Today, we felt confident enough (and she did too) to venture out of the room that we’d set aside for her. I have a bedroom at the front and the rear of the house – Her room is at the front.
We opened her door and opened the other bedroom door, and stood expectantly at the top of the stairs, to discourage her from going downstairs.
it was really interesting – she’d kinda run out, go so far, and then run back in again, to reassure herself that she still can. Each time she’d go a little further. She doesn’t seem to like the other room much either and even doesn’t seem to like the feel of a quilt – each time she jumps up onto the bed, she jumps off again!
Basil Brush has been my best friend since I arrived. He chose the highest place in the house and waited excitedly on top of the wardrobe for my arrival, knowing that that would be my place of refuge. I used to climb up there a lot at first to sit and snuggle with him when I felt scared or, sometimes, just so that I could watch everything happening below. Even when there was no table nearby, I could still find a way to jump onto the top of the wardrobe. This really foxed them! Didn’t they know I was a Bengal?! I now only go to see Basil on those rare occasions that my Dad gets the hoover out. I have told Basil that he should come and explore the rest of the house with me now that I can go everywhere, but so far, he’s stayed put.
Well, After a week of desperate waiting, and even a few days of counting hours, we finally set off on our journey to collect Freya from the RSPCA at Ashford. She seemed as beautiful as we’d remembered her and exceptionally friendly for a cat in as unfamiliar a place as a cat rescue centre.
After signing all the paperwork and putting her in her carry-cage, we walked out to the car to discover that Freya’s cute silence was just a ruse. She meowed loudly non stop for about 10 minutes, only pausing twice.
The first time she stopped meowing, (about 5 minutes into the 1 hr journey) I wondered what the rich smelling aroma was and looked over at her to see she’d dropped a handful(!) of poos on her brand-new cage-floor blanket! We stopped and I was so relieved to find a couple of tissues in the door pocket! Fortunately, they were firm and dry enough not to have made any real mess on the blanket. So I secretly disposed of the tissue-wrapped presents into a nearby bush, (Sorry Ashford council – it was an emergency!)
The second time she stopped mewing, (can you guess?) was to relieve herself. Now, you remember it was a brand-new blanket? Being brand-new, it wasn’t absorbent, as brand new material is… and luckily(?) it kind of just pooled in a fold of the blanket.
Do you remember I’d proudly found a couple of tissues, in the door pocket, earlier? right now, I needed those tissues again, and there weren’t any! but to cut a heart stopping moment short, we found some more tissues lying around on the floor of my not entirely tidy car.
So, with 2 out of 3 of her bodily functions fulfilled, we set off again.
The rest of the journey was pretty smooth, although her sweet meowing was beginning to make us anxious after 20 minutes, so Anna had the idea of putting a coat over her cage to make it darker, and less scarey for her. This really calmed her down, and she went pretty quiet for the rest of her journey.
