Spicey quo

A lot of people had been asking me how Spicey has been doing. Things have
been going pretty much exactly the same for the past month or so, which has
generally been a good thing.

Spicey has a healthy working relationship with Dot and Buster, which is to
say that they usually ignore each other. After the initial successful
integration that I wrote about a while back, I continued to monitor the
cats closely, because I felt that it was precisely when the strange cats
got used to each other that things can go wrong.

For example, when Buster becomes more comfortable around Spicey, would he
chase her? When Dot accepted Spicey as a sisfur, would there be sibling
rivalry?

Fortunately, Spicey knows how to create space around her. She's the most
aloof of my cats, both with me, and with Dot and Buster, but she's
assertive and stands her ground when disturbed. So everyone leaves her
alone. I get the impression from Dot and Buster's body language that they
want to give her a wash, but they don't dare - they only go as far as
nuzzling her neck fur.

This kind of courtesy doesn't go just one way either. Spicey reciprocates
by not pressing or challenging Dot or Buster on any issue. She considers my
bed to be Buster's territory (It's actually Dot's). She'll jostle Dot with
her shoulders at food dishes like kittens at a teat, but she won't argue if
Dot headbutts her out of the way.

I've learned to read Spicey's body language a little better too. Spicey has
a habit of drooling when she's happy. She's fastidious enough that she
tries to hide this by swallowing her saliva, then licking her chops. She
also has a similar looking, but unrelated habit of licking her chops when
she's annoyed.

So the upside is, if you pat her on the head and she swallows and licks her
lips, you're fine. If she licks her lips without swallowing, you're in
danger.

Something else that helps when dealing with Spicey is that she now
hesitates when attacking me, as though there's been something implanted in
her subconscious that says, "This is Daddy!" This buys me about 200
milliseconds of time to get out of the way. (That's pretty significant -
about the time it takes to say, "One Mis-" in one Mississippi.)

So things haven't changed much lately, but I think that there will be
significant changes to come. I say this because although she seems to be
relaxed and well settled in, I feel that she's only in the early stages of
ember that her acclimation here - she clearly has a personality type that's
highly suspicious of new people and new places.

Basic milestones like petting and headbutting, which take only minutes with
many other cats, took days and weeks with Spicey. Our relationship will
undoubtedly continue to evolve over a period of months and years.

On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 20:52:52 +0000 (GMT), Judith Latham
wrote:

You have done so well with her it's amazing.

A relationship with anyone evolves over years and cats are certainly no
exception. At least you can read her better now and she hesitates before
she attacks.

what does she think of the Christmas tree or don't you have one?

We haven't gotten a tree, but Spicey's been extra sweet over the holidays.
She's usually in a particularly good mood in the morning when she's
ancipating breakfast.

She'll get on the bed to check up on me, as do the others (except sometimes
Dot, as she often just continues snoozing between my legs until I get up).
Spicey purrs and purrs as she sniffs at me with her inquisitive little
mottled face. She seldom even comes into the bedroom, except for mornings,
so she gets lots of (semi-wanted) attention.

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 23 Dec 2012 20:52:52 +0000 (GMT), Judith Latham
wrote:

You have done so well with her it's amazing.

A relationship with anyone evolves over years and cats are certainly no
exception. At least you can read her better now and she hesitates before
she attacks.

what does she think of the Christmas tree or don't you have one?

We haven't gotten a tree, but Spicey's been extra sweet over the holidays.
She's usually in a particularly good mood in the morning when she's
ancipating breakfast.

She'll get on the bed to check up on me, as do the others (except
sometimes
Dot, as she often just continues snoozing between my legs until I get up).
Spicey purrs and purrs as she sniffs at me with her inquisitive little
mottled face. She seldom even comes into the bedroom, except for mornings,
so she gets lots of (semi-wanted) attention.

You've done brilliantly with her. It was not her fault that she got like she
is/was. I think you are a saint. She made KFC's bad moods look amateurish.
How lucky is she? Just about the luckiest cat in the world.
I can't think of anyone who would take on a cat like Spicey. even I, who
have taken on very difficult dogs would have probably said no.
Tweed

On 12/21/2012 7:27 PM, Takayuki wrote:

Basic milestones like petting and headbutting, which take only minutes with
many other cats, took days and weeks with Spicey. Our relationship will
undoubtedly continue to evolve over a period of months and years.

Thanks for the update, Tak. I'm very glad to read this, even if late!

On Sun, 30 Dec 2012 19:29:21 +0000 (GMT), Judith Latham
wrote:
Bless her! She's booked that time as hers to get your attention, of course
she wants it, otherwise she wouldn't come would she? Not Spicey.

She has been coming to me more often lately. In some ways, she's one of the
most alert and attentive of cats here. No wonder Suz used to say that she
was her guard cat.