Such a good boy

Simon is the good cat. (We like Johnny too, but he is better behaved at home than he is in public.)

Simon is the cat who goes to the nursing home. He's the cat who donates blood. He's the cat who doesn't mind his harness and isn't too whiny in the car.

So I volunteered him to "help" at open house this weekend. The student chapter of the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP), aka "The Cat Club," had a booth at which they wanted to have some live, well-behaved cats that kids could pet and also listen to their hearts with a stethoscope.

Like going to the nursing home, I wasn't entirely sure how Simon would do, but I offered to bring him anyway under the assumption that they could keep him out if he wasn't stressed and was being friendly, and just put him in his carrier somewhere out of the way if he got tired or crabby.

Well, reportedly he was an awesome little guy! The volunteers said he was a good cat, friendly and sociable for the full two hours of his "shift."

At the end of the two hours, they put him in a cage in the ward where he usually hangs out on blood donation days.

Before my last tour yesterday, I had a couple minutes for a break so I went to check and see how he was doing back there. I think I have to not do that sort of thing, because he had been fine until I checked on him, he was happy to see me, but then I got reports that he became crabby after that. I think he gets sad if I go see him and he thinks he gets to go home, but then he really has to stay longer.

Poor guy... but he is such a trooper!