The First Visitor

Yesterday ...

Apricot had been doing so well with new and scary things and noises that I thought I would start introducing new people. The kittens seem to really have given him some confidence.

I invited my mother, who is a quiet person and gives off a low-energy vibe unlike some of my friends, to come over and visit for a half hour or so. I told everyone she was coming, but when I opened the door and she came in, by the time I turned around I had only two cats. I don't think Apricot ever even came into the kitchen.

He went under the couch and hid in the tv room. Oh well.

Mom sat down on the floor at my behest (I did make sure she was okay sitting on the floor) and I gave her the toy with a wand handle to play with the kittens.

Colby had waited at the door to the kitchen/living room while Thimble sniffed her shoes and investigated her in the kitchen when she first came in. After Thimble was satisfied, Colby came in and was perfectly fine with her and didn't even need to do his own investigation. This is part of the benefit of Colby's relationship with Thimble. He does what he's told, but he can also trust Thimble to do the "heavy lifting" in any strange or new situation.

So they were perfectly fine with her, playing quite enthusiastically. Unfortunately it's been longer for my mom than it was for me to have kittens around, and as she is older her skin is thinner even than mine, and she wasn't as paranoid about the prickly ends of kitty paws as I am ...

Long story short, Thimble accidentally nicked the end of her finger. He must have got a vein end, too, because it bled. Slowly, but persistently, and didn't stop.

Well, that was the end of playtime. Mom understood Thimble hadn't meant to do it, and she wasn't mad or anything, We just had to quit so we could get the finger cleaned and bandaged. Mom even was careful enough not to drip blood on my carpet, which I thought was nice of her.

Finally we just put a bandaid on it, even though it was still leaking slowly. I called her this morning to make sure it was okay, and she said it had stopped bleeding and everything was fine. I'm planning to let my Dad come visit this Saturday, but he's on blood thinners, so I think he'll have to come later in the day (after the weekly claw clipping session!) and perhaps not get to play with them directly ... I'll let him make that call.

Back to Mom's visit: she and I sat on the settee and I ladled kittens into her lap. They were tired and sleepy now. So she got to experience the kitten sleeping mode as well as the kitten play mode. And this was all good. She left, and I told Apricot it was safe.

The kittens came in too, and Apricot slowly emerged from under the couch. But he wouldn't leave the tv room; acted scared. And stupid me, I pushed it, and picked him up and carried him out to the living room. I guess I was channeling Pippin instead of Apricot, because I know Apricot doesn't like to be carried and I know he likes to do things at his own pace.

Apricot also knows things I don't. He heard the man stop a car in front of my house, and come to the door, and then we both heard it when he pounded on the front door just as I passed it, carrying an already upset Apricot, on my way to the living room.

Needless to say, when I put Apricot on the floor, he fled to the safety of the living room couch and disappeared.

When he finally did come out, he investigated where Mom had sat on the floor very thoroughly. Colby was on my lap and Thimble was beside me on the settee, and Apricot came over and made sure Colby was all right. He didn't check on Thimble, just Colby. They had a brief nose to nose discussion (silent) and then Apricot went and rechecked the area he'd just investigated. I thought that was the end of it, but Apricot disappeared again.

The only thing I can think of is that the smell of blood in the air, which he would have been able to detect, was something that was very upsetting to him. He stayed hidden until after I left for my board gaming night. I told him goodbye, but was unable to give him a goodbye kiss (this is a tradition that he enjoys). So I told Thimble to keep an eye on him, that he was a bit scared and stressed.

I don't know how much Thimble understood or how much he did of helping Apricot feel better, but when I came home later that night, Apricot was out and about again. He did, however, indicate he'd been through a lot of stress by pressing up against me very tightly during the greeting routine of "cuddle Apricot."

Today he has been back to his normal happy self, and has even spent quite a bit of time on my lap. Just recently he curled up on my lap and went to sleep. I timed it after it became apparent he wasn't doing one of his normal drive-by lap sits. He stayed there for more than 20 minutes, the longest he's ever been on my lap at one time. Thimble was on the chair near my feet and Colby was on the settee I was sitting on, thus clearing the way for a single bigger cat to be on my lap!

Boy is he ever heavy after the little Pocket Maine Coon kittens.

So I guess we'll try again with another visitor this coming Saturday, and hope that eventually he (Apricot, not the visitor) gets used to it.