The Feline Anti-Literacy Brigade, Part 4

Wait a minute, you may be thinking. Didn't you say a few posts ago that you had a limit to the felines in your household? Didn't your other half swear up and down that "Three Is Enough," that we now have a replacement-only policy? So what gives? You didn't bring another feline home, did you?

No, I didn't. I respect the house rules, and besides, Agents 1, 2, and 3 would not be pleased to share their duties with a fourth feline. But if I can't bring the kitties home to me, I can certainly travel to meet them. And that's exactly what I do once a week: I travel to the Humane Society of Huron Valley and volunteer a couple hours as a "Cat Comforter." The shelter does great work, but it's old and cramped. It's stressful for the kitties, and a stressful kitty isn't as friendly and appealing as a happy kitty. My job is to go in, give the kitties attention, help them relax, and hopefully make them more adoptable. And if I can't convince the kitty to come out from the back of the cage, sometimes I'll go in to meet them:

There were actually four kittens in this cage. The black one with white paws was being curious and crawling on top of me—and on top of her brother, who was trying to sleep on my lap. (You can see his white forepaws sticking out in front of his black head.) What you can't see are the two grey ones that were sitting behind me, occasionally trying to crawl up or behind my back. One of the hazards of comforting a cage full of kittens is that they regard you as their personal jungle gym, and you can end up with itty bitty kitty scratches on your back and arms.

Right now we're in the middle of kitten season. It starts around Memorial Day, and lasts most of the rest of the year (although there only a few kittens in November and December). Last year, we had almost full kitten turnover every week. I'd go in, and each of the 10 cages would have a new set of kittens in them. (Replenished by the numerous volunteers who foster litters until they're old enough or there's room enough to be adopted at the shelter.)

This year we seem to have an excess of black and black-and-white kittens (a couple kitlers among them). Some of them have been there for almost a month, which can't be good. They'd much rather be with people, from the way they snuggle and kiss me when I take them out of their cages.

So procrastinating by volunteering at HSHV is a win-win all around: the kitties get some attention, while I get kitties who are actually grateful for attention and a great excuse not to start working on Chapter 17.