Meeting cats

Inauguration day should have been a happy one. I'm thrilled that we finally have a president who believes in science, who can speak without embarassing himself, and who isn't in the pocket of the religious reich. I finally have something good to say about George W.--he's gone.

And yet I had a rather "down" day. The fact of unemployment is sinking in, along with the realization that underemployment is probably the best I can hope for. It was cold and windy, and I didn't feel like walking. Late this afternoon I finally got it together to take Betty and Holiday in to the SPCA to meet cats. There are cats in "cat condos" in the downstairs lobby, and Sammy the test cat lives in the conference room upstairs.

I really thought that Holiday might be good with cats. She's middle aged, very mellow, never seems to have an unkind word or thought for another creature. But cats are the exception. Her ears perked up and zeroed in on the cats like radar. She puffed up, stiffened, and wagged the tail with an excited and nervous energy. I am not an expert at reading dogs' body language, but Sammy the test cat is. All I had to do was watch him. He stood his ground, but he clearly found her to be a threat, and he retreated under a desk when it was possible to do so in a dignified manner. She barked, pulled on the leash, all the signs were against her being cat-friendly. At least now I know.

Next I tried Betty. She is such a pup. She was interested in the downstairs cats, but no more than she was interested in all the people we met, or the trash cans, desk tops, or everything else she could see or smell. We went upstairs to meet Sammy and she did her standard greeting, touching him with her nose to find out what he was. He recognized her for what she was, a large and ignorant puppy. He told her to get away and she did, somewhat taken aback that he didn't want to be her friend.

We met several people who gave her more positive feedback and then went back to try Sammy again. She didn't want to have anything to do with him, but she did approach again when I encouraged her to do so. He hissed and swatted, but wasn't going to be bothered moving away. She thought that maybe it was a game, but if his swats had connected with her nose, she would have found out otherwise. Basically just puppy behavior, and it would be trainable, but my experience is that people will not put in the time and effort required, so I'm going to say "no cats" for her potential homes as well.