This is going to be another post about cats because cats have more or less taken over every aspect of my life and I literally have nothing else to talk about, so if you're not interested in cats go away.
Eleven has lived in my bedroom for nearly three weeks now. As a direct result of this, it has been three weeks since I slept in an actual bed.
LOOK HOW CUTE SHE IS THO
(she's also super duper tiny, like 4 or 5 pounds tiny)
To be honest, the last few weeks have felt like an incredibly stressful exercise in futility. Eleven seemed to be getting no tamer than when she first arrived, and almost every night she would spend like 2+ hours doing her I'm-upset/afraid HOWL.
But then she started howling by the bedroom door, and it occurred to me that she might not be howling because she's afraid and feels unsafe. Maybe she's howling because she's bored to death and wants to get out of her room.
Following this stroke of genius, Eleven has made some giant leaps over the last few days as far as settling in.
She loves to play.
She's been getting much more comfortable hanging out in the kitchen and living room.
She sooooooooooo wants to be friends with Harley and Ivy, but they're not quite sure about her yet.
And the most exciting thing so far--on Monday night, Eleven let me pet her. So we're getting there.
I've had cats for most of my life, and I've had to do the cat-intro a few times at this point. But never with a semi-feral cat. It is an ongoing learning experience, and I've largely had to rely on my own instincts and observations, as the articles and message boards I found online offered little help--mostly generic "tips" that any idiot could have figured out on their own, and then people on the crazy cat lady forum offering conflicting opinions and advice, most of which turned out to be incorrect as far as helping Eleven settle in.
[There may be a lengthy How To Introduce A Semi-Feral Cat Into Your Home post in the future.]
Also I have been forced to accept the fact that The Simple Cat is rather enormous. I'll try and get a photo of her and Eleven next to each other so y'all can see what I mean.
Speaking of the Simple Cat, I have finally discovered why all of my clean bath towels leave me covered in cat hair.
And there I was thinking there was something wrong with my parents' dryer.
I feel like Harleyquinn is being left out of this post, so here's a photo of Harley in a box, in a bag.
