Sunday, December 14, 2008

...peek-a-boo with tony...

I went to visit those crazy young cats we just moved, Oti and Tony. They are right near the front gate so just a jaunt away from where we put on new gloves.

They both greeted me with loud chuffs and nuzzling against the fence, acting as though they hadn't had human contact in years! Chuffs, by the way, are a greeting tigers do when they are saying 'hey! whats up!' It is a friendly greeting, very hard to explain....kind of sounds like 'fuh-fuh-fuh-fuh' really fast, no voice, just air sound. Anyways, these guys are so nice and since they used to be the focal point of visitors walking in the gate, their new enclosure does not allow them to see as many people as they used to.

So I greeted them back and scratched their faces through the fence. Oti walked away and into their box. Tony, however, proceeded to walk behind his climbing tower and peeked over. He bent his ears down, even with his head, and peered over the tower. I could only see the top of his fluffy noggin and just a smidgen of his amber colored eyes.

I knew what this meant. A lot of cats at the center LOVE to play peek-a-boo, so I thought to myself maybe Tony does too and we just never knew because there is obviously no where to hide in a circus cage, especially when you are a 400 pound cat! What we do, for all the cats who will play, is go up to the fence (just like with little kids) and say 'Where is Tony?! Where could he be....TONY!!' Then normally the cat will jump from where they are hiding and barrel into the fence, chuffing the whole way to you. It really is quite cute!!

So I did just that. I took a step from the door and turned around pretending to be looking for him....his eyes just following me.

I saw his head raise up.
I turned around....he ducked down just peering.
I looked the other way....he raised his head up again.
I pretended to leave.
Tony jumps over the climbing tower and rams into the fence.
Greeting me with nothing more than a LOUD chuff!

It was so cute. You almost expected him to be wagging his tail, tongue hanging out, and smiling with delight, as if he were a dog.

chuff. chuff. chuff.
tony....in the old cage before peek-a-boo!

1 comment:

emjoysays said...

hey there cat reeper! i like the new photos! i am going to be coming home this saturday! what's your christmas break lookin like? work is busy, but amazing at the same time. xoxo