It’s been a few days since the last update on Khaleesi. She is still setting her own pace in settling into the rhythms of our household. She has the run of the house now; and she has discovered the basement, which provides lots of hiding places for a small cat among the furniture and boxes that are stored there.
Khaleesi still is far more comfortable with Sadie (the dog) and Russell (the resident cat) than she is with any humans, including me. That’s probably because the first two years of her life were spent in a house with numerous other cats and only one human who was unable to pay attention to the number of animals in the house. The other humans she has encountered were capturing her to go in a carrier, give her meds, or clean out her ears. So humans are a foreign species to her, and she has no reason to trust us. One of the “cat experts” at the shelter said that it could be up to a year before she is totally comfortable around people.
She seems to have developed a routine of spending her days in the basement and coming out to explore the rest of the house when Russell, Sadie, and I are sleeping. Last night I left some treats on the basement stairs, and they were all gone this morning. Once in a while she tries to explore the second floor during the night; that’s when I am awakened by a hissing contest, with a barking dog in the role of cheerleader. Given her history, I’m not sure how eager Khaleesi will be to expand those frontiers; but as long as she’s pushing the limits (despite protests from the resident cat), I think things are going well.
You’ve seen several photos of Khaleesi; so today I’ll give you a glimpse of the other two actors in this drama. Sadie is an 8-year-old Lab/Beagle mix; and Russell is a dark gray 14-year-old cat. (The other cat in the photo is Liza, who died soon after we moved here.)
An Explosion of Color and Texture 