(no subject)
His cry is like a tiny bird, echoing off the walls of the laundry.
Mew, mew, mew. The more time passes, the longer and sadder the cry.
Part of that bruised and battered thing in my chest wants me to go to him, pick him up and give him the cuddle he's craving. A larger part of my heart is with Jack who flees outside at the mere scent of him on her things.
His name is Lium, after the valium-softened state he spends his time in. Lium, for its Irish nature and the mischievous part in him that has him climbing on couches before he can walk. Lium because it fit him. Wrapped itself around him where all other options floated above but never quite settled.
Lium is six weeks old and came to live with us yesterday, all tiny white paws and sparkling eyes. He's adventurous, clever and a little too cheeky, but so is everyone else in this family. And once again, like everyone else in this family, that spicy personality trait is going to get him into trouble.
As I type this, I'm sitting in Jack's chair. A very spoilt but mostly obedient cat, she adopted this computer chair the moment it came home. Since then, it has become the very first place we look for her, followed by the end of our bed.
The initial meeting between siblings didn't go well at all, with Jack emitting sounds I've never heard before and Lium digging his razor sharp claws into my wrists. Today was better, with Jack actually coming inside and taking her place at the end of our bed.
I've been very careful to preserve Jack's highly territorial areas of the house, namely; her food area, our bed, the computer chair. The food area is impossible to keep away from Lium as it's just outside the door to the laundry but the rest have been okay as they're out of lium's reach. Or so I thought.
I left lium alone for two minutes while i put something in the bin and when i turned around, he was gone. Into the bedroom, scaled the blankets and perched on my dressing gown; Jack's prized position.
Now, the only place Jack has really felt safe and in control of has lium's scent all over it. I feel so terrible. The guilt I feel for making Jack sad and scared and lost and abandoned stops me from giving lium all the affection I gave Jack at his age. What's even worse is I don't think lium was ready to leave his mother.
He burrows into me, searching blindly for something. He gets frustrated and cries and nuzzles frantically again. He throws himself on his back and guides my little finger to his mouth with all four paws. He kind of bites but mostly he licks my finger. I tried to dip a face cloth in some water and let him chew on that but he wasn't interested. The only fliud he will drink is the water in Jack's bowl.
And then any progress I've made with Jack goes out the window when she smells lium's scent on her bowl. I will be the worst mother ever because um, these are cats and i can't seem to tell the difference.
raaah! i'm already the crazy cat lady :(
Mew, mew, mew. The more time passes, the longer and sadder the cry.
Part of that bruised and battered thing in my chest wants me to go to him, pick him up and give him the cuddle he's craving. A larger part of my heart is with Jack who flees outside at the mere scent of him on her things.
His name is Lium, after the valium-softened state he spends his time in. Lium, for its Irish nature and the mischievous part in him that has him climbing on couches before he can walk. Lium because it fit him. Wrapped itself around him where all other options floated above but never quite settled.
Lium is six weeks old and came to live with us yesterday, all tiny white paws and sparkling eyes. He's adventurous, clever and a little too cheeky, but so is everyone else in this family. And once again, like everyone else in this family, that spicy personality trait is going to get him into trouble.
As I type this, I'm sitting in Jack's chair. A very spoilt but mostly obedient cat, she adopted this computer chair the moment it came home. Since then, it has become the very first place we look for her, followed by the end of our bed.
The initial meeting between siblings didn't go well at all, with Jack emitting sounds I've never heard before and Lium digging his razor sharp claws into my wrists. Today was better, with Jack actually coming inside and taking her place at the end of our bed.
I've been very careful to preserve Jack's highly territorial areas of the house, namely; her food area, our bed, the computer chair. The food area is impossible to keep away from Lium as it's just outside the door to the laundry but the rest have been okay as they're out of lium's reach. Or so I thought.
I left lium alone for two minutes while i put something in the bin and when i turned around, he was gone. Into the bedroom, scaled the blankets and perched on my dressing gown; Jack's prized position.
Now, the only place Jack has really felt safe and in control of has lium's scent all over it. I feel so terrible. The guilt I feel for making Jack sad and scared and lost and abandoned stops me from giving lium all the affection I gave Jack at his age. What's even worse is I don't think lium was ready to leave his mother.
He burrows into me, searching blindly for something. He gets frustrated and cries and nuzzles frantically again. He throws himself on his back and guides my little finger to his mouth with all four paws. He kind of bites but mostly he licks my finger. I tried to dip a face cloth in some water and let him chew on that but he wasn't interested. The only fliud he will drink is the water in Jack's bowl.
And then any progress I've made with Jack goes out the window when she smells lium's scent on her bowl. I will be the worst mother ever because um, these are cats and i can't seem to tell the difference.
raaah! i'm already the crazy cat lady :(