What Joy said indeed. You do understand the Way of The Cat and she is much
the happier better off kitty for it.
Charleen

"Joy" wrote in message
.. .
"Yowie" wrote in message
...
Shadow is no longer skin & bone and her fur is getting softer. I suspect
that she might be prone to being a very 'fluffy' cat as she vacuums up
all food put in front of her, whilst the others two are happy to
free-feed their portions. This works out because Shadow wont go into the
laundry (where the food for the other two is) and the other two don't
have the opportunity to eat Shadow's food because she eats in all in one
sitting.

She has had two big fights - one with Pickle, one with Suki. She has a
small scratch on her nose, as does Pickle. A day or so after her fight
with Suki (which produced *lots* of white fur but no injuries) she
touched noses with Suki and then sniffed Suki's nether regions. She no
longer hisses and growls alot at Suki (although she wouldn't understand
that its pointless anyway, because Suki, being deaf, has no clue about
the hissing & growling), although will do so if she's surprised or if
Suki looks the wrong way at her food bowl.

Shadow is still hissing & growling at Pickle, though. I am hoping that
they do eventually sort things out between them.

Shadow continues to go potty in the smaller of the two kitchen sinks. In
one way its easier than a litter box - just flush :-). Just wish it was
the *bathroom* sink rather than the kitchen one. She has not gone near
the litterbox in the kitchen, so we've pretty much given up hope.

She no longer seems particularly interested in the Out. She sometimes
comes out of the kitchen (her territory) and makes her way to under the
dining table, as this is her second favourite haunt. This morning I
caught her exploring the bookshelves, but she skuttled quickly back under
the dining room table when I came into the room with that "I've been
caught" look. Poor cat, what life did she have before coming here? I was
*happy* she was exploring the bookcase - thats what cats *do*! She's
still not overly fond of Joel, and will hiss and attempt to bite if he
picks her up. She doesn't always do that to me, but it also depends on
how I approach her and what she's doing when I try to pick her up. Woe
betide if you try to touch her whislt she's eating!

Out of allt he cats, she's the one who winds around my ankles when I'm in
the kitchen, and is the most annoying when cooking or dishing up food -
no matter how many times I remove her from the counter, she returns
straight away, like a yo-yo. Anytime I walk in the kitchen she throws
herself into upside-downy headed cute poses, and loves having her chest
rubbed (I'm still not going to touch that belly!). She loves being
petted, but is easily overstimulated, and doesn't just nip, she really
has a good go before stopping, shaking her head, and then demanding perts
again. I've learnt the hard way that her tail (which I think perhaps is
missing a bit, because its quite short compared to Suki & Pickle) is the
best indicator of her mood, and if it starts to thrash, then its time to
turf her off my lap before she tries to attack me.

I can somewhat understand why she was abandoned, she's not an easy cat to
live with. Not everyone would put up with a cat that used the kitchen
sink as the litterbox, nor one that was forever on the counters whilst
preparing food, or even one that savagely attacks suddenly whilst clearly
enjoying a pettin's. Given these three things, I don't think i could
surrender her to a shelter, because I think she'd be given back pretty
quickly. She does need a person who understands the Way of Cat and is
prepared to put up with her quirks. Thats not to say I will necessarily
keep her forever either, because I can see quite clearly she'd be happier
as an only cat, but until such time as I find suitable slaves, or until
she settles down and announces my place her foreverhome, she's still got
a place with me. Perhaps not the 'best' place, but better than being on
the streets, and better than being rejected again and again via a
shelter.

Yowie

She is lucky to have you!

Joy