Catching up

[days_unfolding]

Too busy to post. Yesterday I was at work from 10 AM to about 1:30AM, except for food breaks. Anyway, here's a brief recap:

• The second set of construction workers never did show up on Thursday. For that matter, the homeowners' rep never called me back, and the paint that someone stored in my garage is still there.
  
• The construction management called and said that the city is coming in to inspect the smoke alarms on Tuesday, and that "you probably want to be there." They said that it would take about 5 minutes, but they didn't know what time they'd be there. Sigh.
  
• Harlee decimated her food last night, both the moist food and a lot of the dry food. She's still under the bed (except for one night when she came out when she thought I was asleep, realized I wasn't, and hid behind the bedside table).
  
• I'm getting a lot done at work.
  
• I'm taking a drug holiday from the Risperdal, at least for today and maybe tomorrow. My body needs a chance to bounce back.

Like the nut that I am, I surfed a bunch of web sites about taming feral cats after I got home last night. (I was trying to get insight on how to work with Harlee.) Among other things, bandicoot, they say that feral kittens should be taken away from their mother at about 4 - 6 weeks. Anyway, they say that feral kittens bond closely with the first human that they encounter, but that they don't necessarily associate other humans as the same type of creature. Furthermore, the stress of moving the cat to a new location can also set them back. (That explains why Harlee is acting as if I was a predator.) They said to keep the cat in a small room, and not to keep the cat in a bedroom because they often hide under the bed and refuse to come out. Moving the cat out from under the bed stresses him or her out. (Oops. I should have put Harlee in my home office. I don't think that I'll move her right now, though, because she seems to be calming down.) Having another cat to model domestic cat behavior can help. (I've got to find a way to get Random and Harlee face-to-face.) And, of course, food is important. (I don't know if Harlee realizes that I'm feeding her or not, but she needs to.) They suggested that I put a shirt with my scent on it near the food.

Addendum: Oh, and apparently staring at a cat is an aggressive gesture. No wonder that the shelter cats were getting perturbed when I looked at them.

Comments

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing these are about a month old. At this point, I doubt I'm going to be able to capture them or even work with them much, as [censored] Mousie has moved them somewhere.

If I could get them, I have a box in a small office I'd put them in. I set it up in case Mousie wanted to come inside at any point to have them or move them in, but she never showed any interest in it.

However, I control the food, and food is the ultimate taming weapon. So I know I'll prevail in the end, but I just wish she'd make it a little easier. Silly overprotective first-time mother ;)

[days-unfolding.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

Re:

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I'll need it ;)

[days-unfolding.livejournal.com]

I know I'll prevail in the end, but I just wish she'd make it a little easier. Exactly how I feel about Harlee right now.