The Shirt of Great Desire

My mom gave me a shirt she'd had in her closet. Her closet has a perfumed soap bar inside. This meant the shirt, although pretty, had a perfumed smell to it that I couldn't tolerate that close to my skin. So when I got it home, I put it on the floor.

This served two purposes. One, it would let it air out, and two, it would allow the cats to satisfy their curiosity about the new smell and the new object without going somewhere I didn't want them to, like on the counter, or leaping up to pull it down, say if I'd hung it up.

I expected them to smell it, thoroughly investigate it, and then ignore it. The usual method of cat investigation.

Well, they did the first two, but failed miserably on the last. This was the latest "it" spot, the nightclub where everybody wanted to be. 

Apricot and Thimble trying to share

Occasionally they even shared.

Colby on the shirt.

Most of the time it was just one cat. Whoever got there first. I swear there was some sub vocal "na-na-na-boo-boo" going on. 

Thimble and Apricot arguing over the shirt

I feel like I should put a shirt on the floor all the time. I'd come home and find it all in a bundle. The minute I smoothed it back out on the carpet, I had a cat on it.

When I went to wash it this Saturday, I took one of those cat hair remover masking tape roller things to it. It's amazing how much hair there was on it! I think they'd turned a once-black shirt to a dingy gray. Even the roller and the washer didn't get all of it off. 

So, reluctantly, I hung it up in the kitchen to continue to air out (a week of cat sitting and a wash didn't remove enough of the smell). They don't seem to miss it, however.