A new shop cat :)

The local pet store in the village where I buy the cats Royal Canin
has always had black shop cats. Their current resident is an elderly
resident of about 19 years called Satan. He spends his days asleep on
the horse feed sacks dreaming of catching mice.

Today, I went in to pick up some more cat food, and met the newest
resident shopcat in training, Ethel. She is a gorgeous 14 week old
black kitten who *loves* to help out with killing the till greeblings
when the till is opened (aparently money greeblings are very vicious)
and likes to sleep in the bird feed sacks. Karen, the shop manager was
telling me that Ethel is far more naughty than Satan was as a ktten.
Ethel apparently likes to use the parrot feed as kitty litter and
they've had to throw out 3 sacks so far! She does of course have a
litter tray, but apparently parrot feed is better.

Ethel is also a snuggler. I was cuddling her for the better part of
about 15 minutes. She snuggles up under your chin and my goodness, the
motor on her purr! She's also a supreme sales kitty.... Whilst I was
finding an excuse to cuddle her, I was looking at the products in the
store and ended up buying 4 types of different treat and food for the
menagerie that I would never have bought ordinarily!!!

Still, it really cheered up my morning. The pet store may be a little
more expensive that PetCo or the supermarket, but it's worth it for
the friendliness of the staff and the snuggly shop cat.

Helen M

wrote:
The local pet store in the village where I buy the cats Royal Canin
has always had black shop cats. Their current resident is an elderly
resident of about 19 years called Satan. He spends his days asleep on
the horse feed sacks dreaming of catching mice.

The venerable old fellow! With a name like Satan it is proof that only the
good die young, as the song says. :-)

I just adore shop cats, and apparently so does Buffalo. There is a historic
cider mill that had a handsome fellow whose name, I think, was Charlie. He
turned up missing and the whole village (Williamsville, NY, just a few miles
outside Buffalo) put up signs and kept their eyes peeled; he was found hale
and hearty after the mill was sold to a farming collective, and is now in a
fine suburban home. And no one who ever loved perfume can forget Malibu, the
mascot of an old-fashioned drugstore whose claim to fame was its selection of
hundreds of hard-to-find fragrances (in the days before Sephora and
Perfumania.) People drove from Canada to see this friendly and very rotund
calico, who looked like a white-and-patch basketball with a tail.

One of my favorites was a handsome young fella named Buster. He was Shop Cat
General of a PetWise store around the corner. The PetWise chain was bought
out by PetSmart I think, and the smaller store ended up closing; there was a
nearby PetSmart to absorb the business. But people in Amherst fought over
that cat and were even trying to bribe the soon-to-be ex-owners of the shop.
In the end I heard they worked through a local no-kill shelter and found the
erstwhile mascot a new slave.
When the shop closed, they did not put up a thanks-for-your-business sign;
they got huge cling-to-glass letters that covered the whole window with
"BUSTER HAS A HOME!!!" and they remained there for many months until a
chiropractor moved in.

Blessed be,
Baha

--
Message posted via http://www.catkb.com

Baha via CatKB.com u18616@uwe wrote:

One of my favorites was a handsome young fella named Buster. He was Shop Cat
General of a PetWise store around the corner. The PetWise chain was bought
out by PetSmart I think, and the smaller store ended up closing; there was a
nearby PetSmart to absorb the business. But people in Amherst fought over
that cat and were even trying to bribe the soon-to-be ex-owners of the shop.
In the end I heard they worked through a local no-kill shelter and found the
erstwhile mascot a new slave.
When the shop closed, they did not put up a thanks-for-your-business sign;
they got huge cling-to-glass letters that covered the whole window with
"BUSTER HAS A HOME!!!" and they remained there for many months until a
chiropractor moved in.

Great story. But - if people were squabbling over who was going to get
Buster, why did they have to go through a shelter to find him a home?
Couldn't they have had a lottery or something?

Joyce

wrote:

The local pet store in the village where I buy the cats Royal Canin
has always had black shop cats. Their current resident is an elderly
resident of about 19 years called Satan. He spends his days asleep on
the horse feed sacks dreaming of catching mice.

Ooo, he sounds *so* evil!

Ethel is also a snuggler. I was cuddling her for the better part of
about 15 minutes. She snuggles up under your chin and my goodness, the
motor on her purr! She's also a supreme sales kitty.... Whilst I was
finding an excuse to cuddle her, I was looking at the products in the
store and ended up buying 4 types of different treat and food for the
menagerie that I would never have bought ordinarily!!!

That's the point of shop cats, from a business owner's perspective.
That's one way I really don't mind being manipulated.

Joyce

wrote:

Great story. But - if people were squabbling over who was going to get
Buster, why did they have to go through a shelter to find him a home?
Couldn't they have had a lottery or something?

I don't know, except he wasn't actually handed over to the shelter; the
shelter acted as a sort of PR squad for the desirable young fella, and gave
the questionnaires to the PetWise people to use in selecting the lucky winner.
(I don't know about other localities, but we have at least two no-kill
shelters I know of who put prospective adopters through a rigid interview
process, and they are very strict; one won't adopt out black cats during
October and we got Odessa only because Louie and I do PR for them; A woman i
know was rejected by another because the shelter didn't feel she had the
financial means to feed and vet a cat right. One person who used to post
certain unwelcome items to this board was also rejected by one of these
places as being unsuitable.)

I only know of the Buster businiess second-hand. Louie and I hedged on it
because we had Fritzie, who was diabetic and we were worried about whacking
the balance in his sugar we had attained, by introdUcing a newcomer. By the
time the vet told us he thought it'd be OK, Buster had his home and we
learned through the beauty shop next door that the right place had been found.
They were only able to surmise how much involvement the shelter had; but the
store kept Buster until his new slave was selected.

Blessed be,
Baha

--
Message posted via CatKB.com
http://www.catkb.com/Uwe/Forums.aspx...dotes/200709/1

wrote:
Ethel is also a snuggler. I was cuddling her for the better part of
about 15 minutes. She snuggles up under your chin and my goodness, the
motor on her purr! She's also a supreme sales kitty.... Whilst I was
finding an excuse to cuddle her, I was looking at the products in the
store and ended up buying 4 types of different treat and food for the
menagerie that I would never have bought ordinarily!!!

How cute! In the rare cases that I've met shop cats, they were very
calm, mature cats like Satan, who lay around quietly like they're on
display. That way, they don't get underfoot, break things, run out
the door into the parking lot, etc. A hoolikitten shopcat would be a
handful, but so fun. Imagine all the toys, treats, and small pets on
the shelves she must be tempted by!