Harriet & Stinky are the two cats at work.  They've been here for 7 years
now, since Stinky was 3 months and Harriet was 1 1/2 years old.  In the past
4-5 months, Harriet has slowly been copying Stinky's behaviors & habits.
Stinky used to eat in my office, in a corner by two filing cabinets.
Harriet ate on her rug at the front of the basement.  In the morning they're
fed at different times.  Stinky is fed when the first person gets here, but
Harriet waits until I get in (she gets medication).  One morning, Harriet
led me into my office, right to Stinky's spot.  I let her eat there.  She
wanted to eat there every day after that.  Stinky is an excellent ladder
climber, and she climbs ladders in the basement and then walks on the pipes
and a/c ducts up by the ceiling.  Back in january we had boxes of books
piled up, and Harriet used the boxes as steps and managed to get up onto
Stinky's favorite pipe.  I can't describe the look of pure satisfaction on
her face when I discovered her up there.  She was able to get up one more
time, until the boxes were emptied of their books and taken away.  She did
not attempt using the ladder.

In my office there's a big pipe that runs right through (high enough so
nobody walks into it, of course).  Stinky always jumped onto the counter,
onto the copy machine, up onto the pipe and then onto the top shelf.  She
walks across the shelf, steps onto another pipe in the corner, turns around
and enters the cat carrier on the shelf for a nap.  Harriet noticed her
doing this and one day decided to try it herself.  She is really a spaz and
it takes her forever but she insists on doing it.  Now if she wants to go up
I pull out the top drawer of the filing cabinet to keep her off the copy/fax
machines.

Today, I came in and got Harriet's food ready after medicating her.  I asked
her where she wanted to eat (sometimes my office, sometimes her old spot up
front) and she led me to the back of the basement to Stinky's safe area.
She went to Stinky's feeding spot between two filing cabinets and looked at
me.  Stinky was just as flabbergasted as I was.  I told Harriet she couldn't
eat there and convinced her to follow me to the front, where she began
eating.  I gave Stinky her dry food treat in her area and went back to my
office.  Two minutes later, Stinky comes in crying.  Literally crying, not
her normal whiny "I want attention" voice.  I follow her back to her area
and there's Harriet with her head in Stinky's bowl.  Stinky began crying
again and Harriet ignored her.

Just a little while ago, while Stinky was in the cat carrier on the shelf, I
caught Harriet coming out from Stinky's safe zone.  In 7 years, Harriet
never went there.  Harriet never tried to climb on pipes or shelves.  She
always ate at the front of the basement, or upstairs.  Now she just wants
everything Stinky has and wants to do everything Stinky does.  My boss tells
me that at night, Harriet gets very jealous if he pays any attention to
Stinky.  So, Harriet has started hanging out in his office, which she never
did before (but Stinky did).  I wouldn't be surprised if Harriet dips her
paws in bleach so she can have white boots like Stinky.

Is this where the term "copycat" came from?

--
Liz