Long overdue - Mack update

Last night I woke up to the touch of something soft and warm very lightly pressing on my eyebrow. My hand discovered that it was Mack's paw -- he was stretching in his sleep, curled up in the space above my pillow.

Sometimes, I feel as if he's just reaching out for the reassurance that I'm there.

Sometimes, I think he doesn't consider me a person at all, but sees me as a fellow feline. This was reinforced recently when I read a tip from CatAge.com that said cats don't meow to each other -- only to humans. My cats are singularly silent, most days. Why should they meow, when we're the same species?

Ah, but which species do they think we are?

I've come to the conclusion that they think THEY are people, not that I'm a cat. It explains why they think they belong at the table when we're having a meal, and why Mack believes breakfast (and dinner) in bed is the way things ought to be.

Really.

I can put the dish of canned food on the FLOOR in our bedroom, to keep it away from the other two cats ... but he will often ignore it, and wait for me to serve the same dish ON the bed, instead. (Mack is still the only one who gets canned food, since Reggie and Lucky don't NEED more calories or more reasons to be obnoxious.)

I try not to indulge this eccentricity, but when the food has been sitting, untouched, for hours, there are times I will lift it to the bed, just to see ... yes, there he goes ... that's what he was waiting for.

Other times, simply conceding the bed is not enough to make up for my neglecting protocol. Sometimes, he won't touch it unless I lift the bowl to within an inch of his face, at which time he will bend ever so slightly and begin nibbling daintily, as if to communicate that he does, after all, forgive me for expecting him to eat on the floor.

There are other residual behaviors that Mack displays, and I'm not sure when they will fade. At times, all I have to do is hold him and cuddle him for 30 seconds, giving him my undivided attention and love ... and when I put him down, suddenly, he'll walk over to the food dish and dig in.

Certainly the 4:30 a.m. expectation that if he paws the hollow-core door (exceedingly loud at 4:30 a.m.!), someone (me) will get up and put food in the dish and coax him to eat. THAT has not happened for at least a month, so I'm not sure WHY he still hopes it will!

In fact, John has adopted a new behavior of his own, in response to Mack's early-morning demands for attention. He keeps his slippers by the bed, not to slip onto his feet when he gets up -- but to fire at the door when Mack is particularly insistent about early-morning in-and-out and in-and-out of the bedroom routine. (We hate to ignore his request to leave the bedroom, since we don't have a litter box in there anymore!) Don't worry ... John only throws the slipper when Mack is OUTSIDE the door, and only after he has gone in and out, in and out at least a couple of times.

The long and the short of it is that Mack is fine -- a bit more eccentric than before he took ill, and even more cuddly and loving. Our biggest worry now is what will happen when we go away to summer camp in early July. We're hoping our daughter might stay at our house to keep him company, just this year, so he doesn't decide to stop eating again.

Otherwise, I think it's safe to say -- we're home free.

His fur is even growing back!

The top two pictures below are of Mack today. The bottom two are of him right after the feeding tube was removed. I think you'll agree ... he's looking pretty good!