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.

SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

What a great Library Cat Christmas we had here yesterday! Our first Christmas party with Alex doing the hosting was a big success. Alex, SnuggleBunny and Piper all arrived at school early and put on a holiday collar. They had a tasty crunchy breakfast of Fancy Feast Filet Mignon With Real Seafood and Shrimp and settled down to wait for their company to arrive.

Soon we had most of the elementary students here and some of the older kids. Alex and SnuggleBunny visited with the crowd and seemed to be having a good time. Some of our youngest students came along and were quite taken with Alex’s ears and tail and whiskers. He was so patient letting them explore these things that make a kitty a kitty.

My fifth and sixth graders introduced SnuggleBunny to the younger students. It is still our secret that she will be a regular assistant on the day these older classes come to the library. Brianna introduced her to the group. “This is SnuggleBunny, and she is a friend of Alex and Piper’s,” she told everyone. Makayla was great explaining feline leukemia to everyone and telling them how we decided to help her have a happy life even if it is short. It was obvious that these girls were speaking from the heart.

“SnuggleBunny is a Chinese cat, isn’t she?”  “No, she is a Siamese cat,” I told the third graders.

But somehow a Chinese cat is what this group has decided she is. “Look, there’s a Chinese cat here,” one of them soon told a new guest. Luckily, SnuggleBunny seems to be ok with that.

As the day wore on presents came pouring in.  Our speech teacher brought Alex a gift wrapped in a furry material that matched his real fur. He got a wand with a feather toy on it and a catnip-filled donkey. Some of his friends from FuRR came by to say hello and one brought him a whole gift bag full of toys and treats.  Another brought cans and cans of food; this was way better than Christmas for the library cats!

The party began to wind down and so did the cats. Alex seemed happy to just be carried around. SnuggleBunny’s eyes began to droop. By the time the party was over both of them were in Alex’s bed on the front desk, sound asleep.

The only kitty stirring was Piper, who had made several short visits to the party – maybe 3 seconds each!  He’d slept in the sink during most of the party and now was full of energy – just in time to go home.