It’s taken me most of the day to repost this Feline Friday from about the same time of year back in 2016.
It was a whole different cast of characters, all elderly and in questionable health.
But I think you’ll enjoy this step back in time.
Not a regular Feline Friday photo gallery, since I’m still in a bed in the University of California San Francisco adult cancer hospital until late today or tomorrow.
But a few photos and a short tale about Bessie.
Bessie is calico #2. She joined our household a little over a year after Ms. Kali. Unlike our other three cats, she apparently didn’t spend much if any time living outdoors in a cat colony. She appears to have been someone’s cat that was dumped off at the top of Aiea Heights, but quickly spotted and pulled out by one of the colony caretakers who saw her potential for adoption.
We were the ones who adopted her. In hindsight, the problem is that she was never socialized into the mysterious ways of cat behavior learned in the colony by our other cats. So she has been picked on by the others, primarily Kinikini and Kali.
During the times of day they are out and about the house, Bessie has to tread very carefully because at any moment she might be chased under a chair or back into her spot on the top of storage shelves in our pantry/storeroom. But when Kali and Kinikini are putting in their required 18 hours of sleep each day, Bessie emerges and can enjoy being the temporary queen of the living room.
But there are limits. She rarely ventures into the hallway leading to our bedroom, and since her earliest days, does not voluntarily enter our bedroom. Kinikini and Kali both made it clear that the bedroom, and especially our bed, was their nonnegotiable territory. Claws flashed and fur flew, and Bessie learned the lesson.
Interestingly, things get turned around when we leave the house, and the cats, in the hands of our cat sitter. Kinikini hides and is rarely seen. Kali is standoffish at best. But Ms. Bessie is as social as can be, and quickly takes over the social spaces opened up when Kini and Kali retreat into the shadows.
Both Meda and I were shocked this week to receive a photo of Bessie sitting on our bed. Not simply exploring the bedroom, but sitting on our bed!
So there are bright spots to our absence and the resulting shakeup of feline social relations.
Bessie enjoying our bed!
The cats are making a special appearance this morning, carefully set up to appear online on Friday morning, although Meda and I were scheduled to arrive in San Franisco the day before.
This is my favorite of the week. It’s a scene played out daily as dinner is served! I usually split a small can of Fancy Feast grilled cat food among the four cats. It’s just a taste, not a full meal, but followed with a scoop of TD Dental Diet dry food for each of them.
In this photo, you see Kali, Bessie, and Kinikini licking their dishes clean, while Kiko has already exited the scene, with just her rear end visible leaps to the floor.
It is about the only time all the cats gather in one place.
Yes, I know. A good friend was here on a recent night and announced that her cat would NEVER be on the counter. “It’s not allowed,” she said.
We know all the arguments. But we lost that battle nearly 57 years ago when our first pair of indoor cats defeated our counter-top defenses and asserted their right to these exposed territories. And that’s the way it’s been since. Agree or disagree, it doesn’t matter. That’s just the way it is.
And enjoy the rest of the photos below! It will be a while before I’m able to most new photos of the cats, as we’ll be away from home what what could be a couple of months.
I am glad to have the opportunity to share another Feline Friday before returning to San Francisco for Surgery. It’s possible I’ll be able to gather enough photos for another week before we leave, but that’s not at all certain. Meanwhile, I’ll probably mine 20 years from our cat archives while we’re away.
A couple of new boxes appeared this week delivering a pair of new carry-on suitcases. The cats don’t care about the contents, but they are most interested in the boxes. As soon as I opened one and removed the contents, the cats all took turns claiming the right to sit inside. I think I managed to get photos of all four cats as they looked out at the world from inside the box.
And you should also note that the original Amazon box converted to a cat nest remains a favorite, and Kiki continues to spend time relaxing on the Scratch Lounge.
When you get right down to it, cats are pretty easy to please.
In any case, enjoy this week’s cats.
