We took a step backward with Ninja again.

[Snoof]

I've not been around much lately - buried in work and I've had a bad flare-up of a chronic illness. Sorry about that. I hope you're all well (and the kitties too of course).

About two weeks ago, the MD of my boyfriend's company started reorganising the house (which is the company's HQ, pretty much) and accidentally threw away Ninja's pillow. He didn't understand how important it was at the time and felt (and feels, poor lad) very bad about it. He also took apart the conservatory (where my boyfriend and his housemate stashed a lot of crap that could do with throwing away) and uncovered a hidey hole Ninja'd been using (which has since been reinstated; he's also been given a new nest in the place his pillow used to be).

For the past two weeks, we've barely seen anything of Ninja (mind you, he then spent a lot of time rearranging the garage and generally being in Ninja's way, so it's not that surprising - but it really did need to be done). He wasn't even eating his food for about the first week (however, a lady down the road feeds him too, so we weren't too worried about him starving - I was really worried about him not coming back though!).

After about a week, however, his food started disappearing mysteriously again () and I started feeling less wasteful about still putting fresh food out twice a day (hey, I wasn't going to stop feeding him, but I also wasn't going to make him eat old food, was I?). Then yesterday a big long-haired red cat (like the colour of the darker stripes on very dark ginger tabbies - gorgeous cat) tried to get into the conservatory to eat Ninja's food, but the MD scared it off when he saw (looks very well-fed and he wanted Ninja's domain to stay Ninja's!) and I felt kind of sad again, thinking maybe that cat's been eating the food and Ninja's still not on his way back, but yesterday my boyfriend saw him eat (he ran away when he heard my boyfriend, but it was definitely Ninja) and just now he said when he went to put the milk in the fridge Ninja was on the doormat in the conservatory and stayed while he put the milk away (which is pretty amazing given he would've had to be very close to feet) but ran away when he turned around to go back into the kitchen.

Phew. That was a long story.

We've postponed kittens again, as well as the vet visit because there's no way I'd be able to put him into the carrier in this situation. However, the animal rescue is hard to get to from our house, and our friend N has told me that when we do want to go, all I have to do is give him a ring and he'll drive us there and back home

I'm just glad my little boy's coming back again. It seems nowadays, when he gets a fright (like when I walked into him) it takes him about two weeks to get over it. Certainly beats 10 months when we first got him, so I'm very hopeful that eventually he'll be able to lead a normal life. I think he's always going to be skittish of strangers, but I'm hoping he'll be able to learn to trust the people who're here most often and realise that we love him as much as we do.

[dinahsmum]

Sorry it's taken so long to reply. I spotted your post when I was looking in a rush, but made a mental note to answer it....................that mental note was lost beneath my brain cell until now!

Poor Ninja, losing his security pillow . However, despite all his traimas it sounds as though he is (very slowly) coming around.

Best of luck with him

[Snoof]

Hey DM, no worries

He's just decided to accept his new nest (pictures to follow!) and has since decided I can pet him all I want when he's in it again. And my word, he's gotten hold of the Feed-me-stare again... The only time he used it previously was when I'd broken my right wrist and Matt had to feed him. Because he wasn't used to it I had to poke him to remind him, and when I forgot to do so promptly (breakfast- and dinnertime on the dot ) Ninja came and found me to give me his most penetrating stare

He's doing it at night, now! I feed him wet food in the morning when I get up, and once more in the early evening. He has dry food all day long in case he gets peckish. Only now when I go to get a drink in the late evening, he'll sit by the door and give me that look

I think the fact that it's taking him relatively little time to recover from trauma nowadays means he's really coming round and getting round to understanding that we're not here to make his life hell. And M has certainly learned his lesson about throwing out hair-covered pillows, so hopefully this will never happen again!