Two's Company, Three is ... Just Right

written Sunday Jan 18, 2015

My meta-CAT is becoming quite the together group. (In case you're new here, that's the first letters of the three cats' names. Which yes, I did on purpose.)

On Friday nights I set up the washer to start my dark laundry wash the next morning. This involves sitting on the floor with the laundry hamper, a collapsible blue mesh thing, on its side, and pulling the clothes out and sorting into two stacks; one stack is inside the washer and one is beside me.

The last two Fridays I have had help. Lots of help.

A collapsible hamper seemed a good idea when I bought it.

It's not just the two curious, unafraid kittens helping me now. Apricot is joining in, in his own way. No, he's not transformed into another unafraid kitten. He'll always be wary and need to hang back and investigate, and that's the hopeful side. He'll also be more prone to hide than investigate, simply because of who he is.

But now he comes and investigates more often, and the kittens' behavior often draws him out into the investigation.

Because of this, I can now open and shut an umbrella in the kitchen (to let it dry) without terrifying him. He saw the kittens both investigate it, and then play with it (they shadow-boxed through the fabric, and luckily it lost its play-luster quickly, because I didn't want to water-squirt them away from it while I knew Apricot was watching their reactions to it). Then in about five minutes I observed him sneak into the kitchen, body low, cautious that no one saw him (I don't count, apparently, which is both nice and insulting, but perhaps he didn't realize I could see him from where I was), and he sniffed the umbrella as it stood open on the floor.

That's the closest he's ever gotten to it. Since that time, although he won't go near it, he also doesn't passionately avoid the kitchen either, and if I pick it up to close it, he won't leave at high-speed like he used to.

Colby and Thimble are like a bunch of stereotypical human teenage girls. They can't go to the bathroom by themselves; litter box time must be communal.

Actually, even cleaning the litter box should be communal, according to them, but as they get miffed when I scoop out from under them, I have learned to block access to the box while I'm trying to clean it.

Aw, come on, let us in!

On the twelfth I got this photo. Apricot is using the litter box (he's about to, anyway, and yes, he completed the thought) and the other two are there as well. Two's company, but three is apparently not a crowd any more.

One day I was trying to clean the litter box after work, and had both kittens climb into it. Colby acted like he was actually going to go, so I left the room to play on my phone while they finished. Many emails later, they were still making noises in the litter box, playing.

Apricot walked in. He gave me a puzzled look. Why are you standing there with the phone instead of sitting down like usual? I said, "The kittens are still playing in the litter box." I was rather exasperated and this tone came out in my voice. Apricot did the cat equivalent of nodding sagely, and walked into the bathroom (as you can see, the litter box is in the shower stall. I use the bathtub in the other bathroom because I'm too claustrophobic to be in that shower stall with the door closed, so I might as well use it for a litter box room).

Seconds after he went in, but with no audible noise from him, both kittens came out, not in a hurry, but not hanging behind either. Then Apricot came strolling out, and gave me a look, Is that better? Bemused, I said, "Thank you, Apricot," and went in to finish cleaning the box. He so very rarely asserts himself that I still doubt the circumstantial evidence. It certainly seemed like he rousted them out of the litter box, though!

Now when he sees them in there, he gives a little sigh, makes a u-turn and goes into the pink room to use "theirs." Generally speaking they don't follow, because one was in the litter box to actually use it, and the other one was there to keep the first company. The one using it isn't going to stop in mid-action just to go bother Apricot, and the one keeping him company isn't going to leave because, well, that defeats the purpose.

And Saturday morning I went into the pink room and sat down in the sunshine with the phone. Thimble loves to be wherever I am (something I dearly missed after Pippin passed away), and unlike Apricot, who just happens to be in the same room but on the other side of it, Thimble wants to be right next to me. So Thimble came in. Colby followed quickly on his heels, and they started playing.

Then Apricot came in and lay down to watch.

I made noises to get them all to look at me.

In the photo, that's my purple sweatpant-clad knee in the lower left.

Apricot came in specifically to be with the rest of us. I'm so pleased with him! And that blue fish toy at Colby's feet is a power-catnip toy that Ginger gave me for the kittens. Remember Apricot's reaction to catnip? It wasn't a good one. (It's at the bottom of the linked post.)

I have found him multiple times rubbing and cuddling that fish toy, making himself happy instead of overstressed like catnip used to do for him. Apparently, he's confident enough that having the extra jolt of catnip energy is pleasant instead of frightening!

And today came the, in my opinion, culmination of Apricot's acceptance of the kittens. Colby got on my lap to take a nap. He often is the first one on my lap, generally when Thimble is occupied with a toy or the water fountain. It gives him time alone with me which is something Thimble doesn't often let him have, so he seizes the opportunity when he can!

Thimble, as usual, noticed the situation and decided to remedy it by also getting on my lap. Colby was in a normal position for a lap cat. Thimble stretched across me between my torso and Colby. He had enough room as long as I used my arm as an extension to the lap. I could still hold the phone and play on it, so we were all good.

Apricot walked over and observed the situation. Then he jumped up on the chair I had my feet up on, and climbed over my toes to reach my lower legs. Whereupon he promptly stretched out and joined the other two in covering me with a blanket of cat.

Colby was purring. Thimble was purring. And then I felt Apricot's low rumble start up. Everybody was close together, on my lap, of their own volition, and happily purring.

A Most Excellent Photo

I held the phone out and snapped a photo, and managed to get this of Apricot and Colby looking at the phone. Thimble's still here with everyone else. He's just up closer to me. You can just barely make out my fingers on what looks like Colby's back. No, he doesn't extend back that far. That fur belongs to Thimble.

So Colby and Apricot have a new buddy, each other. They don't just play together; they're actually starting to wash each other. It's still brief licks at this point, but it makes my day to see them so happy together.

And Thimble splits his time between the other cats and me. He's a born Supervisor cat. He not only knows what we are all supposed to be doing, but he's quite willing to tell us what that is. Even as we're doing it. 

It's so great that they are all getting along and not just "getting along"--they're happy together. 

Apricot even had to make a decision last night on staying in the pink room with them. I was willing to let him do it, but I thought he probably would regret it if he did. He decided against staying with them then, and came out with me, but the very fact that he considered the possibility was exhilarating!