Holding Apricot

Thursday, Nov 20, 2014

Last week on Wednesday we achieved a new milestone. Apricot does not like to be held while you're standing up. This makes sense because the only times anybody held him at the shelter like that, it was to take him to get something medical done. He really really doesn't like you to walk while you're holding him.

I've been slowly working on this. It's a deeply ingrained aversion and will take years to overcome ... if it ever goes away completely. He may always flinch a little when I pick him up. I'm starting the process by simply picking him up and then putting him back down exactly where he was. I've been doing this for months now.

He's progressed to the point where he doesn't always want to be down right away. Sometimes he lets me hold him for longer. As in seconds longer, but every little bit helps. And occasionally he'll let me hold him for minutes at a time.

Last Wednesday he let me hold him for long enough that I had to put him down not because he asked to be down, but because my muscle strength was running out. Now I'm a bit of a weakling, so it's not like we stood there for hours. It was probably five to ten minutes.

It helped that I was standing in front of the patio doors at the time. He's discovered that he has a different viewpoint from my arms than he does from the floor, and since he really likes watching his kitty tv, this is fascinating enough that it overcomes the aversion of a human holding him.

What was really encouraging was that we'd actually started about five to ten feet away from the patio doors, and I had picked him up and then walked over to the doors. He wanted to be down the minute I started moving, but as it only took seconds to get to the doors with their enchanting view, he didn't have time to get upset enough or frantic enough to not be distracted by the activity outside the patio doors.

Now he's "backslid" since then; we're back to moments only. That's understandable, though. When you do something for the first time that really scares you, even if everything turns out okay, you have to have time to think about it and gather your courage before you try it again. I can be patient. With this, at least! Like I said, it'll probably take years.

Kitty Cuddles when I get home from work
can sometimes lead to sleepy kitty!

Then this past Monday he came in while I was watching Once Upon a Time and got up on the couch, curled up with his head against my hip, and stayed there for the last quarter or so of the episode. I've been wanting him to do that sort of thing for just ages.

Of course, just like with the holding, he has now become skittish and unwilling to get up on the sofa while I'm watching tv. I'll grant you that the crime shows I've been watching since Monday are a little less "cat friendly" since they have sudden bang sounds and things like that. He will, eventually, get used to it.

He may get used to it faster if the kittens spend time with me while watching tv, just out of jealousy. I can do that too!

The kittens are six weeks old today. Another six weeks and I can bring them home. Another four days and I'll know which two I can bring home!

Two of these three ...