SUSAN LOESCH

Are there weeks when you are so busy you’d like to clone yourself? That was Shadow and Barney’s
predicament last week. Sometimes working two jobs makes you feel like you are meeting yourself
coming and going … even if you are a cat!

Barn and Shadow have their job as library cats, but they also are kept busy as Feline Rescue and Rehome PR Ambassadors.

What a week they had! A Jeans Day benefit, FuRR’s three-day fundraiser sale and, for Shadow, his first prom!
They squeezed in visits to school, one each. Then on Thursday, Shadow worked long hours. He headed to USAble Insurance Co. where he supervised a group of us 2-legged animals as we met USAble employees who had chosen to make FuRR the recipient of their ‘Jeans for a Means’ day for April.

The weather was wonderful for a change, although the wind was pretty brisk. That didn’t bother Shads! He was all decked out in a white bandana with a red heart, modeling the ones we have for sale.

When people saw him on his leash we heard over and over, “My cat .would NEVER do that.”

I know that was a smile I saw on Shadow’s face; he knows he is quite unique with his harness and leash technique. He even let our visitors hold him.

Later in the day came his big event, though. My senior, Trinity, wanted to have a picture of Shadow with her in her prom dress.

That of course required prom clothes for Shadow. For his bandana I found a filmy blue material that matched her prom dress exactly, even down to the silver flecks. Since she was going to have  black feathers in her corsage we picked up a black feather “man-boa” for Shadow to wear around his neck. Now, my friends have tried to tell me that there is no such thing as a “man boa,”
but Trinity and Shadow will tell you different. They made such a stunning couple!

After we took pictures, Trinity went to the prom with “just a friend” while her real date went home with me.

We stopped by the big FuRR sale where volunteers were setting up.

Shadow walked around a bit on his leash and then hopped into a drawer and settled down. Such a hard day he had had, and such a good job he had done!

This was a rest he had earned.

On Friday Barney took over. I dropped him by the sale on my way to work. Barn is a little more laid
back and loves to walk on his leash. I knew I didn’t have anything to worry about because he had a big carrier to rest in and the FuRR gang always takes good care of him.

But I have to admit to giving a small gasp when I got to the sale after work. There was Barn, chilling under a tree, leash held tightly, of course, by a volunteer. Upon taking a closer look I saw that he was just chowing down and having a bit to drink after a long hard day. Because of his stellar performance on Friday, he won the opportunity to be on duty Saturday also.

We both arrived early Saturday morning, and Barney got busy PR-ing. He walked around and worked the crowd.

As a couple of little girls walked up to him, one looked at me and said, “Now THAT is unusual, isn’t it!”

Barn made quite a sight in his “peace, love and rock ‘n roll” bandana and he let the girls admire
it – and him – as they petted him.
His friend Trinity came by and took over the leash duties. They covered the sale site again and then
Barn posed for a picture with a bunch of the FuRR volunteers. He spent most of the day on duty, patrolling the area and letting himself be admired. He was very ready to go home and take a nap by the end of the afternoon.

What a busy week for a couple of young feline professionals holding down not just one job, but two. They do it with such style!