17 April 09
Boos, Boo-Boos, Barryous, Fuzzyous, Boobyous, etc.
Those are just a few of the nicknames that I’ve given to Tiberius. There are many others, but most of those are embarrassing to me. They would be embarrassing to him, though, if people knew he answered to them.
It’s been interesting adjusting to a one-cat household. But not as depressing as I thought it might be. The first day or two after Isabel passed, Boos was quieter and more withdrawn than normal. Sitting in or near the places where she’d spent most of the previous week or so. But it didn’t take long before he would walk into the living room and spend a few mintues sitting on the floor between us, completly unsure which lap to jump into withi his tail twitching and his little ears moving and his eyes looking oh so confused. As I tell my little friend Ella (aka, the Cutest Little Girl in the Whole Wide World), “Cats have tiny, tiny brains. They can’t think very hard.” Well, Boos has maxed out capacity on more than one occasion during the last few weeks.
There have been a few other behavior changes I’ve noticed. He’s far more affectionate now than he was even two months ago. If there is a lap, he will do anything to get into it. I think part of this is because now that he is alone during the day, he doesn’t get kitty cuddletime so we are expected to make up for that once we get home. I think the other part is that he’s realized he doesn’t have to second-guess sitting in a lap. If he sees a lap, it’s there and it belongs to him. That level of freedom is new to him.
He’s also talking a lot more than normal. A lot more than normal. He’s got a “broken voicebox” which doesn’t mean that anything happened to him, but he sounds like he’s constantly got laryngitis. Well, except for when we’re at the vet or when Andrew leaves while I’m still home. Not only is Boos talking more, but he’s completely adopted Isabel’s pattern of screaming when one of us leaves. Or if he wakes up in a room that he wasn’t alone in before, he’ll cry until we come to get him or call him from another room. It’s heartbreakingly charming and sweet. But, since Isabel, was alwasy the one in the family who had a comment for everything we’ve been joking that now Boos can finally get a word in edgewise.
Isabel was always the one to make sure we finally went to bed. She would sit in the door to the living room and slowly begin an escalation of meows before we finally said “Okay! Fine! We’re going to bed!” and then she would turn and wait for us in the bathroom for our evening shower/brushing teeth/etc. ritual. Now Tiberius is the one who is very gently letting us know that it has gotten to be “that time” and he would like to retire to his study, if we didnt’ mind. But he hasn’t quite started joining us for our bathroom evening rituals. I see it on the horizon. Isabel made sure that he knew he wasn’t allowed to come in, but now that things are different, he’s curious and still timid.
He’s also testing the limits of what we will forbid him to do. I was cooking last weekend and turned around to see him sitting on the conter sniffing the carton of eggs. He’s never done that before. And when I pointed to the floor and firmly said “Down” which normally would make him jump like a cat with its tail on fire, he just stared at me for a minute before gentling walking across the entire counter and then jumping to the floor. During dinner he sits in a chair beside me to watch us eat. And occasionaly he’ll sit at the end of the table while we eat. It’s such a long table that we’re okay with him sitting at one far end. Well, lately he’s been pushing how quickly and how close he can sneak toward us. He’s been grabbing my elbow as I eat. If he could tilt his head and batt his eyelashes, he’d be doing that, too. He’s a charmer and he knows it. At least now.
So he’s still my sweet and fuzzy boy. He still prefers my company to Andrew’s, although I see that starting to change. He still wont’ sit on the blanket in the window seat but he’ll sit beside the blanket on the window seat. if the blanket is anywhere else, he’ll sit on it. But not in the window, cause that was emphatically her spot. And he is still worried every morning that we’re going to take him to the vet so he runs and hides every day before we leave for work. I don’t know entirely what goes on in his little brain, but I know he’s thinking about stuff for sure. And I also know if this summer ends up as hot as I think it will, I’m going to be taking him in to get a lion cut again. He didn’t seem to care two summers ago. And since he is older and less able to control his body heat than when he was a kitten, I think he might appreciate it. At least once we stop laughing at him he will appreciate it.
Comments
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It’s nice to read how things are changing and adapting. I’m glad things are going well despite your loss.
And you should totally get the lion cut…it’s so awesome on cats!
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so cute.
when we had two dogs and one died, there was the opposite reaction. for three weeks, sullivan was like YES I AM NOW QUEEN OF THE HOUSE. but then she apparently got over that and got all depressed and lonely.
— carolyn on Apr 22, 06:57 am
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