Sleeping with the house panther

After the events of the past week, being bitten by Elsa and feeling the need to keep my guard up with her every time I go in the room, I must say the events of this weekend make me more aware of the miracle that is the house panther.

Each and every cat had at one point the option to be feral.  It takes nothing for a cat to be leary of humans and it takes a supreme act of trust for them to come forward and accept the love and safety offered.  Granted in a kitten the 'leap of faith' if you will is shorter, with those short legs and all... but seriously...

Look at your house panther.  Those jaws can bite you to the bone.  Those claws can do serious damage.  They choose to live peacefully with you, to offer you their love and their trust.  That is no small thing.

Two wonderful things happened to me this weekend that brought this home to me.  First I took a nap on Saturday.  I wasn't planning on it, I was watching TV and it just sort of snuck up on me.  I woke up when  I reached out and felt Jack's fuzzy belly.  When I was fully conscious I realized I had all seven of my cats on the bed.

Recycled photo

All seven cats on the bed is pretty rare.  Apparently the max comfortable capacity is five cats on the bed.  Occasionally we get six..   I felt very blessed.

Then.. miracle of miracles happened.

Eli sat on my lap and asked for attention.  Eli started his life out as a foster kitten who was ill.  He got better, but then he got sick again.  He got so stressed out at Thanksgiving that he ended up so ill that he spent the weekend at the vet with a very high fever.  As a result his tear duct blocked.  We got him health again, but he got stressed out again and his other tear duct blocked.    He spent the first six months of his life getting medicated, then the next few years running from me afraid he was going to get medicated or his face or ears cleaned (he had long since forgot why he was running, he just did no matter what)  Thanks to some Rescue Remedy and his love of static (he is the only cat I know who LOVES winter static) he no longer runs when we walk in the room - but he still does if we walk straight at him.  He voluntarily walked over me a few months before, pausing so I grasped on it as he was sitting on me.  He has sinced sat on my husband a couple of times, and then he sat on me.  He sat there for quite some time before it registered what was going on, and I got to take a picture and bask in his attention.

actually, as I was typing this he sat next to me and wanted to be kissed, it was really sweet.

I adore that I can take their trust for granted.  That I can do pretty much anything I want to them and they will voluntarily choose not to hurt me for doing it... be it I'm pilling them, brushing their teeth clipping their claws, or nuzzling my very vulnerable face in their big fluffy (or not so fluffy for some) bellies..

Sorry, no picts

So I have been working with Elsa and I thought it was time to see what she had learned so I took my fleece encrusted arm and hand with my glove on then wrapped it all up in a towel and I went to pat her.  Yup, I had to work at not being nervous because I know that adding to the tension wouldn't help.

She did try to 'play' with me in her I keel you sort of way.. but she did back right off when I said no.  She tried a few more times.  If I hadn't been wearing protection I am sure I would have bled, but I was and I didn't and she learned that if she didn't try to play with me that I would pat her, and she liked that.  I had to be very careful because she was easily over stimulated, but I did get quite a bit of patting in.  It helped quite a bit that I wore her out chasing after the toy for 15 minutes or so prior to trying it.

Ella is able to jump up on the couch - which is freakingly adorable.  Then she jumped down to play with the toy and her mother's tail.  Then she climbed up my leg, worked her way around to my back, climbed up my back and sat on my shoulder and let me give her 100 kisses.

I was able to get Elsa in the cage to clean up the room.  I was able to touch her while she was in the cage.  She still reaches out trying to get what she wants with her claws, all I can see is her slashing me.. Those claws so need to be trimmed right down to the quick but I am in no position to do that...

I put food down and then let them out. Ella forgot she eats food now, but I reminded her and it was oh so adorable to watch them eat side by side.

Elsa wanted more patting, and I risked giving it to her without the towel.  She was calm having worked off a lot of energy and having food in her belly, and I was able to scratch behind her ears, to which she laid down and put the top of her head to the ground (what I affectionately call the 'headflippything') and she offered me the underside of her jaw.  I threw caution to the wind and patted it with abandon - but I wasn't foolish enough to not watch her for signs of being overly stimulated.  I stopped before she did and while she indicated that she much preferred that I keep going I wanted to end things on a good note, so I backed out of the room and left..

All and all a very good night.

I've got an email into the shelter hoping that we can get her spayed sooner rather than later.  Paws crossed that they are willing to adopt her after what happened and are willing to take this step at this time.    If nothing else I am going to try to get her to the shelter on Friday to get her claws trimmed because there is NO WAY I am going to even attempt that on my own even with my muzzle.

One Sweet Blog

"Sheba" over at Sheba's Life Story awarded me with another award.  Wasn't that sweet of them! :)

Working with kitties

It is so hard on me to not trust Elsa.. I have to "suit up" to go in and see her.. I put on a fleece jacket and a pair of gloves and wear shoes - which I never do for fear of stepping on kittens.   We are doing a little better with the communication thing as she hasn't lunged at me (although she did try to get the camera strap which freaked me out a little) since the day she bit me.  She has 'gone after' my feet - which is why I wear shoes - but when I said no she backed right off.

Don't think I didn't freak out when she jumped up on top of the cage.  Even though I was all the way across the room she was still way too close to my face for my emotional comfort.

But you can see how much she likes to rub up against me and everything else.

The other night she did not want to get in the cage so I left without giving her new food (She had older food and a lot of dry food) nor scooping her box.  so yesterday morning when I went to feed her it smelled and she was almost out of food.  She still didn't want to get into the cage, but I wasn't going to not let her and we finally got things straightened out.

Last night she didn't want to get in it either..

but this gave me an idea, and I took the top off the cage and ended up herding her in there..

Why can't I get to my momma??

Hi Momma.. 

I try not to keep her in there any longer then I have to. I don't like doing anything where I can't keep both eyes on her to keep a gauge on her mood/intensity level.  I'm also taking the opportunity to work with interacting with her without her swiping at me by offering her something to interact with and when the paw comes up it goes away but when her paw goes down it comes back.

I'm also working on Ella.

I try to discourage this as much as I love it because of Elsa.  My husband also showed up while Elsa was caged and we introduced Ella to the Hand Monster.  This little kitten needs to understand human hands are not to be treated the same as cats.. Maybe she can help teach her mother, but then again Elsa thinks Ella is a really fun squeaky toy so maybe not.

how freakingly cute are those ears??

she is so freakin cute when she lifts her back feet
off the ground when investigating something.

and the best news of all...

Yup, she's eating!!

Yesterday morning food was disgusting.. yesterday afternoon.. YUMMO!! (having her tiny little tongue licking me slayed me) While she is gaining weight (1 gram a day) she is starting to feel like she's losing.. so I'm thrilled at this.


PS while creating this post we had an earthquake!  At first I thought it was thunder, then a large truck.. then I started worrying something really bad was happening to the house, then it was over..

One day at a time..

When I was at the shelter prior to dropping off the last set of fosters (I am so starting to see the value of giving sets of fosters last names) they had a very cool cat condo on display in the "to be sold" area of the shelter.  I admired it and the manager said I could take it.

I like it way better then the one I had.  While it is smaller in size, it is much more kitten friendly.  The last one with the rounded doors provided pinch points if kittens decided to climb up the side of the cage (something I discouraged anyway but you know kitties.. )   That and the front entrance is big and the top comes off easily so there is no more hiding and cowering away from me for ferals..   Bonus!  that and it is just prettier.  But once again someone in their infinite wisdom made shelves that were fabric-ish and not removable.  I will end up covering those some how.. either I'll break out my sewing machine (I so need to do that anyway) and make something or see if old pillow cases will work with out modification.

The nice thing about it is that because of the really big door, it is pretty easy to get Elsa in the cage and then lock the door behind her so I feel comfortable dishing out food and cleaning up the room and inspecting Ella.. (still not 100% on the names but they seem to be sticking)

Elsa is still very high energy.  If I push even a little I can see her getting over stimulated (the fur on her back starts to ripple) but so far she hasn't lunged at me again.   I can see she has intelligence, it is getting her calm enough to even try to work with her that is the hard part.

Ella is a laugh riot.  She looks barely three weeks old in size and how she interacts with her mom, but she plays with objects which usually doesn't happen till four/five weeks.. she has good eye paw coordination and is able to track toys easily.   She also wants to climb up my leg constantly.    I feel so bad that the back of her neck is all scabbed up.  I tried to get a look at what was going on back there but her fur is so thick I couldn't get to her skin, and trying to hold her and look was causing her to squirm.  I think it is painful for her and she does not scruff at all..   At least at this point it feels like it is getting better.  Considering how hard Elsa plays with her I was worried about her getting to nurse properly, but she is gaining weight so I am less worried about her then I was after day one..

I do really need to get a picture of her from the back of her head.. her ears are all silver / gray except the very tips.. it really is quite stunning.

Elsa had decided to give me space and sit in a box.. I must say I totally appreciated it.. I think getting her neutered would help us both tremendously, I think once Ella has started eating on her own I'll ask the shelter to consider it.