Savannah's Paw Tracks

Sunday Hopefulness…

HIYA!! SAVANNAH HERE!!!

Have you ever noticed that sometimes our humans’ have all kinds of ‘hopefulness’…for us, the cat(s)?  I mean, they often don’t even let us know they have this ‘hopefulness’…for us…on their minds.

Nice morning in bed

Maybe it’s just me…but I think that can lead to all kinds of miscommunication, misunderstandings and what not…don’t ‘cha think?? Or is it just me???

Well you all know I have been having to do some investigating…about several things…

• First…there were some rumors around blogville that made it sound like my furriends thought I might miss having Cuzin Leo around…and they were feeling a tad sad I was all alone…so I had to go check out who thought that and make sure they knew…”nope, nope and more nope”…don’t miss Cuzin Leo at all…happy he has his very OWN furrever castle…thank you very much…so ’nuff said on that rumor
• Then…there have been these recurring shadows around my home…some of you have seen the evidence in some of my photos…so I had to get out my steampunk investigative tools to try to learn what that was all about…what I learned…not pretty…no siree…not pretty at all.

So as the saying goes…”who ya gonna call…if there’s something strange in your neighborhood??”…why our peeps, of course!!! Right???

Wrong…when I finally brought all my findings to Mom and Dad…guess what they tried to do?…go on…guess…guess???…you won’t believe it…I am telling you…not for one itty bitty minute…you so won’t believe what they tried to do…one last ditch effort on their part…

They tried to pass off the shadows, the rumors…etc. as if it was all about…get this…SANTA PAWS!!! Like ‘as if’ Santa Paws was right here in my home!!! HAH!

And then they did it…they presented their evidence…

Seriously? Santa Paws??

Yup…there was Dad…holding this stoopid plushie black panfur kitty and saying it was “Santa Paws”…harruuummmppfffff….

And then…that plushie moved!!!

It can leap!!

…

It’s in my Three Way Teleport Tunnel!!!

…

Playing with my toys!!

Holy Ceiling Cat!!! They were hoping I would want a SISFUR!!!! AIIIEEEEEEEE!!! Who asked me??? Who, I ask, who????

Now I realized that Mom and Dad had been trying to get me all softened up for this “great new adventure”…heh…heh…yeah…like whose adventure is this gonna be???

Here is some of the photo evidence I have collected as to just WHAT I have been subjected to over the last 6 weeks…

…first…I began to notice someone had been messing around near one of my beds…(you can click to bigify OR see each gallery as a slideshow…hover cursor over photos to see captions)

hmmm…something isn’t right

Strange smell…

what is that?

It’s on the door…

huh…wonder if…???…naw!!!

…I set up a surveillance camera…look what I found…

ohhh…nice

Wonder who lives here?

Nice bed…

Just my size…

Already comes with fragrance..

This is when I just knew this was no “shadow“…HAH! Can’t fool a Tuxie, no way…no how…

So one morning…minding my own business in bed…just chilling with Mom…

Up periscope…

Is there something I outta know?

hmmm…that smell…

Aiiee…airplane ears all around

Now I knew…this was no mirage or shadow…this was INVASION!!!….so there has been a lot of this…

Sneaking up…

Discovered!!

Stopped!

…and this…just look at her…sneaking up on me in my very own special TENT my mentor Sammy taught me how to use….harummpppfff….

Entry…

Thinking I don’t know she is there

There have been some relaxed times…when I feel especially safe with Mom by me…

She can play over there

ok, she can nap on that side

fine, fine…on the floor

Sigh…I am not a very happy cat right now…so I am gonna give this last bit over to Mom Linda…

“errrrr….ummmm…Hi Everyone…Mom Linda here.  So here is what is going on.  Dad Peter and I believe in everything about Pets Add Life….more than one is always more fun and usually more comforting for both humans and our furry furramily.   And we committed that if we EVER adopted another cat, besides Savvy, it would be a black panfur.  We have looked, researched, waited…and learned…it doesn’t matter what gender, nor age,  the companion feline is, what counts most is the personality when it comes into contact with the resident feline.  Especially when that resident feline is Savannah…an adult survivor of kittenhood trauma…I am not mocking the real challenges of Adult Survivors of Childhood Trauma…rather using what I know, as a counseling psychologist, as I work with Savannah who so mirrors many of the human challenges of moving through to recovering from this early child/kitten experience.

I have been trying to chronicle our Nana’s recovery process.  She has nightmares, cries out in her sleep, mews like a newborn kitten and seeks solace at my side. We have conferred with many long time feline experts…and they, like us, are convinced that Nana was feral early in life, most likely attacked by males cats in a feral colony for mating…hence she has such developed shoulder and neck muscle…and she is terrified of other cats…convinced they are out to harm her.  She has little to no self esteem/self confidence. She only defends and hopes to escape.

Sweet Sage, so pure and innocent…perhaps one of the most well socialized cats we have ever been around. She is about 17 months old…mellow…non-confrontational in the beginning…but now learning she can dominate Nana.  So sad.

We have not talked about this effort on our part on the blog…we did not want to have others have the same hope we have had…that Nana could accommodate a housemate. We have done all the Feliway, Spirit of Essence, behavioral consults, book readings…consultations with cat vet specialists and long time feral cat rescue folks etc.  Trust me, we have not missed any homework.

But…we are not convinced that Nana can survive having another cat in her safe space.  She is truly a special need feline…psychologically/behaviorally speaking.  We honor her and her willingness to give us her trust to protect her.

We have not yet ‘thrown in the towel’ so to speak…but want you all to know what has been going on in our home.

Thank you all for continuing to come by and visit Savannah even when I have not been able to consistently visit and comment for all of you.  This has been very time consuming to manage the girls’ integration process with the care we want to give it.  You are such good friends and a wonderful supportive community.  Thank you for your care and understanding.

Paw Pats from Savannah, Head bonks from Sage and grateful humility from Mom Linda and Dad Peter.