Entry tags:
Cat update
Three-legged Cat (TLC), last heard of in the dining-room, did not stay there. The nice, light bamboo barricade proved so light that he eventually worked out that he could actually shove it aside far enough to wriggle through (tomcats have serious muscle, specially after six months of feeding up, rest and recuperation). The Feline Drama reached positively operatic heights after that for weeks, to the point where everyone was having their meals in separate parts of the house, and food that had been acceptable for years was suddenly next thing to poison. There was protest peeing, and vomiting on the stairs, and hissy-spitty at the slightest opportunity. Lap-cat took to sleeping on the kitchen counters during the day (when I wasn't around to shoo him off) since TLC can't jump that high off just one back foot. Bus-stop Cat and Scaredy-Cat fled upstairs, where TLC doesn't go because he finds stairs awkward to manage.
Everyone was very glad when Housekeeper came home from her holiday and normal service could resume.
The current state of play is that everyone now sits like good cats waiting for their meals, and eats together in the kitchen. TLC doesn't go upstairs and is not allowed to go outside, so he has basically become the Kitchen Cat. After dinner everyone is usually willing to hang around in the sitting-room for a bit. Both TLC and Lap-cats are territorial lap-cats who want attention and my company (Bus-Stop Cat's territory is Housekeeper's room) and have a cautiously antagonistic relationship. Since Lap-Cat is much smaller than TLC, I have to be on the alert for bullying (luckily Lap-Cat is extremely vocal when he's unhappy, he doesn't just run away like Scaredy-Cat does). We're at the point where every night I sit on my sofa imitating the action of the Berlin Wall with a cat on each side, carefully stroking them both simultaneously, and ready to clamp down at the slightest untoward move. Everyone is now also using TLC's litterbox downstairs rather than the one upstairs. When I go to bed the two of them are sleeping in separate spots in the same room.
It's progress.
Everyone was very glad when Housekeeper came home from her holiday and normal service could resume.
The current state of play is that everyone now sits like good cats waiting for their meals, and eats together in the kitchen. TLC doesn't go upstairs and is not allowed to go outside, so he has basically become the Kitchen Cat. After dinner everyone is usually willing to hang around in the sitting-room for a bit. Both TLC and Lap-cats are territorial lap-cats who want attention and my company (Bus-Stop Cat's territory is Housekeeper's room) and have a cautiously antagonistic relationship. Since Lap-Cat is much smaller than TLC, I have to be on the alert for bullying (luckily Lap-Cat is extremely vocal when he's unhappy, he doesn't just run away like Scaredy-Cat does). We're at the point where every night I sit on my sofa imitating the action of the Berlin Wall with a cat on each side, carefully stroking them both simultaneously, and ready to clamp down at the slightest untoward move. Everyone is now also using TLC's litterbox downstairs rather than the one upstairs. When I go to bed the two of them are sleeping in separate spots in the same room.
It's progress.