Hurricane Spicey - Part 1

The other day, I was feeding Spicey, Dot, and Buster dinner together at the
screen gate. I feed Spicey about 1.5 cans of food per day, so that leaves
half a can left over, which I give to Dot and Buster.

Dot eats a lot faster than Buster, so she actually ended up getting most of
their share of food. It turns out though, that Spicey eats faster still
than Dot! When Spicey finished her plate, she started pawing at Dot's dish,
although blocked by the screen. Dot hissed, offended by the interloping paw
only a few inches from her head.

Feeding these three together will be - interesting, I think. Why do I have
cats whose appetites are inversely proportional to their sizes??

After their dinner, I sat with Spicey on the stairs. It's my favorite spot
for us to chat, because it gives Spicey a chance to explore me from any
vantage point she likes. She stepped up beside me and sniffed at my nose.
Her very close and earnest harlequin face made me chuckle. She climbed down
a few steps and rubbed against my feet. Buster watched from just at the
other side of the gate, behaving very well. He knows that Spicey is under
my protection, similar to how he gets evicted from bed if he tries to
wrestle Dot in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, everything went dark. Hurricane Sandy had finally knocked out our
power! Spicey didn't seem at all concerned, but I had to call the power
company.

But Spicey, where are you? I can't see you! How do I avoid stepping on or
bumping into you? I sat still and listened carefully. Through the wind and
rain, I could make out one more sound, which I hadn't noticed before - the
faint gurgle of Spicey's tummy digesting her dinner!

By following that sound, and the touch of Spicey winding around my legs, I
was able to exit the gate safely and get to the phone I'd left on my desk.

It was a dark and stormy night. I fell asleep, aware of one more new sound,
the repeated 'Wau' of Spicey's lonely call.

Weeks ago, her first sounds were growls of fear. Then came cries for gooshy
food. Now, is it a call for companionship?

On Wed, 31 Oct 2012 21:37:40 +0000 (GMT), Judith Latham
wrote:
she's changed so much in the short time she's been with you and it's
thanks to your patience, care and thoughtfulness. You really are doing a
wonderful job.

I hope her transformation continues. She was *really* wild a month ago, and
even now, I'm refraining from petting her too much, lest I get chomped.

It's felt like a long time, but it's only been a month.

On 10/31/2012 9:36 PM, Takayuki wrote:
On Wed, 31 Oct 2012 21:37:40 +0000 (GMT), Judith Latham
wrote:
she's changed so much in the short time she's been with you and it's
thanks to your patience, care and thoughtfulness. You really are doing a
wonderful job.

I hope her transformation continues. She was *really* wild a month ago, and
even now, I'm refraining from petting her too much, lest I get chomped.

It's felt like a long time, but it's only been a month.


We too have a Tortie (with white, or Calico to us Americans), who is
"set in her ways" -

- She will only eat from a food dish if it is in a particular area of
the room
- Only likes to be held in the "Dewey Carry" (read the book about Dewey,
the library cat in Iowa, and you'll understand what that is
http://www.amazon.com/Dewey-Small-To...keywords=dewey)
- Only likes pettins and luvins on *HER* terms, anything else earns a
swat, swipe with her Ginsu bladed paws, or a chomp with her fangs (never
drew blood, but she has left some serious fang-impressions in my flesh).
- Does *NOT* like other cats, but tolerates them, unless they 'invade
her space' - that being an arbitrary term and can change at a moments
notice to mean from the area immediately surrounding her - a whisker's
length away - to just being in the same room as her!

Lizzie came to us from our local shelter, back before it became the
wonderful place that it is today (with colony rooms that (one bigger
than our living room) that the cats can relax, roam and play in - only
new admissions and ill cats are kept in cages - also the ones that don't
like other cats, but they try to have foster homes for those). She was
in one of those small, stacked, steel kennel/cages that you see in many
shelters & veterinary offices. Hubby had gone in "to check things out"
(this being 5 days after we had lost Princess Ivy Punkinhead Puffybutt
to CRF, and he was bawling and had stated that we are "never getting
another pet that won't outlive us") and she reached out and snagged his
sleeve! He opened her cage and she climbed into his arms and purred.
He put a hold on her, came home and told me it was my "final decision"
but I was to go there the next day and see her. So I did. When I got
there (at the time they were calling her Francie), she was in her cage,
sitting upright in her litterbox, staring at the dull steel wall of the
rear of her cage. I opened her cage and she looked at me "who are you,
and what are you doing here?" Then she recognized a smell from the
previous day (I was wearing the same jacket hubby had been wearing the
day before) and came over to me, sniffing my hand when I held it up to
her, not quite understanding how I could smell familiar and be so
different at the same time. She decided that I was "OK" and climbed
into my arms and purred while making biscuits. Seems the decision was
made for me. I signed the paperwork while they put her in a temporary
(cardboard) carrier (not even giving me the chance to run out to the car
and get the *REAL* carrier that I had brought 'just in case' (hah).
They even put the toys that were in her cage in the carrier with her.
We've had her for 10 years this coming December (her adoption day is
12/12 ).



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