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chhotiiMeet Her Royal Highness, Princess Coconut of Macaroons, picture is here.
One of my pet pandemic projects was to have the complete series of weekly allergy shots, now that there's allergy shots for cat allergies. This took about 1,000 years or no time at all (time lost all meaning in the endless March).
About 10 days ago, Vic and I visited the home of a friend with cats, specifically to see whether the allergy shots worked. So, the host did not vacuum in preparation of our arrival, I did not take antihistamine. We sat on the cats' favorite sofa, with their cat-fur-coated favorite blanket, and petted the cats as much as they would stand. I was fine!
Emboldened by this experiment, I was willing to visit an animal shelter, which had just started allowing unscheduled visits, with Vic. I said "we can look at the animals but what are the chances that we bring home a cat today? Very low. Trying to find the right match for a pet from a shelter is like trying to find a boyfriend or an employer. You have to look and look because everyone out there is a crummy match."
So we went to the shelter, and we met Coco. Coco was not what I had imagined as the new addition to our household. She's a small cat (I thought Vic had a thing for big cats). And she's rather old, 14 years old. Before we met Coco, Vic expressed an interest in a young, playful cat, who could perhaps be trained.
But when we stuck our hands in Coco's cage, after sniffing suspiciously, Coco head-butted our hands, demanding to be petted. Coco loves to be scritched behind the ears, where her fur is so, so, so soft, and the tabby-patterned fur hairs are banded so you see fascinating whorls of color when you push the fur around. Vic was instantly in love.
And my allergies seemed to not be an obstacle to being with Coco. We spent an hour in an enclosure at the shelter with Coco, getting to know her, and allergies seemed fine.
So, we went out and bought the basic cat necessities (litter box, litter, scoop, un-tippable food bowls). We tidied up the apartment, because if there's a cat in my home, vacuuming has to happen. And we went back to the shelter a couple of days later to get Coco.
Now there's a furry mammal in my home. It's going well. Cat care has been pretty simple. She mostly sleeps, but sometimes she wants to sit in my lap and be petted. It's vastly amusing, the quintessentially cat things she does: jump on my desk, and step all over the keyboard; sit on things and in things; fold a little pointed ear back in irritation when we apply her medication. So very cute.
One of my pet pandemic projects was to have the complete series of weekly allergy shots, now that there's allergy shots for cat allergies. This took about 1,000 years or no time at all (time lost all meaning in the endless March).
About 10 days ago, Vic and I visited the home of a friend with cats, specifically to see whether the allergy shots worked. So, the host did not vacuum in preparation of our arrival, I did not take antihistamine. We sat on the cats' favorite sofa, with their cat-fur-coated favorite blanket, and petted the cats as much as they would stand. I was fine!
Emboldened by this experiment, I was willing to visit an animal shelter, which had just started allowing unscheduled visits, with Vic. I said "we can look at the animals but what are the chances that we bring home a cat today? Very low. Trying to find the right match for a pet from a shelter is like trying to find a boyfriend or an employer. You have to look and look because everyone out there is a crummy match."
So we went to the shelter, and we met Coco. Coco was not what I had imagined as the new addition to our household. She's a small cat (I thought Vic had a thing for big cats). And she's rather old, 14 years old. Before we met Coco, Vic expressed an interest in a young, playful cat, who could perhaps be trained.
But when we stuck our hands in Coco's cage, after sniffing suspiciously, Coco head-butted our hands, demanding to be petted. Coco loves to be scritched behind the ears, where her fur is so, so, so soft, and the tabby-patterned fur hairs are banded so you see fascinating whorls of color when you push the fur around. Vic was instantly in love.
And my allergies seemed to not be an obstacle to being with Coco. We spent an hour in an enclosure at the shelter with Coco, getting to know her, and allergies seemed fine.
So, we went out and bought the basic cat necessities (litter box, litter, scoop, un-tippable food bowls). We tidied up the apartment, because if there's a cat in my home, vacuuming has to happen. And we went back to the shelter a couple of days later to get Coco.
Now there's a furry mammal in my home. It's going well. Cat care has been pretty simple. She mostly sleeps, but sometimes she wants to sit in my lap and be petted. It's vastly amusing, the quintessentially cat things she does: jump on my desk, and step all over the keyboard; sit on things and in things; fold a little pointed ear back in irritation when we apply her medication. So very cute.
no subject
Date: 2021-06-30 11:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-06-30 09:40 pm (UTC)behavior modification in primates
Date: 2021-07-01 12:41 pm (UTC)