SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

I was online checking out the voting for the 10th weekly contest of the Bissell Most Valuable Pet Contest when Brianna came in the library.

“Is the contest still going on?” she asked. I told her that the 10th week voting was taking place and there were two more weeks before Alex and the rest of the weeks’ winners go head-to-head in the finals.

“Well,” she said. “Alex is going to win. But if he doesn’t, we won’t tell him. We will just keep it a secret from him!”

Alex is still the only orange tabby amongst the weekly winners but he has some formidable competition. We still have to keep our fingers crossed.

One of the things I am going to do over spring break is take Alex to Petsmart to spend the gift card he won for placing 4th place in one of the weekly Bissell contests.

I’ve been thinking of spending it all on Fancy Feast Appetizers, and when I asked Mary what she thought she told me that I should “buy him a year’s supply of Fancy Feast,.” Because “That would make him happy!”

She is right about that. Mr. Alex, who never says one word, has never meowed at all, has come up with a tiny squeak when he wants Fancy Feast. He knows that when I give him a half can in the morning there is another half can just waiting.

He follows me around, asking, with either a little squeak or a heart-melting silent meow for the rest.

He trained me to hand over that second half can, and then he trained me to put down a second can during the day. Either he is a great teacher or I am a fast learner!

He definitely is a good listener. He sat quietly on the counter as one of our mobility instructors read a story to him and “Big Alex”. One of our students is another Alex and laughs when I call the two guys Big Alex and Little Alex.

The book they heard was familiar to Little Alex…it is called Alex’s Story…My Life So Far! The story of Baby Alex, who grew up to be a real Library Cat. We are going to have to write a new book to update his life after this year as Head Library Cat.

Yesterday Alex discovered the cat grass, now several inches tall, which my second graders planted a couple of weeks ago.

That was to be his St. Patrick’s Day surprise, but the girls will give it to him today.

He is already wearing his shamrock-print bandana in celebration of the day.

I wonder if he is singing “Mew-ra-loora-loora” to himself and wishing everyone a Happy St. CATrick’s Day?

SUSAN LOESCH
CATS IN THE STACKS

Ahhhh! Being a winner. It is a hard job but somebody has to do it!

We are so proud of Alex who placed fourth in the Bissell Most Valuable Pet Contest for the first week’s competition! We thank everyone for voting and hope you will keep your fingers crossed as he goes to the finals after the weekly contests have ended.

Alex is enjoying all the extra attention that goes with his honor. As soon as we emailed staff and students that he was in the top 5 he began getting congratulations!

“You are so cute, Alex, and this is such a big accomplishment,” said one of my seniors as she gave him a scratch behind his ears. His friend Ms. Mindy, our speech teacher, brought in a can of Fancy Feast Appetizers, which he practically inhaled.

He is wearing his new skull-and-crossbones bandana, which I have kept handy just in case he won.

Everyone who comes in the library wants to give him treats. Mary was the first, and he kept urging her to hurry; she couldn’t get them out of the package fast enough to suit him.

We have kept the announcement of the winners, pictures and all, up on one of the computers so everyone can check it out.

Everyone wants to show it to Alex.

I read him every email. “Congratulations. Way to go, Alex!” “Awesome!” “You go, Alex!”

We have even heard, via Facebook, from former students who knew Alex as a baby. “You are still as cute as ever,” wrote Joy, who helped bottle-feed him so long ago.

When he has had enough attention, food and praise, Alex retires to my desk, turns upside down and snoozes next to my keyboard. Such a life!

SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

Today has been one of mixed emotions here in the Library.

Alex is holding on to 4th place in the Bissell Most Valuable Pet contest, among over 3400 entries. We are excited but know that in the last 24 hours of voting anything can happen. We need as many votes as we can get to stay in the top 5 and make the finals, so if you haven’t voted for him we’d love it if you did. To vote, click here.

On a sad note, our 5th and 6th graders gathered in the library to hear that our sweet little Siamese kitten, SnuggleBunny, has lost her fight with feline leukemia. These two classes had claimed her as their own special library cat, knowing full well that her life would be short.

“SnuggleBunny has died,” I told them, and went on to thank them for the very special thing they chose to do for her.

Only a few short months ago, we talked about SnuggleBunny, whose official name was Sabrina, and made the decision as a group to bring her to school and give her as good a life as Alex and Big Footsie.

“Thank you,” I said, “for putting SnuggleBunny and her feelings ahead of you and yours.” I told them what a wonderful and unselfish and grown-up thing they had done and how they had given her a happy life she would not have had otherwise.

There were tears and sad faces and lots of hugs. “We loved her,” said Makayla, and everyone agreed. Makayla said that she thinks SnuggleBunny and Big Footsie are playing together now and that Big Footsie is the boss!

I told them more than once how proud of them I am, and how much I appreciate what they did.

We all signed a card to Ms. Merry, who was SnuggleBunny’s foster mom in Kansas City, and we thanked her for sending this sweet little one to us.

We talked about how much fun she had had at our Library Cat Christmas party. SnuggleBunny did love a party, so we had a party today in her honor, with popcorn served on kitty napkins.

For me, SnuggleBunny’s time with us seems like a blur. It went by so fast. One of my favorite poets is Sara Teasdale, and one of her poems is staying on my mind.

“I saw a star slide down the sky, blinding the north as it went by;
Too burning and too quick to hold; too lovely to be bought or sold;
Good only to make wishes on and then forever to be gone.”

SnuggleBunny is our little falling star, gone way before we were ready.

ALEX LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

Hi, Cats in the Stacks readers. It’s me, Alex. I am writing this all by myself today because I have a favor to ask. Would you guys please all take just a minute to click on the link below and vote for me in the Bissell Most Valuable Pet Contest?

Last year our Head Library Cat Big Footsie had his picture entered, and he won fourth place in the week 7 contest, beating out thousands of other pets! That meant he made it to the finals and had a chance to win up to $5,000 for Feline Rescue and Rehome, as well as the honor of being the Most Valuable Pet and being pictured on Bissell product packaging. He didn’t make the top 5, but we were still so proud!

This year, as Head Library Cat, I get MY chance! My mom picked out a picture that shows my bright eyes and how handsome I am. The voting starts Friday, Jan. 8, and runs through Thursday, Jan. 14.

Last year Big Footsie got over 600 votes, and I want to top that!

I am asking my friends and fans all over the country to vote for me.  I know that even if I don’t win I am still the most valuable pet, at least here at school and at home, but I sure would like to be a weekly winner in the contest and get to the finals! There are over 3,500 entries for this week so we have a big job and lots of votes to come up with. There are even two other cats named Alex entered. Mom says I am the cutest, though!

Thank you for helping me!

Here’s the link, http://mvp.bissell.com/mvp_PetDetail.aspx?id=8589935526. I sure wouldn’t mind if you sent it to all your friends and posted it on your Facebook pages, too!!

Alex