Things were tense when we first had them meet face to face but they got downright ugly one late Saturday night/Sunday morning when they formed the "little ball of fierce cat hate". So we separated them and decided that each cat deserved a good home. During the week that followed, the Awesome Boyfriend created a "free to a great home" flyer and I took multiple photos of Shiloh and said helpful things like "look friendly" while she vogued for the camera.
I also asked for the advice of various "cat" people, basically just to make sure that we'd done the right thing. The resounding polite response was "no, actually, ya' didn't". It seemed to everyone that we'd rushed it. We saw things were going well and we pushed too hard. Slowly we both agreed that we'd try again.
I had more hope this time that things would go well or, at least, better. For five days, Shiloh lived in the office while Tabby continued to have the run of the house. I kept hoping that Tabby would at least seem somewhat curious as to why the door was staying shut but - honestly - it appeared that she couldn't have cared less. I wasn't sure this was a great thing - I wouldn't have minded seeing a little more interaction under the door - but I wasn't gonna push my luck.
This past Friday, Shiloh had a vet appointment. This would be her final scheduled follow-up visit from when they'd first seen her a month prior - when she weighed just over 7 1/2 lbs, was feverish and trying to recover from having kittens. It was surreal the difference that just a few weeks of food, attention, and care had made. Not only had she outgrown the kitty carrier that was less than a month old, but she managed to gain close to 4 lbs! Her coat, eyes, whiskers and attitude have all just thrived.
Boosted by our success, when the Awesome Boyfriend came home this past Friday, I opened the door to let Shiloh join us. I don't know that I can say we held our breath, but I know that I was far more on edge than last time we'd tried this.
Well, we've so far done alright. There is still the occasional hissing and spitting, and Tabby clearly doesn't like how Shiloh follows her every move, but at least Tabby isn't hiding under the bed for hours at a time. We've also learned that Shiloh doesn't understand boundaries (human OR feline) so if you don't want her to follow you into the bathroom or downstairs, you'd best close the door as soon as you can. For the next few weeks, she'll continue to sleep alone in the office at nights, just to give us all a little peace, and we'll make sure that one of us is here when they're both roaming about but maybe, just maybe we DID find her a loving home.
So for Thanksgiving this year, I'm pretty sure that we all need to thank Tabby, for giving us a second chance.
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