Not a regular Feline Friday photo gallery, since I’m still in a bed in the University of California San Francisco adult cancer hospital until late today or tomorrow.
But a few photos and a short tale about Bessie.
Bessie is calico #2. She joined our household a little over a year after Ms. Kali. Unlike our other three cats, she apparently didn’t spend much if any time living outdoors in a cat colony. She appears to have been someone’s cat that was dumped off at the top of Aiea Heights, but quickly spotted and pulled out by one of the colony caretakers who saw her potential for adoption.
We were the ones who adopted her. In hindsight, the problem is that she was never socialized into the mysterious ways of cat behavior learned in the colony by our other cats. So she has been picked on by the others, primarily Kinikini and Kali.
During the times of day they are out and about the house, Bessie has to tread very carefully because at any moment she might be chased under a chair or back into her spot on the top of storage shelves in our pantry/storeroom. But when Kali and Kinikini are putting in their required 18 hours of sleep each day, Bessie emerges and can enjoy being the temporary queen of the living room.
But there are limits. She rarely ventures into the hallway leading to our bedroom, and since her earliest days, does not voluntarily enter our bedroom. Kinikini and Kali both made it clear that the bedroom, and especially our bed, was their nonnegotiable territory. Claws flashed and fur flew, and Bessie learned the lesson.
Interestingly, things get turned around when we leave the house, and the cats, in the hands of our cat sitter. Kinikini hides and is rarely seen. Kali is standoffish at best. But Ms. Bessie is as social as can be, and quickly takes over the social spaces opened up when Kini and Kali retreat into the shadows.
Both Meda and I were shocked this week to receive a photo of Bessie sitting on our bed. Not simply exploring the bedroom, but sitting on our bed!
So there are bright spots to our absence and the resulting shakeup of feline social relations.
Bessie enjoying our bed!
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Very sweet photo of Bessie enjoying the glory of being on your bed… how interesting that the Kinikini and Kali hide out more in your absence. Maybe they feel less protected??? Cats are definitely their own people…. the how’s and why’s of their behavior always a mystery. Each of my many cats of the past were a treasured and fascinating members of the family – I really miss having one of my own these days. I’m sure its no fun for you and Meda to be so far away for such a long time.
With that in mind, I hope you get released today, Ian. Your food adventure is an unexpected component of recovery. I’ll be interested to know which foods become your favored over the next few weeks… hopefully normal consumption returns sooner than later. Hang in there! We’re all pulling for you ~
Kinikini totally reverts to cat colony habits. You hide from humans you don’t know. Kali is partially that way, but eventually
Emerges. And I think Kiko is like Kali, wary but willing to adapt.
I see… though all my cats were adopted, I never had one from a cat colony. Yours have done very well under your and Meda’s care. Bessie is so funny, sitting there as Queen for a Day!?
Enjoy your freedom today… so happy you’re being discharged, Ian?
Good for Bessie! We have a similar situation going on with our elder female cat seeming very jealous of our newest female addition, who is a stray whom I fed and provided with a heated sleeping box during last winter. After the New Year, she finally decided to accept my offer of indoor bedding & food. She quickly adapted to indoor life and has tried her best to befriend the elder female cat, who will have nothing to do with her. Both female cats get along splendidly with our elder male cat.
Hooray for Bessie! It’s her time to shine! Amazing how the cats all do a 180° switcheroo with the cat sitter. Bessie is sociable for company! Being of lowest seniority, I am just like her when I am at work. But I get my Bessie moments when the others are out of the office! LOL