Onward and Upward

Minuet continues to do well. I now let the other cats go into the library if they want, though under supervision; it’s really the only way Min will become accustomed to their presence. I must balance this, however, with the need for her to retain a safe room. She does come out of the library now and then, but when she encounters one of the other beasts, she starts growling and wailing, and retreats to the library. I’m not worried about this, as this is normal behaviour for a new cat, especially, I imagine, an old one used to having her own way. The others, for their part, don’t seem to have any hostility or resentment toward the newcomer, just curiosity. That in itself, though, is something that must be watched and restrained to an extent.

Madame continues to surprise me with her robustness. She climbs to the top of the smaller bookcase every day, snoozing there, or using it as a spot from which to view the world through the library window. But she has climbed even higher, and takes the taller bookcases as her vantage points, too.

I intend to have buy a cat-tree to place in the library, to enable Minuet to ascend and descend to her spots more easily. Though she may be able to reach those places now, I can’t help but think the climb is a bit of a strain on her old joints. And coming down may be simpler, but there are unavoidable jolts involved in letting gravity assist you. I want to have the tree custom-made, as I feel the platforms on a standard cat-tree are too distantly spaced.

My new resident is eating and drinking well, and using the litter-boxes as she should. I will use Cat-attract litter for her from now on, though if the day comes when she roams freely throughout the apartment and uses the other litter-boxes without issue, I may cease to buy it. I find it an ordeal to scoop, since one doesn’t scoop this clay litter so much as one chisels it. But if it helps Min hit her target every time, then it is worth the effort.