lending a helping paw

I am trying to write a proposal in support of a Jerwood Opera Writing Fellowship, and suffering  doubts and uncertainties and with that why-I-am-doing-this feeling that accompanies all new plans and dreams.

The cats, unusually, have both come to join me. They don't spend much time together but have obviously decided this is serious, and I need both of them to help. What am I to read into Jack sitting with his back to the proposal however, and Wesley sitting on it having an intimate wash?!