Chani was a bit more reserved than we had expected, but she was over 14 years old.  She likes to linger on the upper floor, sleeping in one of her several beds or hidey spots, often curled up against the toasty radiator.  She needed medications, powdered stuff over her wet food, her dry kibble, some other stuff mixed into the kibble, and some medication rubbed into the inside of her ears twice a day, that I had to wear gloves when I administered it or I too would absorb the medication!  We had instructions written out, picture tutorials, watched the pet mom talk us through it.  Except this one med goes in her left ear, and the other med goes in her right ear.  Sure.  Easy, right?  Except when the cat is trying to do donuts around you and wants to be petted and makes herself small (who knew a cat had retractable ears?) when you reach for her with the gloves on – now which ear is her left and which is her right?  Of course it is not intuitive, because you are putting meds for her left ear on your right hand!  Yet we did get it done.  Eventually.  And on repeat.  

Chani was also a talker.  She had a loud voice, and it sounded like she was swearing at you!  But noooo… She actually wasn’t mad, she was just greeting you.  She spoke whenever she saw one of us.  What she apparently was saying was “Hey, human, I want to be petted!  And I want to head-butt you!  But I’m not so much into jumping up anymore, so you need to come down here.” 

So you get to sit on the floor.  Or sprawl.  Bonus points if you have the throw blanket.   And then you will have a cuddly cat VERY close to your face – or rubbing on your phone, should you be trying to multitask, and read messages or take her picture (be careful to watch it or she will send your document to the printer with her nose).

We did win over everyone on our first night here, when we pulled out the little feathered catnip toy we brought for the kitty, and she proceeded to pounce and chase and roll around with it for an hour.  Her pet parents said that was more energetic than she had been for years!  Ever since, we would often find her snuggling up with it clutched between her paws. 

So full points for us!  The pet owners had also ordered her some new toys, which arrived the second day we were here – the fancy kind that attach to a bouncy rod on a suction cup or stand.  She much prefers a human to be on one end of it, but we do have to go to sleep eventually.  So we put them together, then MacGyvered one into the drawer of the end table, so it hovers at about her face level, and she can easily play with it all by herself whenever she wants! Winner!  (I caught her playing with it by herself when we weren’t even in the room, watching.  Excellent!)

We were quite happy to send commentary and photos and little videos of Chani to her pet parents throughout the week.  I was happy to have finally coaxed her to climb up onto my chest when I was sprawled on the couch one morning!  Unfortunately she also decided to make biscuits out of my neck, so I did have to pop the edge of the throw in between her paws and my skin!

Why does all this matter?  We need glowing references – because the people who live in attractive places (like Hawaii) get to be very fussy and pick the people with the best or most or coolest references from within the app.  So right now we get turned down for sits a lot, because we are too new at this.  So we’re gonna be the best pet sitters ever.  As soon as we find those light switches.