Jeremiah has also been spending some time ’outdoors’ lately. With the warmer weather, we’ve opened the connecting tube between the FIV+ suite and the FIV+ solarium (a large, screened-in room where the cats can enjoy some fresh air and sunshine, see the floor plan). Despite his size, Jeremiah moves through the tube with ease, and he obviously enjoys the change of scenery, as he’s frequently to be found there.
I had charge of the FIV+ table in our lobby at our Cinco de Meow event on May 1, and on the table we had a very large cage in which we’d place two of the calmer FIV+ felines at a time, so people could see them up close and realize that these wonderful cats can and do live long, healthy lives.
Jeremiah seemed an ideal candidate for this, as he’s usually unfazed by anything, but he didn’t do as well in the cage as we had hoped; it was probably a case of too many people and too much noise. He spent much of his time hunkered down in the litter pan, and, as he was obviously not thrilled, after about 15 minutes we transferred him back to his suite.
Once he was in familiar territory, he jumped onto a crate and settled down for a nap, clearly exhausted by his appearance before a properly-admiring public.
About an hour later, I was returning his suite-mate Thomas after his stint in the cage up front, and I was pleased to note that Jeremiah had recovered sufficiently to swat lazily at Wanda’s tail as she walked past his crate.
The volunteers who clean suites in the mornings have recently had some ’help’ from Jeremiah. We place large sheets of paper under each litter pan, and every day the paper and litter pans are changed. Some of the cats find it great fun to ’assist’ with moving the paper, and whether we’re taking up old sheets or laying down new ones, it’s an irresistible opportunity for a cat to charge underneath them, jump on a sheet, or just sit on the paper and refuse to move. Jeremiah has begun to make a game of this and will wait until a new sheet of paper has been set down on the floor before leaping at it; he usually ends up partially under the paper and is not averse to pouncing on a suite-mate from his hiding place!