One week of Tilly!!
I must admit, at the start of her first week I started to think "what have I done"! Although I have never doubted that Tilly is a very lovely cat at heart, the second day of her stay I was definitely wondering if I'd made a mistake in offering her a home. She wanted to play all the time, wouldn't sit still.. I was happy to play but most sessions ended up with her drawing first blood. When she realised I wasn't going to play any more she turned her attention to anything string like! Already having chewed through two bits of elastic on toys she started to turn her attention to my blinds. I say mine, they're the landlords, which makes them even more precious! I think it was Monday night I hardly slept as when I turned in I left her intently trying to find a way to down the blinds.. I started to think she might not be happy here and couldn't see me being able to keep up this pace long term. So I wrote an SOS note to Evina and Sharon from Cats protection...
The next day Evina replied with a lovely long, and very thorough, email with tips and tricks on how I can better care for Tilly and myself, and also reassurance that she may not be completely settled yet. Since then, Tilly has been an absolute star!! She is becoming really affectionate and her playtime is much less aggressive. Learning to use paws instead of claws now. Tilly loves to be groomed, especially when eating, which is strange!! She loves sitting by the window and watching the world go by. Hopefully it won't be long before I can try the harness on her and see how she is on the balcony. I'm still reluctant to put her out there without it even though we are 3 floors up and yesterday I watched her back out of a jump of 1/2 a foot!! Everyday she becomes more tolerant. At the start I could only stroke the top of her head. Now she lets me stroke her head, neck, back, cheeks and even under her chin. Anywhere around the belly or legs is still a challenge!!
Tilly is in good health. Eating very well and drinking plenty. Had a good look at her teeth and gums so i will be able to tell if anything were to go wrong in the future and they looked very healthy indeed. We do still get the odd nip to verify this! She has a very funny habit of wanting to eat out of my hand rather than her bowl and although incredibly cute I am trying not to encourage it. It is a good technique for getting her to eat though. She has been using the litter tray well bar two exceptions, both of which were my fault entirely. Tilly was using the tray with the hood on so I thought I'd try the door. Without thinking I left the house in a rush and forgot to take the door off. Later that evening we found a puddle on my beanbag but luckily it is leathery so wiped straight off. Hate to go in to too much detail, but there was almost no smell which I guess means she is drinking enough! Not the best way to find out, but at least we know. After taking the hood and door off she did do it once more, but I think this was a combination of still not knowing exactly where her tray had gone and being scared of my office chair. So we have moved the tray downstairs in a private corner and (touch wood) there have been no more accidents.
In short, it was touch and go there for a while, but every day I become more sure Tilly is here to stay. Today is Tilly day! Going to put down new litter, clean the tray, clean the blanket, give her bowls a good wash and put some fish and primrose oil in her wet food. She may have to meet the hoover too..
Anyways, if you're reading this, thank you for showing an interest in Tilly and I'll be sure to write more updates soon!
Steve
