My assistant, Nicholas T. Katt

sayings about cats:

"Dogs have masters;
cats have slaves."

"Dogs know what they want,
and when they've had enough;
Cats don't know what they want, but they can't get enough of it!"

"Love them little mousies,
mousies what I love to eat,
bite they little heads off,
nibble on they tiny feet."
— Kliban

Nicholas, born 1998, year of the Earth Tiger, was a Christmas gift from my friend Janelle, hence Nicholas' being named after the season's patron saint. Joining Cinnabar Swan Healing Arts after a brief period at Jackson County Animal Shelter, he quickly integrated himself into the clinic schedule & taking on his professional name.

photo by Jason

Also known as the velvet fangboy, the pantherman, biscuit boy, biscuit head, Nicky Kitty, Nickypoo, Nikolai, monkeyman, monkeyhead, monkeybutt or just plain monkee (these from his amazing climbing abilities, and as one patient calls it "vulturizing" from high promontories over us lowly humans), Nicholas is noted for his biscuitizing massages, automatically prompted THX Dolby purr, and occasional wild antics when the winds whip up in the Rogue Valley. Nicholas will also supervise gardening activities.

Nicholas is a short haired black cat with possible Siamese bloodlines, a real talker, and has a wide repertoire of cat words, the most mysterious of them being his affirmation, "fuh-duh" when happy with being petted. He also understands a fair number of English words, such as,"biscuit biscuit", "get it", "crunchies", and "flaked tuna".

After his hunting training in the field aka kitty dojo on C Street with sensei Sammy (who now lives in Minnesota), Nicholas established a reputation as an adept mouser, and a questionable reputation as a bird hunter. Amazing prey include hummingbirds and dragonflies; he hasn't figured out what to do with preying mantises, but cicadas he definitely dotes on for their extra crunch. His most preferred prey are craneflies. Unknown prey include those things he chases that are living in the sixth to twelfth dimensions.

To balance his nature as the mighty hunter, I gave Nicholas attunements to the level of Reiki III. Not only prey, but prone and seated humans benefit from his Reiki biscuits.

Originally a big fan of Scott Lewis' weather report on the local ABC affiliate (it was the only way he would calm down and go to sleep at night), Nicholas has now become the unofficial back up alarm clock (handy in power outages), and sleep monitor/TV and lights out guy. Sometimes this means that we don't watch Mr. Lewis' rundown of the microclimate forecasts, or in the spring, the "Fruit Frost Forecast".

In addition to his self-adopted work of sitting with patients who are sad or in pain, Nicholas also likes to accompany people to and from their car. He supervises e-mail correspondence and webpage composition when his busy schedule of sleeping, eating, sleeping, hunting, sleeping, patrolling, and sleeping permit.

Nicholas T. Katt is one of many professional cats found in businesses throughout Ashland, and has been known to make a challenge pledge to other business cats during JPR Rhythm & News' pledge drive.