BY FACEBOY | As previously mentioned, cats communicate and humans interpret. When we came to take a photo of Mister at Greenwich Village Animal Hospital, he slowly slid down the counter, sauntered over and said, “We cats here are three but you will write about me.”
This fine feline’s father, Dr. Tracy Sane, and his wife, Joan Reilly, thought it best to collaborate for this interview, conducted via e-mail.
Mister, 18, was adopted by Reilly from the North Shore Animal League at nine months old and was unfortunately declawed.
“Declawing is a painful amputation that should be performed only when medically necessary,” noted Eric, at the front desk.
Nevertheless, Reilly said, on the cab ride home, “He tore his way completely out of the cardboard carrier they gave me, and curled up on my lap.”
Mister joined 6-year-old brothers Carl and Archie at G.V.A.H. in 2012.
“After thinking that maybe he was needing way more attention than we could ever give him, and keeping us awake all night, we thought we’d see if he liked all the stimulation at the hospital,” Sane and Reilly said. “He did, so he stayed. It’s the perfect environment for him. He has a wide fan base, and a cartoon cat face.
“He’s highly social and a nudge,” they added. “He does so much socializing at the hospital that he wears himself out by the end of the day. He loves anyone who will love him back, especially if they will rub faces with him.”
Asked if Mister has any quirks, they enthusiastically responded, “He’s all quirk, all the time. One is that he loves to eat red food. Tomatoes, stolen off a sandwich, watermelon, Doritos, etc. — but only what you were just about to eat. And not Swedish fish or strawberries, we’ve tried that. Also, his meows sound remarkably like he’s saying the word ‘ham.’ And he walks like an erector set cowboy.”
Declawed cats should remain indoors.
“Once when he was still quite young, he managed to escape into the backyard of a Brooklyn apartment,” they said. “But once out there, he was so overwhelmed by the vastness of space and lack of a ceiling that he just sank down into the grass on his back and stared up at the sky in awe. Clearly, a natural-born indoor cat.”
Greenwich Village Animal Hospital is located at 504 Hudson St., near Christopher St. For more information, go to www.gvah.com .
