It’s a thing at Tabby’s Place and pretty much everywhere else to talk to cats. Everybody does it. No, it isn’t weird. We’re not weird. Okay, maybe we are weird. But, we are definitely weird in that cool way where everybody is weird in different joyful ways, but together, and alone, and always with the cats. The Tabby’s Place cats are weird too. Also, very cool. That’s good. It’s a thing.
To be felis catus, from the animal kingdom kingdom perspective, is certainly a strange thing. From the field mouse perspective, APEX PREDATOR!! From the raptor¹ perspective, DELICIOUS! Okay, let’s not linger too long over that last bit, but it is an unusual place for any mammal to occupy both roles in the hunter/hunted duality, especially mammals that are weirdly and wildly good at hunting. It is, singularly, a thing.
Cats are comfortable with their weird dual-hierarchy on the food chain. Cats at Tabby’s Place are excessively comfortable with being the enthroned royalty whose meals are all served on blue plastic trays. For the record, blue plastic trays are far fancier than the sterling silver ones that are part of human tea services. Seriously. It’s totally a thing.
And another thing, chipper Chip might have something weird going on in his nether regions, and it is not just the pristine white tip at the end of his mostly black tail. Chip simply does not care about his nethers, if he is even aware that they are somewhat wonky. It isn’t clear that he is aware. What Chip is definitely aware of is that the big bin of towels just inside the medical suite door makes an equally comfortable napping place as launchpad. He bounds about weirdly in the most perfect way. It’s a springy thing.
As to other, related things, way at the opposite end of the ark-that-Jonathan-built-an-addition-on, Murdock’s nether regions are also a bit weird. This matters zero to the manx-syndrome-sporting buff purr-master who excels at captivating humans and capturing them for cuddles. So what if being born tailless goes hand-in-hand with a little bit of back-end baloney. Murdock prefers you focus on his interests. These include people, toys, gastrointestinally-friendly meals, dialing rotary telephones, and writing murder mysteries. Maybe this all seems weird. Rest assured, it’s a thing.
Now, there is also something that somewhat splits the distance between these two things at the far reaches of the sanctum sanctorum. This think is the lobby. Weirdly, it’s the epicenter of the building, yet it is not at the actual center of the building. None of this matters at all to Luna, who is known to some (one?) as The Devastator, particularly pertaining to all things wand (She is also known as Swiffer, due to her relationship with dust bunnies. She is working on a collection). Weirdly, during very active interactive play, Luna is apt to slide off in any given direction and leaving something from her behind behind her. Weirdly, persons in position to clean up certain messes don’t seem to mind cleaning up the whatever-is-left-behind. Weirdly, Luna is completely oblivious to whatever comes out of her and any efforts that are required to restore the lobby floor to pristinely sanitized…for however long that lasts. Obviously, it’s a thing.
One might realize at this point in reading that the discourse has plummeted to poop. The thing is, for 140 or so residents (intakes minus adoptions equals a moving target) with varying needs for diapering, litter box access, and unabashed, free-range incontinence, poop is very much a thing. Some days, it seems like poop is the only thing. Weirdly, the humans and cats of Tabby’s Place don’t seem to mind. That not minding is, in and of itself, a thing. Maybe it means that the Tabby’s Place staff and volunteers lean on the weird side of comfort with poop. Maybe it is simple acceptance of the inevitable. Maybe they understand the importance of doing whatever needs to be done for any and every cat. Maybe being inured to the presence of poop is weird. Whatever. It’s a thing. It’s a shared thing. It’s a Tabby’s Place thing. And, there is nothing better than anything at Tabby’s Place.
¹A delightfully weird person offered an interesting note about this blog: insufficient references to dinosaurs. So, let it be noted that, at one time, any raptors were dinosaurs. Also, before there were the oil by-products that enabled the production of blue plastic trays, there were dinosaurs. Dinosaurs were definitely a thing…a very big thing.