Not a lot happening today, but I did want to share some good news.
Butterscotch is expanding her “territory”!
She has discovered the donated cat bed that I keep on my bed.
For those who don’t know, here’s the background on Butterscotch. She is one of the “originals”. Not only was she already living here before we moved here, but she is one of the yard cats my late father cared for. We had made a road trip to visit family back in 2015, and when I looked at some old photos after we moved here, we could identify her among the yard cats my dad was taking care of.
Over time, while she was fairly social, she became increasingly testy. She stopped allowing us to hold her, and would not accept being indoors, even if it was just in the sun room, when we turned it into a maternity ward. While she took good care of her kittens, she also pushed them away as soon as she could, and was more than willing to let Beep Beep, another original, nurse them. We were finally able to get her to a vet to be spayed, and the vet found that her uterus was “tattery and falling apart”.
After she was spayed, we isolated her and another female in the sun room, expecting her to tear her way out, as she had in the past.
She didn’t.
In fact, she underwent a complete catonality change, and we were able to bring her indoors.
While she suddenly loved attention and was willing to be indoors, she self isolated in my bedroom/office. At first, she would sometimes come out and explore, but would quickly return. After a while, she wouldn’t even do that.
Then one day, another cat managed to tear the screen out of my window, and several cats and a kitten got out. We were able to return the kitten and Butterscotch (another cat disappeared completely, and we were able to adopt the other out as a barn cat, where she is very happy and loved).
Once she was back in, she seemed really relieved – but increasing limited herself. While my office/bedroom is quite large (about the size of my mother’s apartment, maybe bigger), she kept herself almost exclusively to one corner. Other cats would bother her and keep her from using the litter, which caused problems, to the point where we would have to kick the other cats out, just so she could use the litter – and she will only use the one under my computer table. We had to put food and water bowls on my craft table so she could eat, because she wouldn’t jump down to the floor if the other cats were around. She would sleep on the window shelf, or my pillow, or hide in the shelf above my pillow, but would go nowhere else in the room.
Something changed recently.
First, she started working her way further from my pillow, and even slept on the bed while other cats were around, though she would often growl and snarl at some of them.
Then she made her way across to the other pillow, and finally to the shelf of cat beds I have against the wall on the far side of my king size bed – and she would stay there, even when the other cats were around.
The cats are now all getting into the routine of being kicked out of my room in the morning and, once they were gone, Butterscotch started to go around more of the room. Recently, she even started running around and playing.
Then, she actually allowed my daughter to carry her out of my room while petting her, and visit my husband in his bedroom. She wasn’t quite ready to explore his hospital bed, but she was willing to move onto my husband and allow him to pet her, before returning to my room.
And now, she has discovered the donated cat bed all the cats love, that is kept on one side of my bed. She’s been in it all day today. This is a HUGE bit of progress, because she is surrounded by other cats while in there, and hasn’t growled or hissed at any of them. She’s just been sleeping in there, pretty much all day!
It is so good to finally see her expanding her space!
It’s also good to see the other cats bothering her less.
Who knows. At some point, she may even be willing to walk out the door and explore the rest of the house!
Baby steps, first, though. Baby steps!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 