Cat Sniffed

Our son and his wife allow these cats to live inside their house.

Three starving cats, each weighing something less than 90 pounds.

Donald and Helen like cats. Helen even makes tee shirts with pictures of their cats on the chest.

The cats view Donald, Helen and all humanity with the distain for which cats are noted even though yesterday Donald was actually wearing one of those Ninja Kitty tee shirts.

Yes,Sunday, Donald and Helen invited Ginny and me over for a delicious lunch of Barbecued ribs. When we arrived Ginny, who is also a cat lover tried to pet one of the fuzzy varmints. Naturally, it moved just inches out of her reach.

However, the newest cat in the household discovered me as I lounged on this chaise lounge. This cat began sniffing my feet. It progressed up my left leg sniffing the whole length of my body with its nose a quarter of an inch away from my flesh. It climbed the back of that chair thing and sniffed my arms, shoulders, hair. Then it proceeded down the right side of me, sniffing every inch all the way back down to my feet.

This sniffing inspection process took close to 20 minutes.

Cat lovers in the room said they’d never seen any cat ever do that before.

I have no idea why this cat sound me so fascinating.

Now, I will say nothing against the beloved cats that inhabit Donald and Helen’s home. Their home, their cats. But when I returned to my home, I stripped off all my clothes and stuffed them in the washer with soap and bleach. And I showered thoroughly myself.

Can you blame me?

I’ve been cat sniffed.

Now cat lovers claim that cats are clean, loving, exotic pets, creatures of grace and beauty…

Maybe so.

I won’t deny that.

But I remember someone saying about a glamorous Hollywood actress, a noted beauty, a sex-kitten of international fame, a glamor girl whose image appeared on pinup calendars, movie posters and magazine covers. They said of her, “Yes, you can spend a memorable night in her bed, but in the morning you’ll wake up with sequined fleas”.