It's not, technically, Tuesday yet. Neither is Serena, technically, a Tortie, though Tortie Tuesday has traditionally been for calico cats (mostly white with black or gray and orange or buff patches) as well as the tortoiseshell kind (mostly black or gray with orange or buff and white patches). As regular readers know, Serena was born knowing that rules are made for the convenience of Queen Cats, not vice versa.
Like many cats Serena doesn't really like having other cats get too close to Her Human. Ownership of a human is a status symbol for cats. Serena is, however, a gracious Queen Cat who has been known to insist that Her Human feed her cat friends--first, as befitting guests invited by the Queen! So I think we can extrapolate from this behavior that, if Serena had the sort of brain that thinks about cats Out There whom she's never met, she would graciously share with them what she has learned about managing her household.
That's the way the Cat Sanctuary Interview posts have been written. Cats and other animals don't speak English, nor do I write these things while drunk enough to imagine that they do. I think rationally and soberly about what the animals' observed behavior says, and translate that into an interview format, thusly:
PK: Cats, even in the cool green Blue Ridge Mountains, how has the weather been lately?
Serena: Sweltering. Energy-zapping. Nights can be cool, even chilly, but once the sun is visible above the mountains, nobody feels like doing much of anything.
PK: How do you cats cope?
Serena: Well, we are desert creatures, built to survive hot temperatures. We don't expect ourselves to do much of anything when the weather is hot and steamy. We find a patch of sand that's not too hot and lie down on it till the temperature gets back to a reasonable range. But, of course, we can cool ourselves a bit by sipping cool water.
PK: How much water do cats need?
Serena: Water is not as much of a nutritional need for cats as it is for dogs and humans. We're built to survive on very small amounts of water if we have to. The water content of fresh meat is enough to keep most cats going.
PK: So why do you insist that I share bottles of water with you on days when it's not even hot?
Serena: We didn't always. You used to drink water from the same spring that feeds the spring branch where we can go, or else from the town water supply where they leave the chlorine in. Then you and your friends made that deal with the water bottlers and you started drinking Pure Life and Deer Park bottled water. We like Pure Life and Deer Park water.
PK: One better than the other?
Serena: Whichever is cooler.
PK: I prefer Deer Park myself. It's probably a matter of where people grow up, which kinds of minerals are naturally found in the water they're accustomed to drinking. Dasani is just slightly salty, which I don't like at all, but people from California love it. Pure Life is just slightly bitter. To me Deer Park tastes right. When I was younger the trendy thing to drink was Perrier water from France. Apparently most of the water out there tastes even worse. A lot of Americans thought Perrier tasted awful. Those of us who wanted to be trendy could stand to drink it...but I used to look for some nice cold tap water to chase the taste!
Serena: We cats aren't partial to Dasani or Perrier water either but we do like a sip of your Pure Life and Deer Park, when you fetch a cool bottle out of the cellar.
PK: Even in cool weather. I understood your ordering cool water in hot weather last summer, but this year you started the same routine in April, when the temperature was only about 60 or 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Serena: Well, the kittens had to learn how to drink water, of course. And it didn't hurt for them to learn that I have the right to order humans to fetch water for us.
PK: And so, any time after midday when you cats see me step onto the porch or into the yard...
Serena: Of course, we send you to fetch water!
PK: There are those who think you cats are spoiled. Some alert readers might suggest setting up a weighted water jug in a dish...taking a large jug with a small hole at the bottom, so that water flows out into the dish just enough to equalize the pressure. When animals drink water because they need a lot of water in their diet, this is a labor-saving device for humans.
Serena: That kind of thing probably saves some animals' lives. We wouldn't use it. For us sharing your water is more of a family bonding experience. It's like the way Silver and Sommersburr and I tried to make sure you had your turn to baby-sit the kittens, every day, while they were little, even if you didn't always take that turn.
PK: Some alert readers may say, "Sommersburr? Don't tell me that cat is still alive?"
Serena: Very much. He may outlive his other human. He's had trouble with worms and mites, and with other cats clawing at what's left of his ears, but he is an old survivor. He's had some trouble chewing dry food, lately. He'd be happier if your readers sent him more of those little cans of wet food. But he's a social cat who likes kittens. He's enjoyed baby-sitting my kittens, this spring, lying around and twitching his tail for them to chase. And he and Silver are still very much a couple.
PK: Some readers don't believe there can be cats like you. Everyone knows that cats get together just long enough to mate, and then forget about each other.
Serena: Social cats are a rare and special minority and the best thing about it is that we're not a "breed" humans can buy. We have to be found, when and where we come to exist--sometimes in alleys, sometimes in animal shelters.
PK: It's hard to tell whether shelter animals are social or not, but we do know that you cats are part of an amazing social cat tribe whose base is in Kingsport, Tennessee, and that some of your relatives have passed through the Sullivan County animal shelter. With that in mind, here are some adorable adoptable cat pictures:
Zipcode 10101: Ladybird from Yonkers is part of a family of four kittens who reportedly think a small dog is their Daddy. The shelter staff insist she must be adopted with one of her sisters (not the one behind her in the picture) with a strong unstated suggestion that they'd really rather you took all four kittens and the dog. Ladybird's web page is at https://www.petfinder.com/cat/ladybird-55890919/ny/new-york/anjellicle-cats-rescue-ny488/ .
Zipcode 20202: Zion from D.C. is "in a foster home." Somebody would really rather keep this kitten. Somebody says she's the snuggliest kitten in the litter. As we know, sometimes this means that a kitten is just born to be a snugglebunny, sometimes that it's bonded with one person, and sometimes that it has medical problems, but the shelter and foster human think there's hope for the best. Zion (and possibly littermates) can be reached at https://www.petfinder.com/cat/zion-55886359/dc/washington/humane-rescue-alliance-foster-homes-dc03/ .
Zipcode 30303: Mindy from Atlanta comes with a brother Mork. They've been photographed separately and given separate web pages with a strong suggestion that they be adopted together. Meet Mindy at https://www.petfinder.com/cat/mindy-55760967/ga/atlanta/fulton-county-animal-services-ga217/ .
Bonus: Zipcode 37662 is the part of Kingsport, Tennessee, where Black Magic and Patchnose were found. Magic was thrust upon a friend of mine by children pleading that "If you don't take her, our parents will put her in a shelter!" Patchnose was found nursing an abnormally friendly son in a den she shared with an abnormally loyal and supportive tomcat in an alley. Unwanted cats from the zipcode 37662, which used to be an upscale section of town, are taken to a shelter ten miles away, in Blountville, where some other members of the social cat clan were found rearing kittens as communally as they could--when the cats were released from their cages at night, the two mother cats would snuggle and nurse each other's babies. It was a news item. Even social cats aren't always that determined to share the experiences of parenting (or hunting), but if it's going to happen again, this is a place where it's likely to happen. The Blountville shelter currently has about half a dozen adoptable kittens. This little fellow is the only one who photographed at all well, but that doesn't mean the others aren't cute; they're black, or mostly black, and therefore hard to photograph well.
(PK: Serena, are we looking for homes for Cat Sanctuary kittens?)
Serena: Not yet, anyway. If I ever feel that they need homes of their own I'll let you know.)
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