May 15: Sooooooooo, I can tell this is going to take some time. Holly has shown that she's quite timid and shy. In fact, she's the shyest kitten I've ever had to deal with. When she was with me in her last life, she didn't have a bunch of rowdy kids to deal with. Aspen was just a baby and I hadn't had Rain yet. When Aspen was a baby, he didn't have that typical baby tendency of smacking the crap out of whatever was making him excited. Tippy had ADORED Aspen. In essence, they kinda got to grow up together. She would lay by him, I would help him pet her, he would get the most ecstatic, joyful look on his face and Tippy would just lay there and purr her ever-lovin' head off.
But now things are VERY different. Aspen's a LOT bigger and there's two more than there was before she died. A lot of things have changed. I know it's going to take a lot of patience and learning to back off when she's had enough. But I'll admit, this will be a learning process for me too. Like I said, I've never had such a shy kitten before. Tippy was a little shy when she first came to us; she hid for a little bit, but when she grew curious enough to come out and explore, she was fine.
Now that she's Holly with a lot more to deal with, I can see that this is going to take a lot more time and patience.
That being said, it's not been all that bad. This morning started out a little rough. Admittedly, I wasn't being overly constructive in trying to get her out of hard-to-reach hiding places such as under or behind the entertainment center, which we've had to block off because she poo'ed back there. At one point Druid scared the ever-loving out of her by trying to shoo her from under the entertainment center with a broom handle. -_- That was particularly frustrating because she was starting to gain some curiosity to explore and after that, she went back into hiding. *sigh*
However, today has had a lot of high points, too. Even when I'd pulled her out of her hiding spots, the moment I started petting her and snuggling her, she would snuggle back and there have been several times today she has rubbed her face against mine, which I find to be most encouraging.
However, as the day went on, it became more and more clear that having her things set up in the living room and dining room was just NOT the best idea. So, I did some cleaning and picking up in mine and Druid's bedroom, moved her things in there, and made it to where the room could be open, but she'd be blocked in there just so she'd have a quieter, less-trafficked area to be in. She was still a little timid at first, but it didn't take her very long to gain the confidence to explore the room, even obnoxiously so as the night wore on. But the good thing was that she finally had the confidence to get out of her kitty condo to eat food, drink water, and use the litter box. Plus, she's gradually getting less scared of us.
For a while, if either one of us would peek in on her hiding place, she'd hiss at us (which is SO freaking cute, btw -- it's just this tiny little puff of air!) but wouldn't make any aggressive moves. The only time she's made to claw at either one of us is if she was feeling playful. I think the hiss was more of a timid, startled thing. She'd still let us pet her and even look a bit soothed when we'd do so.
May 16: Her first night in our room, like I said, she got a bit obnoxious. I ended up waking up at around 5am because she got onto the sink top and was knocking things over. But I ended up getting to play with her and OMG when she's feeling confident, she is such a snugglebug! AND a chatterbox XD Naturally, I couldn't help but to chatter back. ^_^
And now, before I close this entry, here are some pics of my little friend:
2 comments:
Aw she's very cute. A room to herself is good but does she have a cat tree? I bet she'd feel a lot more secure if she could climb up high away from all the little people. ;)
We've got her a kitty condo, but it's not very tall. I'm wanting to get her a bigger and taller one as soon as possible. I just couldn't afford it yet. :-)
Post a Comment