Update: cats

A few folks have asked about the cats generally (using email) so I thought I'd provide a recap and update:

Shadow continues to be very affectionate and willing to be petted at length - I don't think she has ever voluntarily ended a petting session. She's also a big fan of chasing things that move, particularly if they disappear into a box or around a corner - I can actually see her sympathetic nervous system activate as her pupils expand to fill her eyes.

Scruffy continues to have a harder time - he's shy, and his shyness reinforces itself, since just about the only interaction he has with me is when I chase him down for the vet, for meds, etc. On the few occasions where I have petted him, though, he seems to enjoy it, so I think he's caught between the desire for affection and the panic of his shyness. He has to go back to the vet on Wednesday, for his cough, which I'm starting to think may be asthma, in part because he adopts the posture of the cat in this YouTube video of a cat suffering from an asthma attack. His activity seems unaffected, though, except when he is in the midst of a coughing fit, so it could be worse.

And that's the news from Lake Wobegon.

[symp nvs system link added 2 Oct 2007]