Had to share this --
One of my cats, Puggsley Speeball Pickula, AKA "Speedbump," has always been a
very kind and thoughtful being. About six years old, while he has never
really been very happy about my ferrets since I had my first, Frieda, a
couple of years ago, he treats them with a graciousness that one could only
wish many human beings deployed toward their fellow human beings. This
morning, though, he did something I'd never seen him do before. I feed him
and my other cat Pickman raw kidney meat, once a day. Normally, I feed this
to them outside, but in this terribly hot weather, I have to feed them
inside, on the kitchen floor, because otherwise the local hornest and
yellow-jackets come after the meat, driving the cats away and making life
miserable for us all. When I feed the cats inside like that, I have to put
Jessie-Weasel and Frankenweasel in the bedroom and close the door, or else
they come out and double-team the cats, one of them distracting their mark
while the other nips off with chunks of kidney-meat. Not only does it drive
the cats to distraction, but the ferrets horde the raw meat under the bed,
where it's very hard to clean out, and sometimes I only realize they've done
this a few days later, when the meat begins to become rather ripe . . . So
this morning I let Puggsley in and put his meat down for him on the kitchen
floor, then picked up Jssie and Frank and put them in the bedroom, closing
the door on their disappointed little stares. Well, when Puggsley was
through eating, he walked over to the closed bedroom door and touched his
nose to it, then looked up at me expectantly -- "Can you please open this,
Ma?" So I did, and the ferrets came barreling out. Puggsley, smiling,
watched them come out, then immediately turned around and went over to the
_front_ door, asking to be let outside! He'd just wanted to tell me it was
okay to let the ferrets out now, he was through eating and they shouldn't
have to be locked up any longer, please let them out of jail now, Ma . . .
[Posted in FML issue 0903]
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