The Dude(ette) Abides

Well after four full days at Chez Nataraj et Reena, new-to-us kitty Nala seems to be settling in. After a couple of days of anxiously exploring the house and not eating much, she now appears to be pretty comfortable.



We have been giving her a lot of space to cope as needed, interrupted by bouts of as much attention and petting as she wants. She is no longer flinching at every sound (even airplanes and Air Force jets overhead) and scurrying off to hide. She didn't seem to like being picked up, and I like picking up kitties, so we are learning each other. Last night I picked her up and sat her on my lap, facing away so she was free to jump down. She did. A bit later when she came back, I picked her up and leaned back, settling her on my stomach and chest. She relaxed immediately and spent nearly an hour in my lap, falling into a deep REM sleep. The training of the human continues, slowly but surely.



Today she met our neighbors, our go-to choice for cat sitters. Nala was cordial and friendly, approaching them and allowing some attention. That's good, because we are going to need them to cat-watch in a while.

The exploration of food continues as well. Hunger solved some of the finickiness as did a little experimentation with wet food. The aforementioned neighbors donated a serving or two of their cat's nuggets to try, and Nala actually ate some. We shall see later tonight if it is worth buying a bag. Strangely, she did not like the expensive, high-quality dry food we bought. That is not all bad, of course. Ah, as I type, she walked over and is nibbling some more of the kibble. Now if they could only remember what the food is! Their cat has ceased to eat it so the bag is long gone and only the tail end remains in their on-counter container.

All seems to be proceeding well and I think we will all get along famously. I look forward to this learning process in a really genuine way. I am continually fascinated by cats and enjoy the process of meeting them on their own unique terms.