getting the kitten was the ‘cute’ factor and when that kitten grew up and didn’t have huge eyes anymore, then back it would come, at a 50% return rate. The people weren’t there to commit to being pet owners, they were part of the ‘me’ generation treating animals as disposable toys.

Back in the cat room, there was at least one cat who wanted to get to know me and that was Carmen. They say ‘your cat chooses you’ and Carmen chose me. Carmen had a voice like a mix of Nina Simone and Tom Waites, in that it was distinctive. A low yowling rolling R would come out when she was happy and a slightly higher pitch would come out when she was unhappy. So sitting and petting Carmen makes you sound like you have a small cat sized nuclear device that is getting ready to blow. Carmen also had a sort of dower expression by nature, and Linda was like, “No, no, don’t smile, look grim” And then would say to Cheryl, “Look, they match, they match!”Linda is a little strange sometimes. We are not amused.

Carmen was fine for wheeling around in my lap but did not like being around other cats. In fact the type of cats who sit in my lap tend to be those who want a protected perch. If they feel safe, with my hand on them, then they are content to let me wheel about and stay on my lap, even to the point of when I would go down a couple inches bump like with Rose. I like these cats because they are like companions, real partners.

There was a black and white cute young cat named Hugges (who NAMES these cats?), who was listed as ‘kind natured’ which means LITTLE SHY. And was probably the reason she was not let out, due to being too timid around some of the really aggressive cats (there is one orange cat which is King Cat and actually scratches you from up on high if you don’t feed it treats, or feed it fast enough). Hugs liked to stay in the back of the cage but EVENTUALLY could be coaxed into coming down, however, it was like she had never done that before and was a little, um, experimental in trying to figure out how exactly one gets down. So I guess this stuff doesn’t exactly come naturally to cats, or at least not to this cat.

In our Victoria RSPCA beautiful cat of the week, this one was a winner. Sadly, I could not see the name, nor could Linda or Cheryl remember but it is a young cat, and an affectionate one, doing a lot of head rubbing and butting, curious and a color I am not sure what to call. But very pretty looking and a good companion for those who don’t always want to be playing the, “How do I stop Pickles and Mango from taking over the world TODAY?” game.
My time was up and we had to go until next week. I hope that tomorrow I can blog about the two farmers markets I visited and some pictures there. Plus I have blogs lined up on my calendar (where I keep blog ideas) so I might have to blog MORE, as long as my health allows. Onward!