I just went to the kitchen. Matt is cooking food in the oven tonight so I (helpful as ever) have put those out for him - he says I'm much better at tesselating food than he is
As I went into the conservatory (no, you still may not ask why our fridge-freezer is in the conservatory
) I decided to stop off and natter at Ninja for a bit so he could get some cuddles. The night before last he came into the lounge while I was in bed, and Matt didn't see him and decided to close the door, so Ninja ran off out of the lounge and the door (which was already in motion, Matt just meant to push it shut from the sofa) knocked into him. So I was sort of worried as to how he'd recover from that!
He got very loud and purry and cuddly, and even reached out a paw to me and made as if to get up to climb on me
And that's not even the bit I'm having the most trouble believing!
He came into the kitchen while I was setting out the foods, and stayed about 2 feet from me (from my
feet, my dangerous scary-looking evil feet!
) and then when I crouched and held out my hand he came in for a cuddle.
Matt had never seen this so I called him softly (he was in the study, there's a window between study and window as it's actually meant to be a dining room) and he got up from his desk to look (through the window). I was paying full attention to Ninja again, to make sure he didn't get spooked if Matt misunderstood and came barrelling down the hall
All I heard was "Oh, WOW!" and then Matt went into the lounge... To get my camera
You can see why I love him! Unfortunately the pictures aren't very good as he took them from down the hall. He advanced very slowly and very carefully, but when he got to the end of the hall he said "I don't want to come any closer and risk freaking him out" and went back to put the camera next to my computer (he knows me
so well
).
Here you go:
Awful, crappy picture from all the way down the hall, but you can finally see him being relaxed and happy to be petted
No, I am
not pulling his tail there
Honest!
And from the end of the hall, almost in the kitchen...
And you won't thank me for it, but that's
still not what I'm having so much trouble believing! Although I'm glad Matt finally got to see what I mean when I come into the lounge and say "Ninja just came for cuddles in the kitchen", and that I can show you lot some pictures of how truly gorgeous he is when he's relaxed...
I then decided to feed him as I was in the kitchen anyhow (and perhaps, feeding him when he'd just done all the cuddling might teach him that being cuddled is a good thing - although he seems to be learning on his own!) and got a pouch of catfood. I showed it to him (as I always do
and ask in an up-his-own-a**e maitre d' voice "It's an excellent vintage, sah"
... We do get prizes for being the weirdest catlady, right?) and he trundled about 3 feet from my feet, turned around and meowed at me (an actual full, perfectly normal meow - I think he just needed time to find his voice, bless his socks!). I walked forward (taking small steps and moving at a not-quite-snail's pace that was comfortable but not nearly normal speed) and he turned, walked (
walked, did not
run ) until he was 3 feet from me again (bear in mind I kept walking all through this so basically the space between us did keep getting smaller), turned around, meowed a bit, walked a bit further... On and on. Then when he was in the correct spot to jump onto his ledge, he meowed a few times, shifted to the side, meowed... Let me get VERY close!
Then he ran up a roll of carpeting that's leaned against his ledge and got into eating position. He shoved my hand out of the way with his head when the pouch was nearly empty, and then when I trailed a finger below his ear and down his neck he pushed against it but didn't flinch at all (I think someone might have used food to trap him before, it took him a really long time to let anyone near him while he was eating even if he was ravenous).
Also, in the first picture you can see me sitting crouched next to him - well when Matt turned to go bring the camera back to the lounge I stood up and Ninja went to the door opening (he's not so keen on the people-becoming-bigger bit
), and then I sat down on a straight-backed wooden kitchen chair and called him back, and he trundled back and forth within an inch of my feet (even had to step over my toes a few times!) to get me to pet him!
Ok, that was
long...
I am so happy he's getting better, and I'm just. SO. PROUD!
It's so incredibly satisfying to know all those months and months of hard work are paying off at last... There's just something so rewarding and joy-inspiring about seeing him walked back and forth in front of me, finding my hand for cuddles time and time again.
