February Update
A win!
Ahoy-hoy, Blind Cat fans.
If you caught last month’s updates, you’ll know that we were having to console Milly while she went through the indignity of having to wear a t-shirt to stop her constant worrying at her belly. Well here’s the headline:
THE T-SHIRT IS OFF!
After Christmas, having established that her belly had both healed and started to grow fur back, we decided to try her without it for a while. And, provided we keep half an eye on her, she does seem to be leaving it alone. It worked!
It does mean she no longer feels the need to snuggle up in bed, so we’ve not had her with us at night for a while, but she’s happier, which is all that matters.
Less happy at the moment is Rosie. We have, for the first time since they arrived1, had a little furniture switcheroo. We’re not ones for moving furniture about anyway - it’s a little house and the options are limited - but especially having sightless felines, it seems only fair we keep large solid objects in the same place, day-to-day.
However, the dining table is one thing that has to move when we have company, as most of the time it sits up against the wall, blocking anyone from sitting along one side. It’s reached the point where even pulling the table out from the wall is enough to alert the cats to incoming company, and making them run for the hills2. Until a couple of weeks ago, when I hit on the idea of turning it through 45°, allowing four people to sit around it while the narrow side is up against the wall. I can write at it and use it as per normal, but when another couple of people come over, we can all get to it without moving it. So, yes, we try not to move stuff around for the cats’ sake, but this change should mean it actually ends up moving less.
Rosie, however, is not happy that the dining room cat-bed is now behind my chair, not next to it. Rosie is, you see, my little shadow. She likes to be where I am, all the time. In the run-up to dinner, when there’s a bit of to-ing-and-fro-ing with drinks, plates, cooking etc, she will literally follow me from room to room and back again, living room to kitchen to living room to kitchen. The other day, she got up from where she was next to me in the dining room at exactly 12:15, mewing loudly for me to follow, as she knows it’s time for Bargain Hunt3. It’s endearing, wearying and at times slightly intimidating how much she just always wants to be near me.
So on the plus side, the new cat-bed position is next to the radiator. On the down side, that means (i) Milly wants to sleep there too and (ii) she’s not next to me. Meaning:
Neither solution is perfect. Rosie can’t get up or down from the chair on her own, and that cat-bed really ain’t big enough for the two of them. But she needs her James time, so…
She is loving the new cat toy we bought recently, which is giving her some solace.
That’s about it for this month. Both of them seem happy and healthy at the moment, and they continue to give us much joy. Can barely remember life without them.
Until next time!
JK
Cat Content: The Internet’s Prime Directive.
Since we arrived, to be honest.
Upstairs.
How does she know???
One of mine is a constant shadow as well. And she has no problem sitting down right where I need to walk.