Paladin Roaming

Cat-Sitting

Brother runs off now and then leaving his cats to fend for themselves. Fortuntely for the cats, he leaves them an envelope full of money, and they hire me to tend to those few needs they cannot take care of themselves. He has three cats. Max is the Maine Coon with the itty-bitty voice, the eldest. Like many of the eldery of any species he is slowly wasting away and is thin and bony under his fur. But still as [in]active as ever and showing no signs of discomfort. Brother recently got two younger cats, Silver the Grey and Fluffy the White. As in the Lord of the Rings, Grey is Good, White is... not actually Evil as much as totally self-centered.

Max and Silver greet me when I arrive, I drape my leather jacket on the floor, leather side up. Silver lays on the jacket -- has a thing for leather, will have to bring in whips and chains one of these years. I pick up the mail and check thru it for anything addressed to them, toss the not-to-them junk into the square recycle bin for my Brother to dispose of when he gets home. Clean the litterboxes, change the water, top off the food. Food gets Silver and Max moving. Excuse me, but it is the same food that is already in the bowls, the same food that is exposed to the same air in the ripped open bag. Doesn't matter -- both gotta take a few nibbles. Which frees up the jacket so I hang it up. (The one day I didn't I had to shove Silver off so I could leave.)

Brother doesn't bother heating the apartment. An electic blanket keeps the bed warm, and once up a sweater will suffice. SoCal doesn't get that cold. The Cats have several heated beds and pads to lounge in/on. Sometimes sharing one (hence the photograph, above.) I scritch Silver and Max (Fluffy stays in one of the beds, usually the one in the window partially hidden by a curtain.) Hang around for about a hour, take my leave and a ten-spot from the envelope.

Posted by Paladin at February 16, 2007 06:07 PM