Month: October 2002

How free are we? If you haven’t been paying attention to civil liberties issues this quiz might surprise you.

Freya likes to lick my shirt while I’m petting her. It kinda freaks me out.

On another note, I’m starting to be afraid that I’m allergic to her. Whenever she gets near my face, I get all itchy. I’ve had problems with some breeds of cats in the past, but never with a regular DSH. But, she”s probably a mutt cat, so who knows what her genetics are.

More about the cats… It was interesting last night. They both ended up sleeping on the bed for a few hours. Miri and I were in our usual position: me sleeping on my side with my arm outstreched; she curled up with her back against my arm and my chest. Then Freya jumps up on the other side of the bed, climbs up on my hip and lays down. It took a few minutes before Miri woke up and noticed her. They both growled, hissed and puffed a bit… then layed back down. Every 5 minutes or so, there’d be more growling then they’d nod off again. It was kinda funny. “I’d be really pissed off and attack you… if I wasn’t so tired.

We are in election season and every night a commercial comes on that starts out with inspiring music and then a voice over about a fellow who was crushed by a tree but persevered and overcame adversity – so please vote for him. Every single time I hear the start of it, I think it’s a joke – an SNL skit or something – but it isn’t.

Well, that’s an interesting feeling. To be awoken at 6:15am by the sound of growling and hissing cats – one on each side of your head.

Well, we just had a nice little walk around the house. Much exploring for the new cat. Miri wasn’t happy about it and there was much hissing and growling. Rule #1 – do not pet new cat in old cat’s presence. I’ll have to keep a watchful eye on Miri lest she try to extract some revenge.

Right now Freya is under the bed and Miri’s on top of it. Every time Freya tries to come out, Miri growls and hisses and this wakes me up. It’s going to be a long night!

I think I figured out why Freya felt so threatened when I sat down – I was in front of her only exit. She felt cornered. I kept going back out there, talking to her and sitting on the side of the carrier. That did the trick and once I figured out why she attacked, I wasn’t afraid of her anymore. She came out and let me pet on her a lot. Eventually, she explored the house.

Well, now I’m officially freaked. When I brought Freya home, I put her in the laundry room. That’s the eat and poop room and I figured that as the most important place for her to visit first. There”s a cat door into the main bit of the house and figured she needed to learn to use it. So, I sit in there and watch her explore – petting on her, talking to her and trying to be quiet and gentle and give her adjustment time. Miri came out, there was much hissing and puffing up. Miri left.

After about 30 minutes, Freya curled up in the cat carrier I’d brought her home in. I went into the house and started to fix me some dinner. I saw her looking through the cat door, so I went and tried to encourage her to use it – lifting the flap a little, calling her name and stroking her forehead when she started to nudge her head through. But nope, she wasn’t going to come through. So, I went about eating my dinner, calling/emailing people to let them know I had a new cat, yadda, yadda.

After a bit, I saw Miri head back out to the laundry room and come running back in at a speed that a 15 year old cat rarely achieves. So, I went back out there to just sit with Freya. I sat down what I thought was a non-threatening distance from the open door of the cat carrier. As I was halfway down, Freya shot out of the carrier at me – hissing, growling and baring her teeth. I screamed and freaked! She retreated back into the carrier and just sat there growling.

I know she’s scared, I know she’s overwhelmed…well, now so am I! I’m scared of her – she’s got to sense that now.

What have I done….

Now that I’m listening to hissing and fighting, I’m not sure it was the brightest thing to do, but I adopted a cat from a local humane society today. She’s 5 years old, her name is Freya, she’s a lovely calico and is very quiet and shy…as long as Miri isn’t around. Miri seems to feel pretty much the same. This could be interesting.

I took Miri to the vet today for her shots and a wellness check. He said she seems to be just fine. So, I’m now wondering if her behavior changes (she’s been very needy and sometimes meows non-stop) are because she misses Sasha. I didn’t think she would since they never played together or even hung out in the same room very often. I’m thinking of getting another cat, but don’t know if that would just make her more unhappy (to say she was unhappy when I got Sasha would be one of the biggest understatements of the century). I’m afraid she’ll revert to the “liquid deposits of displeasure” behavior she’s shown in the past. More than that, I’m just worried it would make her unhappy and stress her out. It’s so hard to know what”s best.