Sleeping on the Desk

Look at those legs! This is one of those sleeping positions of Kelly’s where she looks like a pile of legs. And she is so relaxed, her head falling back a little bit more every so often. It’s been a while since I’ve seen Kelly like this. I’m so happy to be sharing my desk with her again.

Kelly has been grieving Cookie very deeply, and no doubt the loss of all her older friends who used to help her feel protected. She was used to being the youngest of the household, then she was the youngest of the group of seniors, now she’s the only one left. She’d been growing more and more withdrawn over the past few months, curling up in a corner on top of the refrigerator or book case in the kitchen, or deep in the entertainment center, and at the back of the bottom shelf of a cabinet in the kitchen, eating less and feeling awful.

Playful and affectionate but timid, Kelly is intimidated by all of the black cats even though I took months to introduce them knowing more than one new cat at a time sends her into hiding. The kids want to play, and that would be fine, perhaps, one at a time, but that’s not how it works with the Fantastic Four and she feels surrounded and threatened. She was friends with Mimi before the kittens officially became part of the household and likely would be friends again, but sometimes I think all Kelly sees is black cats and doesn’t try to distinguish who it is she is looking at.

I’ve consistently given her time out in the bathroom where she is comfortable and fed her special noon meal there. I used a series of essences and also changed her diet entirely over to a raw diet. I bring her to be with me wherever I am even if she doesn’t stay, and I began taking her outside with me for a few minutes every so often.

Kelly is 18 this year and I want her geriatric years to be happy and comfortable, and I can’t expect her to do all the changing to accommodate the changes in our house. In all these years she’s had a relationship with the older cats who she considered her protectors first, then with me, and she likes me but we needed to build a new relationship. And so we’ve been working on it. I had even considered fostering or adopting a senior kitty if that would make her feel better, but I need another cat…like I need another cat (I use this phrase in place of “like I need a hole in my head”, or such comparative that describes something I really don’t need at all). I will never replace her older feline friends with another kitty or with myself, but we can deepen our trust.

Read Kelly’s story in five parts: A Little Bit About Kelly.

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