Ooh, I can Help With That!

Our newish feline companion Nala has now been with us for three months. In past posts I have told you that she has been quite skittish yet making improvement and settling in slowly but steadily. In the last week or two we have made fairly dramatic improvement.



Reena had a small task trimming the edges of a piece of fabric to use as a veil in a recent dance performance. There being no convenient sewing table around, she draped the fabric on one of the settees and started trimming. Nala perceived this as V-E-R-Y interesting and jumped right up to see what was going on. She was sort of in the way, in that way that makes cat "owners" think their cat is cute and endearing.



Among other things we learned that Nala enjoys being covered up with said scrap of fabric. It is transparent enough to let her see through it, yet she must think she is hiding. She purred quite contentedly. Other ongoing breakthroughs include a continuation of the pick-her-up-and-hold-her game so that she gets acclimated to such treatment. She still does not think it is a great thing, but she is no longer freaking out. And this week in particular she has acquiesced to sitting on the settee with me; me lounging lengthwise and her nestled between my calves, often falling asleep or merely lounging with her head on my calf. THAT is the beginning of the lap cat we wished for. Gentle and diligent training (for both of us) is paying dividends.