10 Questions: Palmerston North cat Rocky Raccoon

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, so I 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?