Palmerston North cat Rocky Raccoon advises kittens to attack the furniture more and to read the Manawatū Guardian. Photo / Sonya Holm
Palmerston North cat Rocky Raccoon advises kittens to attack the furniture more and to read the Manawatū Guardian. Photo / Sonya Holm
In today’s instalment of our summer series 10 Questions, we meet Palmerston North cat Rocky Raccoon. He is 3 in human years or 21 in cat years and is named after the Beatles’ song.
1. This summer, I’m looking forward to the long lazy days of summer and sunshine, soI can move from my favourite spot on the couch to relaxing luxuriously on the front step. It doesn’t sound as comfy, but I sure make it look good.
2. A highlight of 2023 for me was winning the Manawatū Guardian’s Love Your MG photo competition. There I was, having my usual morning cup of tea and reading the Guardian online, when my employee whipped out a camera and took a photo. At first I was aghast, like when I discover my food bowl is empty, but then I won the competition and I thought yes, that’s just what I deserve.
3. If I was in charge of $10 million to invest in Manawatū, I would spend it on more recreational outdoor spaces with lots of secret hiding places, overgrown trees and birds. I know what you’re thinking, but I’m just enamoured with our feathered friends, and I’d like to see more of them.
4. Manawatū's best-kept secret is Waireka Honey Centre. Honey is such a lovely shade of ginger, and the shop sells icecream – and I am partial to a lick of that delicious creaminess.
5. I’d like to have a coffee with Maysie, the editorial assistant of the Manawatū Guardian. She does an incredible job and from the photos I’ve seen on the Manawatū Guardian Facebook page, she looks like a real top cat.
6. The advice I would give my 15-year-old self is care less about what people think of you, eat a lot and attack the furniture more. That time of life sadly passes all too quickly.
7. Describe Manawatū in three words? Charming, picturesque, purrfect.
8. The noise I wish I could never hear again is the harsh unpleasant tone of any dog barking, or any loud noise that scares the birds.
9. As a kitten, I perfected my altruistic streak. I enjoy nothing more than leaving unexpected gifts for my employees, and I get particular pleasure in depositing them in different places to enhance the thrill of the find: feathers in the hallway or bits of bird in the bath. As a keen urban forager, I venture to neighbourhood kitchens, bringing home freshly hunted delicacies like sausages and chicken drumsticks. I have even redesigned the legs of the wooden chairs in the kitchen, using nothing but my very own claws, as I’m arty as well as altruistic.
10. I wish Manawatū had more spaces for cats. We don’t have a cat cafe, and I think that’s a missed oppurrtunity. Maybe we could even have a special feline day at the library: Little Lions in the Library anyone?
