November 26, 2006

• Again, before I start, I would like to draw attention to the Child's Play Charity.  And now, on with the story.

  
  

  Like I mentioned the other day, some friends of mine will be leaving Italy soon.  They will be moving to California.  However, they have a cat that will not be going with them, due to the fact that cats are tasty to coyotes.  Since the cat has taken a liking to me, I agreed to have him live with me.  As you can see, it's all his fault for liking me.  He's an outdoor cat, but I don't like the idea of having to drive 15 minutes to recover him when he gets out, so I know I'm going to have to reacquaint him to indoors, and them let him rediscover a new outdoors.

  
  

  On Saturday, I picked him up, and he spent his first time in a cat transport thingy.  He meowed the whole way home, which is about 15 minutes of heartbreaking meowing.  I get him home, and I leave him in the car carrier while I prep things.  Kitty litter: check.  Food and water: check.  Nothing that can be easily knocked over: check.  Alright, it was time to let him out.  I put the food dish a foot in front of the cat carrier and open the door. 

  
  

  He stuck his head out and looked around.  Then he came out slowly, and started walking toward the guest bedroom, and walked right under the bed.  From what I read, the whole "hiding" thing is pretty much normal.  Since he's chosen that room as his "haven" I decided to move the food and litter in there.  THat was pretty much everything that happened for the next 5 hours.  I would check on him every 10 minutes, and he would be in the same spot.  At some point, I know that he ate.

  
  

  During one o my checks, I see that he is not under the bed.  I look around the room, and he's nowhere in sight.  I know he hasn't come to the living room, and all of the other doors are closed.  I check a couple of places, but to no avail, but I know that he can't get out.  As some point, I decide to check behind a very large dresser in the guest room.  I guess that he decided to explore a bit.  However, there wasn't much room back there, so he walked in, and got himself stuck.  When I looked back there with my flashlight, all he could do was look over his shoulder at me. 

  
  

  I push the dresser away from the wall, and I see him slide down, meaning that his from paws must have been unable to touch the ground at the time.  Then I push it a little more, which gives him room to turn around.  He promptly turns and runs...right into a duffel bag that I had on the floor near the door.  Going around this, he goes to the living room, and sits behind the curtains.  He stayed there a while, before going back to under the bed. 

  
  

  This would go on until I started to go to bed.  At some point, while I was lying down, he decided to come into my room and explore.  And then he decided to walk on me, something he would do much of the night while I tried to sleep.  The rest of the time, he would just curl up near/on my legs.

  
  

  The next morning, I woke up, and he was nowhere in sight.  I check the guest room, and he wasn't there.  I checked the living room, and he wasn't there, either.  I check my bedroom, and didn't see him, so now I think I'm losing my mind.  I decide to systematically search the apartment (the brain doesn't automatically keep track of where you have looked for an item), and eventually find him in a new hiding place: the area behind my dresser, but near the window (not a tight squeeze).  He would spend the rest of the day hiding in various places, but mostly under my bed.  He didn't even come out when my friend and his children came over.

  
  

  Later that day, I decided that I would need to play hardball, so I went to the store and purchased some Friskies cat treats.  The person that said that you cannot buy love was a liar.  With cat treats in hand, I decided that the first thing to do was train him to come when I called.  Armed with a few treats, I used one to coax him out from under the bed.  Then I backed up and called him to me, and gave him a treat when he came.  Then I did it from 10 feet away, and now I can do it from 2 rooms away.  I have also trained him to know that it is ok for him to come onto the couch, which is where he has been lying for the past hour.

  
  

  Also, he finally used the litterbox, so I can put that thought to rest.

  
  

  And now, without further ado, Tigger:
   

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

   

  
  

  Black 6, out.

  • 5:31 pm
  • 6 Comments