….And now for something nice: Cat Bed!
This is Jade. She’s 16+. She was outside most her life, and recently on Death’s door. My Mom rescued her, brought her back to life, and asked me if she could bring her here.
sigh
Super arthritic, literally a bag of skin and bones. Weighs maybe five pounds. Spent the first four/five weeks isolated from the three 60-70lb dogs.
Cut to two-three months. She’s out-and-about and eats the dog food with them. She still hisses at them every now and again when they’re rowdy, but other times, she’ll walk by them, or even side-by-side or under the oldest.
If I leave the back door open for the dogs, she’ll wander out into the yard and hang out in the sun for hours on end.
She usually sleeps in the kitchen on the hardwood, even after being shown various soft places she could rest, from the couch to easy chair to dog and cat beds.
Tonight, while doing laundry, I picked her up and brought her upstairs with me. Had her up her for about an hour or so, then carried her back downstairs on one of the trips to the laundry room.
Ten minutes later, I see her poke her head into my door, which tells me she found her way from the kitchen, across the living room, up the flight of stairs, and back all the way down the hall to my room.
For her, this is something of a distance, and it surprised me, considering just how arthritic her hips are.
She’s spent the whole evening with me as I’ve cleaned. She climbed up the stairs originally purchased for the elderly dog and on to the bed, and hasn’t moved far from me since.
I sat down on the ground while working on laundry. About two minutes in, there was a thunk next to me, her rear hips clearly hurting on impact. She was looking at me curiously, wondering why I wasn’t on the bed with her.
Moved the party back to the bed, and stayed within visual range. She’s spent more time on the bed tonight than I’ve seen her in the five-six months she’s been with us.
Happy to give her a pleasant retirement. As I finish this post, she’s asleep on the bed, her tail twitching randomly. I’m looking forward to her hanging out up here more often now.