As the Newness Wears Off

No doubt everyone is growing weary of reading about Raleigh. But for now, he is the beast in my household going through the most changes. He is showing me daily how he is becoming more confident in his new home, and how that confidence is allowing him to feel safe and comfortable.

Over the past few weeks Peachy has been working his way up the taller cat-tree in the sitting room. He likes looking out the window, especially at night, and I have seen him lying on progressively higher platforms. This weekend, he made it to the top.

Raleigh continues to ingratiate himself with the other cats. He doesn’t mind them at all, except when one (Cammie) is hissing at him or when another (Tucker) is swatting at him. Otherwise, Raleigh will trot right by them, or lie near them.

He seems to realise that Renn is the least threatening, and even the most accommodating. It helps that when Raleigh is on my lap, my big boy will continue to lie close by, at the other end of the short couch. A couple of times now, Peachy has crawled off my lap and lie down next to, but not touching, Renn. The latter seems puzzled as to why the new boy would do this, and is slightly discomfitted by it; enough to move away eventually, but not enough to move immediately. In any case, as I have written previously, Renn’s easy-going nature is a big help in integrating Raleigh.

But most of all, Raleigh enjoys a good snooze on my lap. He will still periodically run from me, as if he were afraid. But if I sit on the couch, even right after he has fled from me, he will hasten over to jump up and lie on me. He will often then fall asleep. And there are few things about a cat that say ‘I feel welcomed’ like a snoozing on a lap.