Vanessa came over last nite and for some time, sat on the floor with Dodo and petted him as the little boy ate up all the attention. And then she did the Dodo no-no, which is touch him on his tummy. Apparently her kittens like to be tummy-rubbed, but Dodo just goes into defensive mode. I saw her pull her arm back really quickly, as Dodo’s white paw whipped through the air in a blur. I heard Dodo’s irrate “Grr!” of dissatisfaction.
“I forgot!” Vanessa said. “What do I do now?”
Dodo was now glaring at her, having rolled over to his side away from her.
“Oh, just leave him alone for a few minutes to get over it and he’ll approach you and get all affectionate again, like ‘I’m sorry I swatted you! Please be my friend again!’ ”
A minute later, Dodo went back into his passive “Err?” as he rolled onto his feet, trotted over to Vanessa’s side and leaned against her arm, meowing his apologies. And then everything was normal again. “My cat’s so predictable,” I said.

This morning, a coworker whose kittens I’ve babysat in the past while she was out of town emailed me:

“Morning…I have some random kitty information to share with you:

(1) Scout–Scout was sick (vomiting orange all over my carpet for a day and a half) so I took her to the vet. He gave her a shot, and she’s fine. He also had to take a urine sample to see if she had a UTI. I’m picturing trying to get her to squat over a cup and voluntarily pee. Not so–the vet felt her tummy and said there was pee in her bladder. I held down Scout’s legs and he injected her and withdrew pee. Makes sense, but who knew?

(2) Gabby–I think Gabby is destined to be a circus cat. I started doing Pilates recently and leave the big ball in the living room. The cats kick it around on occasion. Yesterday, it was resting by the chair, so Gabby climed on the ball and actually took 4-5 steps on the ball as it rolled underneath her. She did it twice, both times resulting in her falling off into something. But still…I see some talent there.

I bet Dodo doesn’t do anything that interesting.”

I wrote back:

“1.) I JUST learned yesterday from my friend that fish tends to give kitties bladder infections because of their high acid content. Who knew? Not I. So now my friend only gives her kitties food made from chicken and/or turkey. I hope Scout feels better soon.
2.) I saw a lion do that at the Honolulu zoo, except the ball was made of cement and about 4 feet in diameter. I would’ve thought Scout would play around like that, since my impression of Gabby is…well, I don’t have one cuz I never see her.

You can’t have Dodo do that…he’s an old kitty now! We figured out last nite that he’s 10. But Dodo’s good in other ways, such as sensing when you need a cuddle, or when your black pants are in dire need of some white fur residue.”

Don’t you all want cats now? Vanessa, my coworker and I all don’t have kids, so we talk about our kitties like they’re our children.

BTW, Vanessa and I went to sushi last nite and because we split a rather large bottle of sake, we found it advisable to avoid the gym. So I ate 3 square meals yesterday, and I didn’t work out at all. Come Saturday I’ll probably not fit in that dress anymore.