Eileen has had great luck with Fiona over the last few days, taking her out of her hiding place in the laundry room and spending time with her in the kitchen. Fiona stays on Eileen's lap as she pets her and speaks quietly to her. As soon as that stops though, Fiona takes off like a bat out of hell - straight back to her hiding place in the laundry room.
Thursday night, we had a breakthrough. Eileen put a different type of bed basket in Fiona's hiding area in the laundry room. It stopped her in her tracks. She was beside herself trying to figure out where to go. After finding no acceptable place in the laundry room to hide, she slithered back into the kitchen, always keeping an eye on us. When our eyes met hers, she quickly moved somewhere where she didn't have eye contact with us. Just the fact that she ventured on her own into the kitchen was incredible. Of course, Fiona was a nervous wreck...
On Friday night, Eileen actually got her to play with a toy mouse that squeaked when it moved (Some electronics engineer probably spent 3 years of his life coming up with an integrated motion/alert IC designed for covert operations somewhere in the world and instead it turns up in a $2.00 toy at Petco.) Anyway, it was a major step forward for this tiny ex-feral kitty!
Monday, February 21nd, 2005
Well, we've had our good days and bad days over the last week with the little princess. After growing braver by the day, she relapsed last week by hiding all day under a bookcase in the kitchen. At the end of the week it had gotten so bad that Eileen wouldn't see her most of the day, because she was in her new "stealth kitty" mode. If we stayed real quiet after dinner, she would poke her head out, look around, and then sneak out, as if on a special kitty reconn mission. She would literally slither into the laundry room, check to make sure we hadn't screwed with her bed, and then satisfied that things were ok, would go back to her kitchen hiding place.
But wait a minute.. she's no match for Eileen, the Cat Whisperer. Eileen went shopping for the ultimate kitty weapon... catnip. After putting a fresh dose in her spinning toy and on her mouse, Fiona came out and played for a long time on Friday night. We left on Saturday for a long weekend in Monterey, with Dr. Andy handling Fiona's feeding and litter box. When we returned today, Fiona was in her kitchen hiding place, but gave Eileen a little meow, when Eileen gave her a treat. Could this be the start of something big? Stay tuned....
Hmmm... maybe I shouldn't purr so loud. She'll
figure out I kinda like this.
Can a cat get a little
privacy here?
What's with the bald guy and the camera?