MORE IN THE LIFE OF THE CALICO CAT

We've now had Candy with us for five weeks and I doubt any cat has settled down as well as this one has.  It's truly as though she's been with us forever.  She is so gentle and nothing seems to upset her at all.   I may have mentioned our lovely cleaning lady has a phobia about cats so with Precious she was fine as Precious would run outside until Jenny had gone, but Candy comes in and looks as though she may jump on Jenny's lap.  We make sure she doesn't of course (I don't think she actually would do so) and all is well.  Each fortnight I've managed to have Jenny stroke Candy's head while I am holding her (Candy that is) and today Jenny actually spent longer doing it so I am hoping with such a gentle little cat we may be able to help lessen Jenny's cat phobia.  Strangely enough Jenny's mum (back in the UK) also has a cat phobia but far worse apparently as Jenny said her mum would actually scream if a cat came into the room she was in.  I am not happy with spiders or thunderstorms so can understand what it is like to be afraid of something but am ever so thankful I've always loved having a cat in my life.

When the four weeks were up we let her out last Thursday and she was all over the garden sniffing and investigating everything.  She disappeared for a while and we were worried but after about an hour back she came and lay down under the patio for a rest.   I can't teach her to use the cat door though, which is a problem.  I partly open it and let her push herself through it but she's not keen and up till now we've propped it open with a little tack hammer I have so she can get back in the house, or out again if she wants to go out.  Just how I am going to make her push that little door open I am not sure.  I leave it unbolted and she will sit in front of it but make no effort to go through it.  Hopefully one day she will want/need to go out so much she will just do it.  We can only hope.  It is locked late afternoon and she stays in until about 9 or 10 a.m. next day.

This calico cat of ours seems to have a plastic bag fetish.  No matter how well I hide them she finds them and brings them to me with a little miaow as she drops them at my feet.   Once she's done that she loses interest in them.  They are those small see through plastic bags one keeps vegies in and when I am cooking dinner and there is an empty one I will pop it in a bowl next to where I'm working to either save or put in the recycle bin.  I've even hidden these bags beneath another large item in the bowl but she still finds them.  She found two yesterday and brought them to me and I can't help smiling when she does it as she looks so serious.  At least if I ever lose a plastic bag I can be sure Candy will find it for me.  Today she actually found one of the larger plastic shopping bags and that had to also be brought to me as a gift.

Candy has 'discovered' her scratching post and uses it to scratch (which we are pleased about), to play with the 'mouse' that hangs from it and also to sit on and look out of the front window.  She sometimes mistakes her own tail for the 'mouse' and it's hilarious to see her chasing her tail and the mouse in turn. You'd think she'd topple of but she never misses a beat.

"Now I've lost both of them"

 "You're taking my photo again aren't you?"

 I've not had to buy her any toys.  She loves pages out of our TV Times rolled up in a tight ball to chase, and the toilet roll or paper towel innards cut into smaller pieces.  She picks them up in her mouth or her paws, throws them up in the air and I feel she'd qualify for the Olympics with some of the gymnastic exercises she performs.  She is a pure delight to watch.  Here she is watching me taking her photo but you can see the roll of paper near her that she had been playing with.

"I know you think I'm photogenic and I'll pose for you any time you want me to"

There's still not been a night when she's not slept on the foot of Phil's bed.  Thirty five nights in a row without fail.  Seems I am the one she sits on in the afternoon and evening but it's Phil's bed she prefers at night. There are nights when it's too warm for Phil to have the eiderdown on so he folds it back and then during the night when he feels cold he has to pull it back up.  Nothing seems to upset Candy though as she just resettles and is back to sleep in a few moments.

I still look at her and think to myself that this is the cat I saw on the Facebook page of APS and my daughter had already fallen in love with her photograph (the first one on this page) as I did, and now here she is here living with us.  We feel it was meant to be as when we visited APS she stayed with us nearly all the time until we took her home.  Candy we are all so glad you liked us and are happy with us.