Cat Adjustments

I didn't really think Monster would miss Angel. I know she was his mom, but I must say, she, with her random paw swipes, really wasn't very nice to him. They weren't enemies - they'd often share the sofa or bed - but neither did they seem to be friends.

But he's definitely noticed she's gone. The first week or so after she died, he kept going over to her sad kitty corner. He'd sniff around, then look at me as if to say, "do you know where she went?" I didn't know how to answer.

He seems to be quite happy about the part where he's gotten to take over the prime upper cave on the kitty tree - he rarely got to stay up there when she was around - so I figured he'd be just fine, given a little time.

Monster's morning box-with-water ritual has been a must-happen thing for almost a decade now. I'm not fond of cats on the counter, but he is always so happy and expectant and it's really not such a bad thing to have him there just for his morning drink, now is it?

The day after Angel died, he jumped in the sink, and not really paying attention to what I was doing, I turned the water on for him as I have a thousand times before. It splashed him in the face, which has happened often enough, but this time he must have gotten some up his nose or in his eye, because he shot out of the sink like I'd put the vacuum cleaner in there with him. 

I always thought I'd be glad to stop this particular ritual, but, but. But he seemed so scared, and I was sad about Angel, so I went and got him, picked him up, petted him, and put him back in the sink. He instantly shot out again. *sigh*

I hoped it would be a one-day thing, he's not the most intelligent of cats, and sure enough, the next morning, he jumped into the sink as soon as I walked into the kitchen. I thought all was forgiven and hopefully forgotten. Then I turned on the water and off he went. Hmm. I began to see the bright side of this.

The next day, though, he didn't leave. He shrank away from the water stream as though it were Angel's claw, but bravely held his ground. The next day, he tentatively poked out his nose and sniffed at it before pulling back. Each day, things have been a bit better, and this morning, he finally reached out and took a few tentative licks at the stream of water.

All is right in his world, which makes things just a little righter in mine.