Friday, September 19, 2014

Thursday, September 18, 2014: Back to Normal, Fireworks and Up & Down

Tommy allowed me to sleep through the night except for her usual 3:00 reminder that she had used the litter box and now it was my turn in the bathroom. It never fails to amaze me that she knows when it’s time for me to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.
We have a good day. We play and eat. I decided that it was time to vacuum and Tommy made sure that she was in a different room each time.  When I finished, I located her under the bed and let her know that it was safe to return to the living room, but she had her doubts and stayed under the bed for a while which allowed me to get some paperwork done.
Her health issue is history. She’s now eating well and eliminating regularly. It looks like we’ll be going back to the chicken and rice blend. She ate the kitten formula when she first got here and now will be transitioning to the adult formula.  Whenever there’s anything left in the bowl it’s always the chicken, turkey, duck blend that we’d previously tried. That means for the next week, I’ll be adding more chicken and rice and less of the fowl (foul?) blend until she’s completely on chicken and rice. Maybe in about six months we’ll try a seafood blend for a change.
I was meeting a friend for dinner and as I got ready, Tommy supervised. When I was ready to go she jumped up on the bed and looked around for her “departing” treat. I hadn’t put it out yet, so she let me know that it was time. After I put out the treat she started eating it and barely acknowledged my departure.  At dinner my friend reminded me of the saying, “Dogs have owners, but cats have staff” which sure is true!
When I returned, Tommy was glad to see me and we spent some petting and playing time. Later in the evening fireworks were shot off from the lakefront.  Tommy decided to investigate and sat and watched them from the balcony door. I turned off the lights to give her a better view. She usually doesn’t like fireworks, so this was a surprise.
She was fine until near the end when all the loud booming started. With the colorful lights gone, she headed away from the door and toward me. I went and opened the closet which was our usual safe place, but she stopped short of entering. At one point she was next to the bed and I thought that she’d seek refuge under it, but again I was wrong.  We hung out far away from the windows until after the fireworks ended.
We continued our nighttime rituals of playing, and watching television. Actually I watch television while she naps.  When it was time for bed, Tommy was already zoning out on the floor, so I waited for her to awaken. When she did, I picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. She let out a slight whimper when I closed the door. A typical teenager, she didn’t want to go to bed even though she had already crashed.

As the day ended, Tommy decided to show me how much energy she had. With me in bed, she’d jump up on one side, climb over me and jump down the other side.  She’d then do something like have a food/water/litter box break, run around the bedroom/bathroom area, or look out the window then it was back for another round of “up-over-and down.” She did this several times until I had a chance to turn off the light while she used her scratching post, trying for one last treat before going to bed.  With the lights out, she finally resigned herself to the idea that I was going to sleep. She jumped up on the bed once more, but this time curled up in her usual spot ready to go to sleep.

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