taming semi-feral cats and other stories
I've been absent lately. Not just from the internets, but from many parts of my life. I'm on antidepressants, which is better than the previous state of seemingly unplaced misery, but weird. They've altered my sleep patterns a great deal. I'm out of sorts with my work, detached from everything I consider fun, and living in a giant mess that used to be my flat. (It's getting better)
So I adopted two more cats. I was planning on one. My current cat, Narcissa, is a sweet, adorable, slightly overweight black female cat of undetermined parentage, who loves a lap and a purr but really could use a friend because I'm not home that much. She loves other cats and could use a companion.
There were several cats who would have done well with my mostly confident, loving, lazy fuzzball. I ended up with two. A pair who'd been rescued from a colony in a lady's backyard in Sheffield. All eight of them had to be trapped because they were human-shy. Starbuck is a black and white tuxedo cat, about 6 months old and tiny. She's like a cat in miniature, without the big headed clumsy kitten-ness, just like a cat who's been shrunk. She likes being stroked after a few moments of confusion, purrs and kneads her feet into the desk (or whatever surface she's on). She's relatively shy and sticks close to Aeryn, who's a black ghost of felineness. She's only slightly unferal, hisses when you get too close (about 30 cm) and copes with human presence by being on the other side of the room.
Starbuck needs eyedrops, so must be captured twice a day for confinement and a drop in each eye. (harder than it seems for a tiny 1kg cat). My drugs are on the same schedule so we take them together. Somehow that's comforting. As if my muddled psyche can be taken in hand and dropped/prozaced into submission.
Caring for them helps. I've been trying to clean the flat (a mighty task). So I clean, and then go see the cats, speaking to them, convincing Starbuck she would like to be stroked and trying to get a tiny bit closer to Aeryn. It's slow progress. I'm slow progress. We match.
Do adore the cats.
Posted in the mirror verse at http://oparu.dreamwidth.org/323996.html with
comments.
So I adopted two more cats. I was planning on one. My current cat, Narcissa, is a sweet, adorable, slightly overweight black female cat of undetermined parentage, who loves a lap and a purr but really could use a friend because I'm not home that much. She loves other cats and could use a companion.
There were several cats who would have done well with my mostly confident, loving, lazy fuzzball. I ended up with two. A pair who'd been rescued from a colony in a lady's backyard in Sheffield. All eight of them had to be trapped because they were human-shy. Starbuck is a black and white tuxedo cat, about 6 months old and tiny. She's like a cat in miniature, without the big headed clumsy kitten-ness, just like a cat who's been shrunk. She likes being stroked after a few moments of confusion, purrs and kneads her feet into the desk (or whatever surface she's on). She's relatively shy and sticks close to Aeryn, who's a black ghost of felineness. She's only slightly unferal, hisses when you get too close (about 30 cm) and copes with human presence by being on the other side of the room.
Starbuck needs eyedrops, so must be captured twice a day for confinement and a drop in each eye. (harder than it seems for a tiny 1kg cat). My drugs are on the same schedule so we take them together. Somehow that's comforting. As if my muddled psyche can be taken in hand and dropped/prozaced into submission.
Caring for them helps. I've been trying to clean the flat (a mighty task). So I clean, and then go see the cats, speaking to them, convincing Starbuck she would like to be stroked and trying to get a tiny bit closer to Aeryn. It's slow progress. I'm slow progress. We match.
Do adore the cats.
Posted in the mirror verse at http://oparu.dreamwidth.org/323996.html with
comments.