Thursday, September 25, 2014

For the first time in a while, Tommy didn’t wake me during the night. I was the one who woke up and realized that Tommy’s late night snack was still on the bed which meant that she hadn’t emerged from under the bed and moved to sleep on the bed.

When I tried to engage Tommy in conversation, she turned away and ignored me. I could tell that once the morning came, we might not be on good terms.  Since I’ve been busier lately Tommy has been more standoffish. She’ll acknowledge me and usually let me play with her or pet her, but she hasn’t been as friendly. She really isn’t a lap or cuddle cat, so it’s hard to get affection from her. Usually she’d just rub my legs a couple times and figure that she’d done her job.

She seemed to be a solitary cat who enjoys just sitting in the sun and watching the world go by her.  She would occasionally play by herself, but most of her playing would happen with me. Sometimes she’d sit by her toys and let me know it was time, or I would realize that we hadn’t played and start the session.

When we got out of bed today, Tommy seemed a little better. She actually wanted to play and be petted. Fortunately I was home all day, so we got in some quality time. We played and then when Tommy took her afternoon nap, I went down to the fitness center.

My only concern today was that Tommy appeared to be getting a bit more aggressive both during play and petting sessions. When I pet her she has wanted to turn it into a session of “grab my hand and bite.” I wasn’t sure if she was showing how upset she was that I’d been gone or this was how she played out on the streets. We’re going to have to continue working on this.

While she still has her frenzied moments where she’s running around the condo and is normal, her scratching is pretty much done on her posts. She hasn’t scratched on the sofa for a long time, so I think that has been fixed. Rarely does she scratch on the carpet and when she does, I know that I need to be paying attention to her.

I needed to go to a meeting for a couple hours and Tommy was very good about going into the bedroom and having a treat. When I returned she was glad to see me and we spent some quality time together before going to bed.

Tommy did jump up on the bed to have her late night snack, but when she finished she jumped back down and settled in under the bed. I’m not sure if this is a permanent change, or if she was just letting me know that she wasn’t happy with my schedule. We’ll see what happens during the night and tomorrow morning. Fortunately my weekend is pretty free, so we’ll be able to spend more time together.