Happy Paul-iversary

Yesterday was our one year anniversary of adopting Paul.  He was such a worried little kitty.  

He had been born at the shelter and adopted as a kitten.  He was returned to the shelter after 11 months for being too active.  He’d been there over year before we found him.  The husband wanted him because he was cleaning himself when he first saw him and personal hygiene is important.  He was also hanging out with a calico in the cat room and he figured that was good practice for living with Powder.

It took him a long time to get comfortable.  Every step was a hard one.  He hid in a closet for weeks and then under the bed for longer.  We knew when he started coming out at night because he was finding cat toys under couches and bringing them out to play.

After a while he’d come out but wouldn’t come into the living room.  He’d sit at the doorway and look in.  I’m assuming it was a Powder rule that he wasn’t welcome.  Now he hangs out in the living room with us.  The final frontier was the bed.

This was this morning.  Now he has his own designated space during reading time.

He’s a thief.  He takes anything he can.  Let’s not forget the Fitbit incident.  He loves to steal ear plugs.  He plays with them and then leaves them for Freckles to eat.  We’ve been getting better about putting the ear plugs in drawers.  The other day I heard Freckles crunching on something and she didn’t seem happy.  Turns out Paul had bit the earbuds off a pair of headphones and fed them too her.  She didn’t like this new type of crunchy ear candy.  I got them from her before she ate them.

He tries so hard to be tough but Powder still steals his food if we don’t watch.  The other day Freckles jumped up on the bed and laid down partially on top of him.  He was so offended.  He took a second to psych himself up.  Then he puffed himself has big as he could and hissed right in her face.  She was asleep already and didn’t react.  He was so sad.  He looked over at me.  I commiserated with him.  “It’s hard being a bad ass when no one notices.”

Here’s to seeing what else you decide to do now that you are comfortable.