A leg up on the situation

Lily enjoys our visits during the day to her suite, which we've expanded a bit in the last two weeks (tour to come soon). She's wary of foot traffic, but now that she's come to expect us in her space (often bearing food), she comes up to us to say hello right away. "Pull up some rug," she seems to say.

Once I oblige her, she likes to start off the pleasantries by sniffing and climbing all over my lap.


This involves a good deal of head-bumping and chirruping, which leads to ...


... the lateral shin snuggle. She'll sidle up to my calf, coy as you please. Before I know it, she's nuzzling my pant leg and giving me the sleepy eyes.

Finally, when Lily's decided all's well between us, she steps daintily into the kitty-shaped hollow my legs create and nestles from head to tail for a proper snooze.


My tailbone is protesting all the sitting, but the near-audible sigh of bliss Lily makes when she settles onto my knees is so worth it.

Either Lily wants to show her approval of this new lap arrangement

... or I need to lose some thesis weight. The thick sweatshirt isn't helping my figure here, but Lily loves it.

Lap training has gone well, though we've been inconsistent with it in the last week. Life chez Kittitas has been too busy for much sitting around. Hopefully, we'll return to more of a routine as soon as I get my thesis turned in. (The defense is in two weeks, so the clock's ticking down.)

Thank goodness for sweet company in the meantime!

Lap training

As you know, Lily's cautious in a new space. She likes to have a safe spot in every room we introduce her to, and if she can't find one, she'll default -- at a fast trot -- for her suite, where she's got her food, water, litter, and bolt hole. Obviously, it's no good to pursue her as it only reinforces her instinct to head off.

We'd had much success with her in the living room when we sat on the floor and let her explore. If we moved around, though, or even sat on the couch, she wouldn't approach. The most she'd do was cuddle up to this (thanks to the catnip all over it):


How to convince her that we were still safe in this new context?

Wet food.

Lily recognizes the dishes we use for her daily half-can of tasty goodness (supplemented with dry kibble), so I started carrying her downstairs last week directly to the couch to offer her the wet portion of her meals. Behold the result:

"Ah ha! This is something I remember!"

"Hmm. Human also on couch. Oh well, this is too tasty to leave behind."

"Come to think of it, I believe I liked something about that human when we were up in my room ..."

"Yes! This is it! A lap -- and this one comes with a view!"

I haven't attempted to get Lily to come to the couch on her own yet from across the room, but now, even if she doesn't want to eat when we sit down together, she recognizes that the couch is a safe place. And that means she's back to begging for cuddles -- if she hops down to the floor, she hops back up again and stays happily. I think we can call that progress.

The way to Lily's heart

She may love catnip, but she loves a good grooming session just as much (if not more).

In Lily's first few days in the foster suite, she was very wary of us when we visited. But then she discovered that we had three kinds of brushes and she adored them all, coming over to request some attention for her soft coat in spite of her residual concerns.

So Lily would like you to know that she'd enjoy having a continued salon experience of sorts in her permanent home. You don't have to have three kinds of brushes, though.

Everything's better with catnip

Lily is our first foster to have a true affinity for the green stuff that makes kitties go wild -- if they have the genes for it.

Meow Meow does not, from what we can tell. When we were trying to train her to use a scratching post, we rubbed it all over with catnip, hoping to attract her. No dice. After eight months, she still responds only to the material covering it (microfiber, like the sofas we were protecting).

But on Lily's outings downstairs, we started to notice how drawn she was to the post -- not to scratch, but to rub her head all over it. There was wriggling and rolling and other general expressions of bliss. So Dieter took out the bag we'd had in storage, which drew her right to him in an instant.

We took the opportunity to give Lily some playtime. Laser pointer, watch out! Ribbons and the like are apparently in the running now to be Lily's favorite toy. (Sorry for the lighting issues -- the new camera has better sound quality than the last but I'm still trying to figure out how to adjust the white balance.)

The extra space is nice, but ...

... it's just so big.

That seemed to be Lily's impression of our downstairs when we let her take a stroll earlier this week. She skirted the furniture, sniffing and poking, making inquisitive noises the entire way. When we stepped too near, she seemed to get nervous. But as soon as I sat down on the floor, she came right up to me.


She looked left ...


... then right ...


... and decided she was happiest in her usual spot.


Did we mention that Lily is very much a lap kitty?

Where have you been?

It's interesting how differently cats respond to a caregiver's absence. Dieter and I took a short overnight (just Saturday, home again Sunday evening), leaving Lily and Meow Meow in their separate suites with food, water, and litter.

When we came home, we got two very different greetings from each kitty. Lily was happy to see us and didn't seem to think anything had been amiss. "Oh, you're back. Brush me?" she seemed to say, hopping onto her carrier to get closer to me when I entered her room to make sure all was well.

Meow Meow, on the other hand, was rather distressed. Her room was a bit of a wreck (the result of what seemed to be a kitty stomach that had gotten upset more than once) and she scolded us thoroughly for leaving her.

She hasn't gotten stressed in the past when we've been gone for an overnight, and I can't tell if the recent addition of a mystery cat is (still) causing this extra angst. But she was fine all of Monday, acting (and eating) like her usual self.

We'll just keep giving her extra TLC and hope things normalize -- though I'm considering waiting a few more days to have her check out Lily's room while Lily checks out hers.