Molly's Big Adventure

For all your feline miscellany - any interesting stories, news or subjects that do not fit in the other sections.
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Mollycat
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Molly's Big Adventure

Post by Mollycat »

Fellow CatChatters, we are home after an absence of nearly two weeks while some work was carried out in our home, preceded by a week of packing things up and piling all our worldly possessions into our bedroom. The cat tower was the last item to go in and that blocked the doorway, the entire room was filled to chest height or more.

As anyone knows who knows anything at all about Molly, she was such an extreme timid rescue cat aged 6 all of 8 years ago that I didn't see what colour she was for a week, that for 6 months I believed she hated being touched, and that I pay for reiki for her every time she has to go in the carrier. I had to re-learn to move around gently and in mindfulness of her because sudden moves would send her flying under the bed for hours, and my life was forced to calm down to her pace to build her confidence. She was rehomed as an indoor cat by choice, having had the option to go outside but never done so in her last home.

So the prospect of a move into temporary accommodation for just 10 days was not a happy one, to say the least. I was prepared with the Pet Remedy kit to use at the house. We had an airlock system to prevent any problems - not that she would run off, but just in case she was spooked near an open door. And we had a mesh fence panel for the back door to allow the dog to be out without risking her. In all honesty I didn't expect to see her for the whole 10 days.

But Molly has faced and handled quite a lot of challenges in the last few years, and grown in confidence as a result. She has spent nights away from me 3 times for medical work, and I have always gone to pick her up and bring her home. Unless she was staying, at the vets I have never let her out of my sight (they like to do some things in the back room, I won't let them take Molly anywhere). The carrier has become much less traumatic, partly because she has the right one now after several different trials, and perhaps she has more confidence that she is never going to be given up again - she was rehomed at least twice, just bundled into a carrier and taken to a strange place with strange people.

And we still managed to underestimate Molly.

She observed the packing quite calmly, just starting to run under the bed more often and for longer as the bedroom filled up on the last day and large items like the sofa and table moved. It was late and we were tired and ready to get going, but Molly had got wind that something was up and I had to spend half an hour at the door of the bedroom calming her down and making things ultra normal. At last she came out and into the living room where I let her sniff around for a few minutes, then quickly grabbed her and popped her in the carrier. My friend who was helping us move thought she was going to tear my hand to shreds through the cage. Once outside she went quiet and in the car she rubbed against my hand through the bars all the half hour journey.

I plugged in the Pet Remedy and set her down in her carrier in a spot that would be quiet but from which she could observe us going in and out unloading our belongings. In less than 24 hours she was out from under the sofa. She was having cuddles, eating and using the litter tray, in 2 days. She explored, she gained confidence, she sat on the sofa with us instead of under it. She came out to the kitchen and had an argument with a magpie at the back door from behind her gate. I felt it was time to give her choices so on day 7 I left the doorway open and unguarded while the dog went out. Molly sat on the mat just inside and watched. Day 8, she put a paw outside, then another, and then she explored a few feet outside the door, slunk along the house wall, and ate some grass. Day 9, she was bolder still and wandered up the garden away from the house towards me. As she got near she suddenly realised how far she was and trotted back, low to the ground but fast enough for her fluffy belly fat pad to swing from side to side, sweeping the path.

Then we received the message that we could move back home, and Molly's adventure was cut short. She spent quite a bit of Saturday under the bed as we deep cleaned and painted (the builders left an appalling mess and did damage some of which was repaired before we got back) and spent more time with us yesterday as we gradually started reassembling our home. Last night she mostly slept on the bed again and she is now sleeping peacefully on the sofa next to me. We had been planning to invest in a new fitted kitchen, but now we will be making steps to transfer to a home on the ground floor with a garden, now that we know Molly is transportable after all and will go outside.

So even at the age of coming up 15, it seems it's never too late to have a happy kittenhood.

And I still have half a bottle of Pet Remedy for the dog for firework season ... though last night some were going off and he never flinched, so who knows there may be another chapter in late life surprises!
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fjm
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Re: Molly's Big Adventure

Post by fjm »

Molly is amazing. She is obviously happy wherever you are, rather than bonded to a place - it would be lovely if her next years held green grass and sunshine and butterflies!
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