Some of you have followed the story of Holly and Duffy. Holly is my black
cat, the one we used to call "the black tornado" because she was so
aggressive toward any other cat. Duffy is my blind cat (gray with white
markings), adopted several months ago and integrated into an environment
with one thoroughly spoiled cat. The two now get along beautifully, and I
usually find them in close proximity with each other. When I wake up in the
morning, I often find one cat sleeping on one side of me and the other cat
on the other side. Duffy is constantly aware of Holly and follows her
throughout the house.

Duffy is truly remarkable. Some people have watched him play for several
minutes without ever realizing that he is blind. That is particularly true
when he is climbing, and that is one of the great joys of his life. He is
like a little acrobat and can do maneuvers that would make Mary Lou Retton
envious. You can see some new photos of him going through some of his
"advanced moves" if you scroll down to the bottom of this site: <
http://tinyurl.com/8y56>. First scroll toward the bottom (4th picture from
the end), where you can see Duffy relaxing on top of the computer hutch.
Some time ago, I found that he would easily climb up the "windows" of the
hutch to the top. That part was easy for him, but he couldn't see to make
his way back down and I was concerned that he might miss his footing. So I
had a carpeted pole added to the side of the hutch, similar to one of the
poles on his cat tree. He loves it, and he seems to be part cat-part
squirrel-part bear as he descends. He will start at the top of the pole and
start down head-first like a squirrel (shown in the photo called "Wow! The
Amazing Duffy"), then he spins his body around (shown immediately above that
photo on a pole at the cat tree, in a picture called "Go Duffy") and backs
the rest of the way down like a bear. His claws go "scritch, scritch,
scritch" all the way down as he backs and quickly releases his grip, then
grabs again, then releases again, etc. until he reaches the floor.

More recently, I noticed Duffy sometimes hanging down from the top of the
hutch with only his hips and hind legs on the hutch and sometimes walking
right on the very edge of the hutch. It is smooth wood, and I was afraid he
would slip and fall (especially when in the "hanging-down" position) because
he wouldn't have anything to grip. There are some sharp corners on the
computer that he could hit if he fell, so we installed a carpeted 2" x 4"
board along the front edge of the hutch to serve as a "safety rail." He
checked out the new safety device almost as soon as it was in place. And
what did he do?? -- well, he proceeded to walk right on top of it, sort of
like a kid who "just has" to walk on a tree that has fallen over a river. So
now he's still walking right on the edge but a few inches higher! However, I
feel that it is much safer because now it's carpeted and Duffy can use those
nice sharp claws to grip the carpet. The "safety rail" has become Duffy's
balance beam. As I said, he's truly remarkable; and he's a delight to
watch - a little gymnast.

Now, let's not forget about Holly! She has made a wonderful adjustment from
being "an only child" (a very spoiled and pampered only child) to sharing
her space with Duffy - and enjoying it. Scroll up a couple of photos and you
will see a picture of Holly on the mantle (posing nicely in front of one of
my own paintings). She is solid black with a glorious, glossy fur coat and
gorgeous golden/orange eyes. I hear her making a "moaning" noise every
evening, and I will look up to see her bringing a little red leather mouse
to me as a gift. This has been going on for several months, and it is always
the same little red leather mouse - which is now showing definite signs of
wear. Her favorite pastime is walking in front of the computer monitor or
sitting on the computer mouse. In fact, she seems to be convinced that her
biggest function in life is to position herself right in front of the
monitor, with a "close second" job being her skills at dumping my papers
onto the floor, one-by-one.