Friday, December 19, 2014

Tommy continues to be confused (as am I) by the heat pump coming on so often. Today I finally found out that when I cranked the heat up a couple days ago when we got up early, the thermostat didn’t revert to its program, so we’ve had the condo at the morning (Gotta jump in the shower!) one hour setting. That’s changed now.

Last night I put out Tommy’s carrier in preparation for going to Petco to have her nails trimmed.  She has been occasionally checking it out. Today after breakfast which was moved out of the cold air draft (another revelation!) Tommy jumped up on the dining table. I thought this might make it easier to put on her collar. When she saw the collar she tried to leave, but once she knew that she was “stuck” on the chair, she let me put it on her without too much resistance.

She spent several minutes trying to find a way to get it off, but she was unsuccessful. When she came by me on the desk I again thought “opportune time,” so I picked her up and took her to the carrier. She didn’t try to squirm out of my arms and escape while we went to the carrier. She also just sat in the carrier when I put her in it.  This was a new (and much appreciated) behavior. She of course was lavished with lots of praise.

The trip to Petco was very uneventful. The only time Tommy cried out was when we were on the elevators. Once we were in the car she settled down. In fact, at one point she was so quiet that I thought that she had fallen asleep. She also was very good for Stephanie. Her only issue was that she wanted to get back in her carrier after Stephanie trimmed her front paws. Stephanie, being the professional (and quite a trooper) just finished trimming Tommy’s claws while Tommy was in the carrier. 

The ride home was again quiet and Tommy was relatively quiet on the elevator. Once home she let me take off her collar and finished her breakfast.  She also got her hairball treats and lots of praise. She stopped to see me at the desk, but then left the room. Nail trimming is such an ordeal (traveling and getting nails trimmed) that she usually takes a long nap when we get home. When I went to check on her before starting, I found that she was wide awake in the living just quietly sitting there. We spent some time with more praise and petting.

I started the laundry and Tommy took the opportunity to explore in the closet. She found her old friend/toy, the “Dynamite” stick and played with it for a while. She then decided to take a nap and jumped up on the bed. The fleece on the bed was lying flat, so I “smooshed” it around her like she’d done on the sofa.

The rest of the day and evening Tommy spent either sleeping or occasionally getting up to check that all was well or get something to eat.  She’s been eating more of her dry food lately. For a while she wouldn’t touch it and probably thought that I’d put out more canned food than she’s supposed to have. It took her a while to figure out that she was supposed to be eating the dry food when she was hungry and there wasn’t any canned food out.

Before bed I made sure that we had a long play session. When I turned out the lights and closed down the living room, Tommy went into the bedroom. I found her sitting up on the top of the bungalow. When I put her little plastic “plate” on the bed she quickly came up on the bed. The girl knows the routine. I put her snack on the plate and as she ate it I went to bed.  With the snack eaten, she went back up on the bungalow, but when I turned out the lights she jumped down and came back up on the bed. Since the lights were out there wouldn’t be any more shadows or lights to play with, so I guess she figured that she might as well go to sleep too. She curled up in her usual spot and we settled in for the night.