Conference misery::feline

904.0. "Pamuk Goes to Summer Camp" by LJSRV2::FEHSKENS (len - reformed architect) Fri Jun 23 1995 10:58

Some of you may remember Lale Eskicioglu, who left Digital Canada to go to
Bell Northern Research.  Lale asked me to post the following story about her
little boy Pamuk (Turkish for "cotton"; Pamuk is a Norwegian Forest Cat look-
alike, and his prominent white markings reminded Lale of cotton, hence his
name).

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I am going to tell you a story about Pamuk. I would really like it if you could
post it in FELINES notes file with my greetings to anybody who might
remember me. This is such a sweet story, I want to share it with the whole
world.

We are having a little renovation job in our home. We are having hardwood
floors done, we are changing the stairs and the railings and a paint job
afterwards. With the contractors coming in and out, carrying equipment, making
a lot of noise etc, we thought that our Pamuk ( a "fraidy" cat who is scared
of everything even my one year old niece) would be frightened or might
run away, so we decided to give him to an animal lover family (whose
cat died a few months ago and who had to put their elderly dog to sleep
just the day before) for about two weeks, until the chaos was over.

The family told me over the phone that my Pamuk spent the first couple of 
days hiding under the bed and only started to wander around, very carefully,
on the third day. We went to see him on the 3rd day. On our way there, we
were talking about how cats didn't know any loyalty and that our Pamuk had
probably forgotten all about us already, that he would either sulk or ignore
us when he saw us etc etc. When we got there, as soon as he heard our voices,
he came running from whereever he was and literally hugging and kissing each
one of us. He purred and purred. After a few minutes he went into his carrier
and sat in there. As if to say "ok, let's go home now". It was amazing.
It broke our hearts to leave him there.

The second time I visited him, he did exactly the same thing. Came running,
rubbing against my leg, purring and purring. And then, he went into his
carrier again. You can't believe what kind of a torture this was for me.
I asked the family if he was ever going into his carrier to play or something
and they said no, he wasn't. He just did it twice, and both cases when he saw
me. This time he stayed in the carrier for a very long time and then...
you are not going to believe this... he reached out with his paw, pulled the
door of the carrier and closed it shut.

I am taking him back home this Sunday, no matter what.

    Cats ARE like this, yes.
    
    I remember Lale, and if it is possible, greet her please on my behalf.
    She shall remember me, too I think. Just tell her 'The silly Hungarian,
    You know...' and she'll know.
    
    Nat
    
    PS. and I would like to know how the whole went out!

    Sniffle.  They should be careful, though.  Drywall dust, etc.
    and a lot of other renovation type stuff can be toxic to cats.
    

I've seen this before.  It's kinda nice.

I got Mu in 1985.  She was a little fur ball tortishell (black) kitten, which
was a pattern I hadn't seen before, and she was gorgeous.  So I bought her.
All her littermates were purchased before I left the store, too.  I named her
"Mu" (really just the Greek letter) because of her sound.  I'd named a
previous kitten "Purr" for similar reasons.

You've all raised kittens, so you probably don't want to hear about the little
troubles of the first few days.

I was in that apartment for 2.5 years.  For that time, Mu had no friends other
than me and the occasional person I'd bring home.  She even treated the stuffed
Garfield (on all fours) as a cat at first.  She was not allowed outside due to
the landlord and the area, which did not stop her from trying.  This was very
hard on both of us.  :-<<<<<

When I moved out of that place, I couldn't take her with me, so I left her
with friends who already had 6 cats.  For the next 5 years, she lived with
them.  I visited fairly often, and she always behaved like a small child
whose parent has come by and she wanted to go home.

Finally, I moved into a place where I could have cats.  I took Mu and another
cat, Guz (short for Guzbazbitthebee) with me.  Mu was seriously disappointed,
I could tell, that I'd taken Guz too.  She'd apparently wanted to go alone.

Once she was back in my place, her old mannerisms resumed for a time.  Don't
-ever- tell me that a cat has no memory.  :-|

 Howard, that's a great story.  My husband and I watched a documentary last 
month that had the experts debating whether animals feel certain emotions or
just learn that certain behaviors get the desired effect from humans.  We, of
course, are convinced that animals feel very strong emotions.  Our five 
kitties are living proof (to us anyway) that they all have distinct emotions 
and personalities.  Sophie has learned to tolerate the other four but she
communicates, very effectively, that she would prefer to go back to the good
old days when she was the only kitty.  And Tatoo and Trudy express total joy
every time they are reunited after vet visits.  I'm so glad you and Mu got
back together.

			SQ