SUSAN LOESCH
CATS IN THE STACKS

In the middle of a story hour my work-study student, Mary, came to tell me she couldn’t find Alex. I suggested she look on a table in my office — his favorite spot lately. Before long, our new first grader asked why Alex was on a table. I said that he just liked it there!

After the story, the whole class moved to a table in the Reading Room.  Most of the students had known Big Footsie but none had met Alex yet. Mary went in my office and brought him out for a visit.

“Oh,” said my new student. “Alex is a cat! I thought he was a boy!”

That explains why he wondered about Alex being on the table!

As the students began to pet Alex, one asked me, “Does he run on batteries?”

I was a little puzzled.

“I have lots of toys that run on batteries.”

“Well, no,” I said. “Alex doesn’t run on batteries.  He runs on love and cat food and petting!”

We all laughed, and Alex got lots of good petting.

SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

In the life of our school whoever is our library cat is not “just a cat!” The job means being included in the lives of our students, and they want our library cat to know everything that goes on with them.

One of my 5^th graders had a garden this summer and he grew tomatoes – one of which he brought me. Before he would hand it over to me, though, he told Alex all about it, and it had to pass Alex’s inspection! From the way Alex’s ears went back I am not sure just how much he is into tomatoes but I sure enjoyed it.

Treat-eating also ranks high on the list! Everyone wants to offer a treat. Even our speech teacher, who can’t touch cats because of allergies, keeps treats when she brings her students for a cat visit.

Big Footsie liked almost any treat, although he preferred hard ones. He did have one favorite – Whiskas Temptations Dentabites. They aren’t found just everywhere so he ate whatever I had. Well….Alex is just a little more  picky! My student Mary, one of my biggest cat lovers, opened a bag of treats for Alex. He looked at the treats. He looked at her. He turned up his nose. In fact, he turned up his nose at Crunch ‘n Clean, Dingo Kitty Denta Treats, Pounce Crunchy Chicken and Turkey Flavor with Tartar and Plaque Control and even Dingo Kitty Tasty Real Anchovy Fillets. Hmmm. I wonder if part of the problem could be that he has sampled our kitchen’s turkey, bacon, sausage and hamburger in the last week and he is holding out for more of the same!

“Alex,” said Mary, “You can’t be a library cat unless you like to eat treats!”  I finally found some Dentabites, opened them, and Alex ate them from Mary’s hand! Success at last.

Treat eating? Got that covered!