We have three animals on our property, Oliver, our faithful old dog, and two cats. We let the dog out to sit in the sun, one cat stays inside our private suite with occasional short-lived forays to the front yard, and our cat Yuki lives exclusively outdoors. We don’t allow animals in the guest rooms or guest common areas, because we know some guests have allergies and we like to keep things squeaky-clean.
That said, Yuki has recently become quite famous with our guests for finding creative ways to sneak into rooms. We had a couple check in and find Yuki curled in one of the bathroom drawers, sleeping. Apparently she’d opened the drawer, crawled inside, and pulled it closed. (It is odd, but we did have another cat who used to open closet doors, enter, and then close them behind herself.) We had another couple wake up with her in bed with them. In both cases she’d slipped inside when the guests weren’t watching, so please be on the alert if she’s stalking you outside.
Yuki is a shameless love-sponge, a charming player like all cats. Don’t let her fool you with her lonely mews; she is the recipient of loads of food and attention. If you plan to barbeque on the lanai one night, you can bet that Yuki will show up, mewing sadly and rubbing against legs, endearing herself to you as she awaits scraps. You may even see her waiting in the grass laying flat on her back in the sun, legs splayed, with not a care in the world (although she is a bit more cautious since she was hit by our sprinklers). When she was a kitten she’d climb guest screen doors at night looking for attention. She’s black with a white underbelly so she looked like a huge white spider.
Yuki adopted me while I was walking Ollie near the neighboring coffee mill about four years ago. I was walking through the parking lot when I heard the pitiful little mews of a kitten. A small, dirty black kitten with white-dipped feet and paws walked out of a pile of trash in the jungle and brazenly sat at my feet with the big dog right next to me. She stared up at us and gave a pitiful little mew. So of course I had no choice but to scoop her up and bring her home. I named her Yuki for her bravery and confidence. She may be relatively small (although quite chubby now) but she is fearless and has a huge personality. She is our watch-cat and greeter-girl.
