Dougal's Diary. David Greagg
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the smell of cat.
I like him. He doesn't talk much but he's sweet and loving and he tried to wash my face through the bars. It didn't work very well, but I did the same for him and we curled up and purred at each other. It's like when my friend Milo was here and it didn't feel so bad to have company. Then the humans in white coats saw us trying to wash each other's faces and they put me in his cage for a while. We washed each other properly and tried to play a bit, but there wasn't enough room.
15
My new friend and I played with each other a lot when they took us to the yard to have our run around. We played Chasey and Ambush and all the games I used to play with Stripy One and Two and Black Kitten. That was fun. Then they put us both in a new cage next to the wall. It's bigger than the other cages and there are two big boxes, one on top of the other. They put my new friend (I've started to call him Stripy Three) on top and I got the bottom one. I like this a lot better. We are both still sad but it's so much better to have a friend. Stripy Three is a bit smaller than me and he snuggles up to me and we fall asleep back-to-back. Sometimes one of us wakes up after a bad dream and the other one will wash his face. It makes it all seem bearable.
16
Played with Stripy Three and spent a lot of the day asleep. I seem to have my appetite back and, for the first time in ages, I actually finished all my food. I love Stripy Three. He is a very sweet cat. What will happen if one of us gets picked and the other one doesn't? I had a nightmare about that and he washed my face all over and told me not to worry.
17
Stripy Three got picked. Three small humans came to see us with their mum and they ran their hands over both of us and they picked him. I looked sadly at the smallest human and she did the head-shake thing. I don't think she meant I was no good. She touched noses with me and I think she was sad. I think she was telling me, I'd love to take you too but we can only have one cat. He looked at me over his shoulder as they took him away and I think he said, Good luck! I climbed back into my box and crammed myself right up against the back wall of the box with my nose pressed to the cardboard, and I cried myself to sleep as softly as I could.
18
19
What an amazing day! My head is still spinning and I don't know what to say. In the morning they opened my cage (I was still in the same one) and they put somebody else in with me in the top box. So I got up and had a sniff. Girl Cat! I pushed my nose out below her box and this little black face looked down at me. For a moment I thought it was Black Kitten and I mewed at her. What was that? she asked me. I'm sorry, I thought you were Black Kitten! I explained. She put her little head on one side and said, Well actually I am black and I am a kitten; so couldn't I be Black Kitten?
Then the human in the white coat looked at me very forcefully and said something, running her paws around my new friend's face. I didn't understand the words, but it was fairly clear that she was asking me to look after the little black kitten because she's smaller than me and she needs a big brother to keep an eye on her. I can do that.
Maybe I haven't been picked because I'm a Bad Cat. If I'm a Good Cat somebody will pick me, maybe? So I touched noses with her and we got to know each other. She's very sore from her operation. She must have had it very recently, because you can tell she's in pain and it looks terrible. All her tummy is stitched up and she has lots of fur missing. Maybe that's why we didn't go out to the yard today, because she's still sick. I washed her face all over and she lay on her side with her little black paws folded across each other.
And I felt like I was being a mum. We had a meal together and she was a bit - well, unusual. She wolfed down all her food incredibly fast, and then the little trollop started on my bowl as well. I just stared at her and she looked back at me and said, What? And I said, Look, you just don't DO that! She ignored me completely and went on eating my food while I sat back and watched her. I found out why she did that later on, but for now I was a bit stunned. And afterwards she had the nerve to walk up to me and wash my face. Which still had, I could swear, some bits of food on it.
When I'd had a chance to think it over, I thought of Black Kitten and her strange habits at mealtimes, and I began to think maybe she was Black Kitten after all. There is simply no way a perfect stranger would have done that to me. I hadn't seen Black Kitten for a terrible long time and who knows what might have happened to her. Anyway, I would treat her as if she really were my little sister and we'd take it from there.
Later that day the door opened and two humans came in. There was a man and a woman; and the man had lots of fur all over his head. I just looked at him and really hoped he'd get to us. I hadn't dared to hope for days now, and I suddenly realised that my big two-cat cage was right down at the end of the room. Before the humans even got to us they'd have to look at everybody else first! What chance did that give us? What was it I had to do again? Look cute, that was it. Well, no point doing that until they get closer. I looked through the bars of my cage and waited.
I noticed that the male human went first and he was trailing one paw along the outside of all the cages. He went past everybody else and they just stared at him.
Then I understood what he was doing. He wants a cat, but he wants somebody who wants him! And if you don't play with his paw he won't pick you!
He was getting closer to my cage and still nobody had worked it out! I thought it was obvious, but clearly nobody else thought so. Or maybe they didn't like him. I looked carefully at his face. Hard to tell under all that fur, but I thought he looked nice. Finally he got to my cage and I reached out and touched his paw with mine. He leaned over and purred at me. I sank in my claws as gently as I could and began to wash his paw. I called softly to Black Kitten above me. Come on! This is important! This could mean freedom!
Then I backed off while she got down to the cage floor and let her do the same. She was smart enough to copy what I'd done. Claws in, gently as you can, wash the human's paw with your tongue. Look cute. Purrzz
I wondered if he'd pick both of us. I couldn't stand it if he picked this little food-thief and I got left behind again. Somehow I didn't think he would. I was right, because the humans in the white coats lifted us out of our cage and we both went to the room with the desk.
Black Kitten was scared, but I told her not to be. I'd been here before. This was where you went before the humans put you in a big box and took you to their house. I tried to tell her this, but I don't think she understood what I was trying to say.
The humans did a lot of talking and a lot of scratching with long, narrow toys on bits of paper. We found out later that humans did this a lot. The man started playing with me and I was so desperate to be cute I played really hard and patted his paws and did all the things I hoped he'd like.
Then he did something really strange. He held up his paw and blew on my nose. I looked at him carefully and saw that there was blood all over him. How had that happened?
I looked carefully at him while he said some things and showed me his paw with scratches all over it. There was blood and everything, and I realised he was telling me that I'd done that to him.
Oh no! I really was trying too hard to be cute. But this human didn't hit me so he's probably going to be kind. I kept on playing, but more gently, and then Black Kitten came to play as well. We both scampered around the room while the humans talked to each other. I tried not to get too excited. I'd scratched my new human and he still hadn't sent me away! Be cute! I told her. If we're both in this room I think they're going to take both of us! So she