Today we spend the whole day at America Recycles Day at the Ithaca Mall (that's us, number three on the list as The American Cat Project). It was certainly twice as large as last year and oh MY, there were lots of kids! And they all knew how to politely pet a cat. Espie was a champ and hung out with the cage wide open.
No, really. I just left her cage wide open and people just came over and petted her. I had her in the halter and lead to start, but it became clear that she wasn't going to jump out on her own, and was going to lean into every hand that came her way. I took the halter off her (normally something I would never do) and we both enjoyed her admiring throngs.
We gave her a few "time outs" when her tail started twitching, by closing the cage and putting a "Taking a break. Come back in 20 minutes for pets!" sign on her cage. Normally a cat makes it about three hours before it signals that enough is enough at public events. Espie had lines of visitors from 10:00 am through 3:50 pm. She was amazing. I have never seen a cat this amenable to the public.
A number of people indicated they were interested in her and took her card. The TC SPCA adopted out two cats today! Wonderful!!!!
This little kid showed up and hung out with Espie for almost ten full minutes. I was beginning to worry I had my first abandoned child (are they like kittens? Can I keep him in a cage at night?) but his parents were actually two booths away, keeping an eye on him, figuring he was safe with Espie. I was quite happy when when they came over and I could ask "Hey, is he yours?"
(Click my photo and check out my cute tongue and these wonderful paws! And look, I brought in donations for half a spay, too!)
Little did I know that almost every child would be able to READ her difficult name off her bio on her cage. Why? Well, this is why.
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