Her Aim is True

Here is an interesting thing about Imogen I learned the semi-hard way.

She will use a hooded litter-box. She will use an unhooded litter-box. But she will use them slightly differently.

When urinating in a box with a hood, she aims high, so that the results hit perfectly on the seam between the box’s hood and body. The urine then spreads along the seam, and inside it. When I scoop, I must also wipe down the edges of the two halves, including the grooved edge of the top, which is annoying.

When urinating in a box without a hood, Imo aims low. The result is that the stream not only hits the interior of the box, but is often low enough that it hits the actual litter. I think there has been only one instance of Imogen shooting over the rim of a hoodless box. Furthermore, the amount of litter that she throws out of the box is about the same, whether hooded or otherwise. I have therefore left the boxes that Miss Silky uses most, uncovered.

Her poop is left just lying on top of the litter in all cases…

Rhapsody's Field Trip

Fostering a cat for adoption by someone else provides a wealth of information on the beast. Today, I decided to bring Rhapsody up to the bedroom, allowing her a change of scenery and the other cats to explore her smell in the library.

The little torbie was curious but also a little apprehensive, wandering about and crying the while. Then she found the window. It shows quite a bit more than those in the library, and evidently Rhapsody remembered her time outside, with its consequent freedom (never mind the freezing cold and small rations of inappropriate food, the ingrate.) She started panicking and actually pulled the screen out of the window. Thank goodness it’s winter and the window’s glass pane was shut tight.

I figured that she’d had enough excitement, especially as by then she was panting. I put her back in the carrier (I wasn’t about to carry an animal unused to being carried through a houseful of stranger-cats) and returned her to the library. Once there, she immediately regained her composure. An hour later, she had a full tummy and was lying in a cat-bed for the first time since she’d arrived.

Her next excursion will be a bit more cautious.

What About Millie?

Lynn and Precious were asking about Millie, as that little tortoiseshell had not been on the blog for a while.

Millie is doing well. She still keeps to the cat-room much of the time; she is not one for interacting with other felines. But she does come out, especially in the quiet after dinner or on a weekend afternoon, when the other beasts are slumbering. She and I are good friends; she especially likes lying beside me in the cat-room before bed-time, or when I am watching a movie on Saturday nights. I try to have a time set aside for each cat when I can give her my attention, or simply be with her and no other. Movie-night is our time together.

But Mills has shown that, if given the chance, she would likely sleep on the bed with her human. When I have a nap on a weekend, I will open the door to the cat-room, and she will hurry in to the bedroom and, jumping up on the bed, spend the nap by my head. I don’t think she sleeps during that period, as she is too worried about other cats coming near her. She needs to be an only cat for complete happiness.

On that subject, though I don’t want to jinx anything, someone has expressed an interest in Millie. She lives in my neighbourhood and would like to visit Mills. This is usually not done; the initial meeting between cat and prospective adopter is during a trial-adoption of at least two weeks. This allows the cat to be seen as she naturally is, and not frightened of a stranger suddenly thrust upon her. But not all cats take fright at such newness, and Millie will probably want to meet any human she hasn’t seen before. This is all early days yet, and we must see how things go, one step at a time.

For now, Millie is content, playful, active and healthy, ready to give what for to any cat she doesn’t like, and ready to give any person a chance.

At Play in the Library

Rhapsody is doing well. I think she is lonely in the library, as she cries sometimes, and wants out. I spend as much time with her as I can but that doesn’t amount to much, unfortunately. That’s the problem when cats are in isolation; Millie similarly suffers, because she spends almost all of her time in the cat-room, even when she has the opportunity to wander.

But I discovered that Rhapsody knows about playing. I can’t say she tackled the activity with enthusiasm, though whether that is because she hasn’t played in a long time or because she doesn’t like it, I can’t determine. Nonetheless, it is more evidence that she formerly had a home and was probably an insider-cat for at least some of it.

She continues to eat ravenously, but her litter-box visits are already settling into a routine. Though the people who had found her were feeding her, it was perhaps not appropriate food for her, and her body was probably trying to adjust to various factors. Now, she will receive regular cat-food with plenty of moisture. (I think she may have been dehydrated a bit.) Her veterinary examination is set for Monday afternoon, when we will see how healthy she is, and hopefully solve the mystery of whether or not she is spayed.

The Newcomer

I’d like to introduce Rhapsody.

This young girlcat had been hanging about on a farm just outside of town; such locations are a favourite for people to dump unwanted cats. She is very friendly, very purry, quite socialised, so she had a home at one time. She was nervous when she arrived at the Cosy Cabin, of course, but didn’t try to hide; even her anxiety dissipated quickly.

She may be moving to another foster-home after the rescue-group have her examined by the veterinary. One of our concerns is that she may be pregnant. She is a young female - whether spayed or not, we don’t know - who has been on the loose for at least a couple of months. She has been seen by people in the area during that time, and never appeared pregnant, so she may already be fixed. On the other hand, her appetite is very strong; I don’t know if I could feed her enough soft-food for her liking.

But that will all be determined soon. She otherwise looks to be in good health, is eating and drinking without hesitation - always a worry with new rescues - and has used the litter-box for both kinds of deposits. If she is in as good a condition as she looks, it may not be long before this pretty girl has a permanent home.

The Story of a Picture

I was surprised when I sat on the couch yesterday after dinner, because Indigo was the first to come over. She dropped down from the cylinder-house cat-tree and climbed up onto the couch. It took her a while to decide to lie next to me - not on my lap, but beside it - and she reclined against me purring for some time.

But Imogen figures that this is her time with me. Unlike Moxy, however, Indie does not inspire feelings of indifference in Miss Silky. Imo dislikes Indigo, and will provoke confrontations with her. Indigo, in turn, dislikes Imogen. It wasn’t long before Imo’s proximity - she clung to the arm of the couch, complaining about Indigo all the while - proved too much for her foster-sister, and Indigo moved.

She did not go far, though. She retreated to the back of the couch, while Imogen took what she believed was her rightful place on my lap. Even when I departed to begin my evening chores, the pair remained, neither willing to concede territory to the other, but neither willing to fight over it, either. This was how they stayed, for half an hour.

No Corners for Indie

As long as no one is near by - everyone else was snoozing at this time - Indigo doesn’t mind resorting to the big box for a little enclosed comfort. Even having Moxy close doesn’t worry her - he’s the Mixer, after all - but Indie just doesn’t want to feel she’s in a corner, even when the box has four of them.