Rub my tummy?

Rub my tummy?

Rolling on her back and exposing her fluffy tummy, TBS seems to be asking, “Rub my tummy?”  Is she nuts?  It would be like taking my life in my hands to reach down and rub her tummy the way she has been acting these past three weeks.  Even when she is more normal it is not a good idea to rub her tummy.  It is an invitation to a wrestling match with sharp cat teeth and hind claws.  Her teeth may be small but they are exceedingly sharp.  Bob has experienced that first hand as she bit through ski gloves without a problem last time we tried this moving idea.

What?  You don’t trust me?

The good news is that today I think we may have made the break through that we have been waiting for.  TBS greeted me at the door with purrs and nice mews, followed me to the feeding station, and got immediately down to eating her breakfast.  No growling while eating or glaring at me with whirling eyes.  (The growling while eating would be pretty funny if it were not so menacing sounding.)  No screams, hissing, or other unpleasant activities.  Following her meal she allowed me to pet her and even encouraged me to do so.  Amazing!  She still won’t jump up on my lap but that might be coming before too much longer. 

Bob, however, remains part of the evil dark side and gets snarls, hisses and growls when he tries to be friendly with her.  It is strange because I have all along thought that she prefers him to me even though she has known me longer.  I think this is because he has not been going and sitting with her as much as I have.  But given the improvement in her behavior I feel much more confident that she will come around in the next few days and be happy to see both of us.* 

The unfortunate part is that now that she is no longer expending so much energy screaming and trying to take us down she hovers by the door wanting to escape when it opens so she can get into the rest of the house.  Not going to happen (we hope).  It will probably be another month of confinement for her until we can move back south and offer her more freedom. 

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*More good news--this afternoon Bob tried sitting in the rocker for just a few minutes and experienced no nasty sounds or actions from TBS.  Things are definitely looking better.