Robin Olson's blog

I've often wondered if the celebrity “experts” I see on television actually know what they're talking about or if they rely on a bevy of knowledgeable scriptwriters.

Today, I was given the opportunity to answer that question-at least in the case of Dr. Katrina Warren, BVSc (that's Australian for: Bachelor of Veterinary Science)-the smart and beautiful Celebu-Vet who comes to the aid of two cat-loving families during each episode of her show: Cat Chow's® Housecat Housecall®, which has just began airing it's Third Season on Animal Planet® on June 5th.

Dr. Warren, along with her associates, Dr. Karen Sueda and Dr. Rich Goldstein, help families understand how to create a better environment for their cats or help them solve curious cat behavior issues. (subliminal message to Dr. Katrina: HELP! PLEASE COME TO MY HOUSE! I NEED HELP!)

Dr. Katrina Warren, courtesy of Purina® Cat Chow® & Animal Planet®.

I was graciously granted a phone interview with Dr. Warren from her home in Australia. Did I want to skip my questions about the Third Season of her show and ask her about living in Australia or if she knows Nicole Kidman? YES! Did I want to know if she would invite me to come visit her or better yet, could she come to my house and SAVE ME FROM MY EIGHT ANNOYING CATS WHO REFUSED TO LET ME SLEEP BECAUSE THEY WERE HUNGRY, SO THEY WOKE ME UP AT 5:00 AM?

YES!

But I'm a professional, so I asked a few, more appropriate questions, but I really wanted some dirt. (Okay, I wanted to ask how she could marry someone named: “Mr. Darcy” in 2006 and not live happily ever after with him? Sadly, the marriage did not last beyond two years. Also, how could you NOT want to STAY married to a lovely person WHO IS A VET??? Come on!!)

During our interview, we discussed the upcoming season of Cat Chow's, Housecat Housecalls (try to say that on the air, by the way-what a tongue twister!). We also discussed proper nutrition (you KNEW I would have to go there, but I did so delicately, at least, this time), we also talked about how to handle the death of a pet, weird pet behaviors (stealing clothing) and how we can all do our part to help Dr. Warren in her quest for cats to live better lives.

If you don't get a chance to listen to the interview, there are two things you should know:

1. Dr Warren is delightful. She knows what she's talking about and is willing to open up to discuss any aspect of cat health or behavior. Of course, she loves dogs, too and it broke my heart to find out she still mourns over the death, at age 14, of her beloved dog, Toby, who passed away in January of this year. Our condolences on your loss!

2. This is so surprising and fantastic and terrible (because we can't say that about the USA)...AUSTRALIA HAS A 98% COMPLIANCE TO SPAY/NEUTER THEIR ANIMALS. Dr. Warren said it was almost unheard of for people to have kittens to give away. While we didn't have time to discuss how they handle “Bush-cats” (Feral), the idea that an entire country can get behind Spay/Neuter makes my heart swell. We MUST achieve a goal like that here in the USA!

If you'd like to hear our chat, feel free to listen to the audio, below. Keep in mind it was 8 AM EST here and 10PM for Dr. Warren. That we could have a conversation that made any sense at either of those times is just shy of amazing.

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW HERE

A BIG “Thank You” to Dr. Katrina Warren, for her time and expertise. It was a pleasure speaking with her. Cat Chow’s, Housecat Housecall will air Saturdays at 10:30am E/P and Sundays at 8am E/P this summer on Animal Planet.

(another subliminal message to Dr. Katrina: HELP! PLEASE COME TO MY HOUSE! MY CATS ARE DRIVING ME CRAZY! MR. DARCY...HIS LOSS!)

I hate June.

I'm sorry. I'm sure some of you were born in June or celebrate their wedding anniversary in June, but to me, June sucks.

June means death: two of my cats and my Father. For some reason, there's a black cloud over me in June. I feel myself hunkering down as Memorial Day approaches, fearful of what is next. Is there really a reason for June being so bad? It's probably just coincidence, but riddle me this, Batman...

...It's barely June. I've been sick with some sort of stomach funk since the 1st. It waxes and wanes. I'm slowly getting better, but still feel run down and just want to sleep. My gut aches and I feel very queasy.

I just found out my dear Uncle died. He died in May, but I didn't find out until over a week later via E-MAIL! I didn't even get a chance to go to his funeral.

This weekend the TV in the living room died. It makes this sad siren-y noise if you try to power it up. The screen is cold and black. I don't smoke. I rarely drink. I watch too much TV. I have a TV in my bedroom. It's not the end of the world, but I HAVE NO TV IN MY LIVING ROOM! WHAT WILL I DO AT NIGHT WHEN WE HAVE DINNER? WE WATCH TV AND EAT. YES, I KNOW IT'S WRONG, BUT I'M HUMAN. I HAVE MY FAULTS. I should read or write more or be a better citizen, but I LOVE MY CRAPPY TV SHOWS! I also don't want to shell out a lot of money to get a NEW TV because we will have to get an HD TV and that will mean a big HEADACHE. Many of the components will have to be upgraded to HD OR we can just sit in the bedroom forever.

To break the curse of June, I decided to F-it, go further into debt and buy a new TV. We went to Best Buy yesterday and got a BIG flat screen tv (we currently have a dead 36" big behemoth non-HD TV). I'm already imagining the cats urinating on it and already planning how I will keep them from doing that (SSScats-which I highly recommend! and YELLING-which only feels good to me, and perhaps, is not the best idea for the cat).

Next, we will have to build a cheapy stand for the TV, which no doubt will cause at least one scowl per person and Sam will get mad at me because I tell him how to do it and he can fix it without me "helping" (except that it will be done the "wrong way"). Then we will have to de-wire the jungle of cables from the TV, VCR, TIVO, Cable Box, Pre-Amp, Amp, Cassette deck (yes we STILL have one, but it's going "away"), CD-Player (why bother we have iPods), TURNTABLE (gasp!) and Sub-Woofer.

Whatever happened to buying a tv, sitting it on a plastic milk crate, plugging it in, adjusting the antenna and watching it? Okay, the picture sucked.

And NO, we did not buy a 3D TV. Are you crazy? I just know that one day there is going to be a study out that says those TVs mess up your vision, not to mention it makes me nauseous to see too much 3D. Life is too 3D for me.

On the way home, a severe thunderstorm hit. I had to go get the car, so I ran in the pouring rain, got the car, picked Sam up. I was soaked. Two seconds later, the clouds parted and the sky was blue! Great.

I had to back road it home. Something happened on Route 34 and the traffic was at a standstill.

Our power went OUT. So we tried to look at the bright side. We LEFT home and went to the movies. We saw “Get Him to the Greek,” which was funny and tender (okay maybe not so tender, but funny). By the time we got home, CL&P had showed up and fixed the problem! Things were looking up!

So I powered up my computer. I have a 2TB (terabyte, which is oodles bigger than gigabyte) backup system. It contains 4 hard drives. Guess what wasn't working?

I stayed up until 3AM trying to fix the problem to no avail. All my precious kitten photos, all my client files, all gone. I was lucky that I have all the original files and only lost the backup, but the BACKUP is what is not supposed to FAIL! But it's JUNE, so remember that.

I got on the phone with tech support at Drobo. Jeremy helped me. He was VERY helpful and terrific, even when I said “shit” after he told me there was no saving the data and we'd have to reformat all four drives. In the end, one of the four drives was starting to fail and two of the newer drives were installed BEFORE I did a "firmware" (whatever that is) update, which caused a very slow corruption of how the files were written. Now that the drives are reformatted, everything should work well, other than the one drive that I'm doing to pitch into the back yard.

Now I need to spend MORE money to get a new drive. Fun.

It is June 7th. Twenty three more days to go. Maybe it's just the luck of the draw. Some bad stuff that will work itself out? No worries. Right?

Not so sure about that.

Oh yeah. I'm supposed to write about CATS!

The cats, knock wood, are doing well and I have very happy news about Candy which I will share tomorrow---after I share my news that tomorrow morning I'll be interviewing Dr. Katrina Warren of Animal Planet's Housecat Housecall!

It should be a fun interview, so make sure you check back in tomorrow for an update! Hopefully it will go well, but remember, it's June.

Nick and Nora. Sam's cats. These two cats are just about the biggest cats I've ever seen. Nicky is not even fat, he's just gigantic. Nora, well, she's slowly slimming down, but still kinda-sorta looks like a baby seal at the right angle.

Well, it's Sunday, folks, a perfect day for a long snuggle with the kitties, maybe read a good book with a cup of tea or coffee? Maybe a ripped, shirtless, guy would bring me some donuts, while I'm relaxing? Maybe he would also rub my feet for at least two hours (per foot). Then he would clean the house and prepare an elegant, delicious meal for me to enjoy, before he LEAVES.

Ah, Sunday. A day for dreams.

From today's Adoption Event...Some little scaredy-kittens. I'm not sure, but I think these guys could be Candy's siblings. Don't they look related? Regardless, enjoy the cuteness!

We appreciate toothbrushes for helping socialize feral kittens!

A week has passed. Little Candy is doing very well. I must say the big key was using the toothbrush on her, instead of that giant hairbrush. I notice that kittens are easily frightened by large objects and pretty much everything is bigger than they are, so keeping that in mind is important.

When I sacrificed my only good wooden spoon and taped the toothbrush to it, that was the breakthrough. Candy reacted VERY well to being brushed, even though she hissed as I did it. She'd quickly forget to hiss a few moments later because she felt so good being touched. I also used the toothbrush as a toy and I rubbed the bristles against the newspaper or paper plates so she'd come up to me when she heard the sound.

Well, hello Candy. I see you're SITTING ON MY LAP NOW!

I'm not sure how wise this is, but I just started petting Candy even though she was still hissing. She showed me no aggression and has not bitten or scratched me once (knock wood). I believe her instinctual fear reaction is hissing, but I'm not taking it personally. I just pick her up, pet her, rub her belly. She purrs very quickly and seems relaxed and excited to be out of the crate during our training time. I can even pick her up and she doesn't fuss much.

Candy explores her cat carrier.

Last night I let Candy roam around half of the foster room. She ran, hopped like a bunny, chased toys, sniffed and sniffed everything she could. She also hissed at me, which gave me pause, but moments later, instead of hiding, which is what I feared, she came over and I was able to put her back into her crate-for which she hissed and walked off calmly, then began to cry because she was bored or lonely or both.

I don't know why the obvious is so foreign to me, but I just realized that fostering is full of feeling bad. Not just saying good bye to your ward or worrying about their health, but geez, I feel bad locking Candy up in the cage now. She's had a tough week. Her confidence is growing and she's becoming friendlier every day. I know she's not very stimulated where she is right now, but I have to do what's best for her and gives her the most chance at success. She still needs to see me as her friend and letting her run loose right now is not going to help that.

It IS wonderful, though, to see her running around the room. A little free spirit, with no fear and just simple joy in her heart. I know she will be a good companion now. Just another week or so and she should be in great shape.

All hail the mighty toothbrush!

I learned at an early age that I would never be a sports heroine when instead of gracefully grabbing a fly ball in my mitt, I caught it with my FACE. The ball hit me on my upper lip, chipping my top two and bottom front two teeth. I was 9. I was wearing the new, matching bright orange polyester short set my Mother had just got me from K-Mart. I was terrified I'd get blood on my clothes and get yelled at, so while I was screaming and squirting blood, I held my head forward to drip onto the ground, as I walked the three (hundred, it seemed) blocks back to my family's house.

I was lucky that just about at that time, my Dentist had learned about a new procedure where you could use some sort of concrete (or whatever) and bond it onto the chipped teeth. He did the repair, while I was trying not to pass out from having all the nerves exposed in my teeth.

The repair lasted all these MANY years, but it was discolored and the bonded material was chipping away over time. It didn't look great and my front teeth, well, they aren't so aesthetically pleasing, anyway, so...my Dentist, Dr. David, who is awesome, who I share the same birthday with, same day and YEAR, has been after me to get veneers.

What a complete waste of money. Pure vanity! Just re-bond the teeth and be done. But the re-bonding won't ever match and will discolor. The material will fail and I will still have teeth that flare out at the bottom, like an outdated skirt from Goodwill.

We're about to lose our Health Insurance and I had some money left to use in the dental plan. I figured I was going to get about 25% off if I did the veneers, so in case I ever become famous, I figured, why not?

Let's just say, that although Dr. David is a fine Dentist and I really like him a lot, I can't understand how celebrities get a full set of these things. Holy crap! It's not that painful during, well not painful at all, but afterwards, yikes, not fun, but the WORST is when the temporaries come off and you get to hear your temporaries being CRACKED, following by pieces of the material falling down your shirt. I know I'm going to have nightmares about this.

After the chipping, cracking, buzz sawing, I was left with a fat lip, numb inside my nose and gums and with a much nicer smile. I will post before and after photos, maybe.

Bob Dole, my cat, also went to the dentist, well, he saw Dr. Larry. Since Bob has FIV+, he's prone to having gum/teeth problems. Bob's down to about 6 teeth and we're doing all we can to KEEP what he has left. Dr. Larry told me that Bob had a nasty looking molar and that it needed work now to prevent it from having to come out later. We ran the usual blood panel and everything looked normal, except for Bob's ALT. Bob has never had a normal ALT, but word was it was not as high as it had been in the past. I give kudos to his raw diet and no-more-kibble nutrition for making a difference.

That said, all the good blood work in the world wasn't going to assure me that the sedation wouldn't kill Bob or mess him up badly. I hate having Bob sedated and I'm sure I'm a pain in the ass about asking to have someone call me the second he's awake and the procedure is done. Bob's old. I don't know how old, but maybe 14 or so?

The other thing Bob needed was a haircut. I do brush him, but not often enough. He gets nasty mats and with the warm weather upon us, I thought that for once I'd get him a “lion cut” which would remove all the mats and give him a fresh look for the summer. I hoped he wouldn't be embarrassed.

Bob took it like a champ. Bob is unflappable unless he's hungry-then there's a LOT of flapping. Sam and I picked him up at 6:30pm. We got to see him in his cage. The cage card had “FIV+” highlighted in marker, under his name. It made me sad. Bob had to be separated from the other animals. I never think about him being contagious to anyone. In fact, I am going to have his combo test re-run. I dunno...are there false positives?

Bob looked a bit sad. He didn't have any teeth extracted, which was great, so I knew he would be too uncomfortable. I called to him and opened the cage door. He looked so odd! It was if there was Bob's head, attached to another body all together. I could still see the mackerel stripes where his fur was trimmed away. He feels very nice and smooth and has very cute fur “boots” on this legs. Super Deb, knew I'd be posting photos of her work, so she made sure to do an extra nice job. I never thought writing a Blog would bring a perk like that! Yes, Super-Deb, you will still be called “Super.” You did a good job. I think Bob appreciates, too, that you “expressed” his anal glands (if you want to read more about why cats need their anal glands cleaned out, see my post here). I'm sorry I didn't notice he was having a problem back there! I was also surprised that Bob has STUD tail! What's up with that? I guess once a stud, always a stud.

Bob's home now and crabby. He wants to eat. I'm not supposed to feed him, so I fed him a little bit. He wants more and is hissing at all the other cats and checking out their empty plates for a scrap to eat. I want to eat, but my gums are killing me and the nerves in my front teeth are throbbing. I'm crabby, too. Sam had a crown replaced yesterday and a filling done a few days ago, but somehow he remains crabby-free. It's been “2:30” for too long. Here's hoping for a time change coming soon.(crossing paws).

I didn't have much time to spend with Candy today. I had to dash off early; okay it was 11 AM, to meet my friend, Marcia so we could see Sex & the City 2. I felt bad about leaving Candy, but I didn't expect any changes from her today since last night she wasn't too friendly and was back to her uber-hissy routine.

I'd been looking forward to get a hit of chick-flick-bliss. The last movie (I tried) to watch was Inglorious Basterds, which I would guess is about as far from chick-flick as you can get.

I'm sad to say that after watching S&TC2, I'm still longing for that chick-flick-high. I'm the perfect demographic for this movie. I should have loved it! Instead, acting was stiff and the costuming bordered on ridiculous, no, it WAS ridiculous! Yes, fashion dares to push us in new directions, make a statement, but does a bright red dress with metal spikes on the shoulders say "dare" or "don't you dare make this actress look like a punk rock Michael Jackson (sans glove)!"?

I wear black stretchy pants. I no nothing about fashion, but I do know about common sense and I'm sorry, but the Emperor is NAKED. In fact, naked might have been better.

There were NO cats of any kind in this movie and just one token pocket Yorkie. How can the characters have any soul without a pet? Sure, they have perfectly clean apartments and their garments are not covered in cat hair, but really. Where is the plot without some fluffy cat scratching up Carrie's perfect sofa or peeing inside her closet door!

Lastly, I'm sorry but Kim Catrell, I will never be thin or in great shape, the way you are (so kudos to you), but honey, you are too old for some of the lines you yelled out at any guy you thought you could hump. You don't even wait to find out if the guy is available before you say you are “open to anything and available all day and night.” When you're 30 and you say that, sure it's tacky, but you can get away with it. When you're a bit (a lot)...OLDER, it comes off as desperate and made my skin crawl. Wouldn't it have been more interesting to find out what “Samantha” was like as a woman who decided that 30 years of screwing around was tiring and maybe it was time to grow up? It doesn't mean you give up your sexuality, but it shouldn't be so important to flaunt it all the time. Maybe she was afraid of losing her "power" over men? That said, what does that say about women? There's a long conversation for all of us-how we use our sexuality as power over men, but this is not the place to delve into that subject.

Yes, this is a blog about cats, but it's my Blog so I can stray (pardon the rescue pun) if I need to! So one more thing-Carrie. What are you thinking? Another character that needs to grow up. The truth is, that you get married and the romance fades away. Sure it comes back from time to time, but it's never going to be like it was during all those years of you courting Mr. Big and vice versa. There's nothing wrong with watching tv or (gasp!) learning to cook a meal once in awhile. Does going out to galas and spending a sick amount of money on yourself really make the world a better place? You're living with Mr. Big! What is your problem? You're loaded! What worries do you have? My God...

Perhaps if the economy was in better shape or I was 15 years younger, I might fall for this stuff, but get real. People are struggling and suffering. Watching four well-to-do women worry about themselves and no one else, is irritating.

I got home from the movie and spent some time with Candy. She knows nothing about the foolishness of humans, only that they scare her. I sat with her, as I do, with my legs crammed in front of the open door of the dog crate. I sit as long as I can stand it, while my legs fall asleep. I jiggle the new toys I got her and gave her some treats which she ignored. She didn't seem to hiss as much and it took less time for her to come towards me.

I felt impatient about Candy's progress, so I decided to just give her a bigger push. After I brushed her and snuck in a few pets, I gave her chicken baby food from a spoon. She was sitting right next to me. My legs were buzzing. I wanted to move them, but I didn't dare. I jabbed my finger into the can of baby food and offered it to her. Instead of hissing, she licked it off!

Hee, hee, hee, right off my finger!

I grabbed my camera. I knew I only had one shot before she ran off, so I made it work. I also didn't want to take my eyes off her in case she was going to bite me. I got the shot, then I moved my hand a bit and she walked into my lap, looking for more chicken. I petted her and fed her. She PURRED. She let me pet her for a short time, then jumped down-completely blasè about the whole thing!

Just when I figured things were going at a slower pace, she surprises me again. So far I have not had her try to bite or claw me. This is great news! Of course, she had to turn and hiss a little bit when she was done getting a snack, but I ignored her and moved on. Kinda like how I felt about the characters in S&TC2. They need to move on (and please GOD, get some less dopey looking clothing).

Imagine trying to take a photo with your iPhone, it's dark in the room, so you have to hold still. You're trying not to squeal;“OH MY GOD!” and you need to be mindful that one false move could get you bitten or scratched.

Late tonight, I brought Candy some food. She picked at it a bit and hissed. I decided to try the toothbrush on her again. This time I just kept brushing her as much as I could. Within a few moments, she stopped protesting and started to come up to the front of the crate, where I was sitting with my legs crossed (and falling asleep).

She could not get enough. She sat in her litter pan, then suddenly rolled on her back, exposing her tummy. I brushed her tummy. She LOVED it. She got up, faced me and it was clear she wanted me to brush her face, so I did. She was clearly in dire need of being touched-and though this is not a big surprise, that she would change in a heartbeat really put a knot in my throat. I did not expect this so soon.

I got greedy. When Candy had her back turned to me, I ran one finger down her back. She didn't hiss. I kept brushing. She turned again. She had left the crate and was next to me. I petted her briefly with my entire hand. She was fine with it. No hissing!!! I didn't want to push my luck, since I was bare handed, so I went back to focusing on brushing her, while I gently coaxed her back into the crate. I can't risk having her get loose in the foster room right now.

You can see the blue-green handle of the toothbrush. Candy has her head on my knee. She is SMILING!

I felt pretty choked up and that would have been a big enough breakthrough for me for one day, but Candy wasn't done.

She purred. Not for long and not very loudly, but she PURRED!

I didn't want to overdue it, so I slowly stopped brushing Candy. She hissed and went back to the rear of the crate. I showed her the brush and she came all the way to the front and clearly wanted more. I brushed her a bit, but soon left her for the night. I wanted to end our visit on a good note. It would be too easy to have her regress. Today we had some very big changes in a small amount of time. She did great and I'm very proud of her!

It was as if she finally got what she really wanted from me and now that she knows she can get it, perhaps the rest of this journey will feature fewer hisses and more purrs?

You're supposed to use a “high value” food and only give it to the kitten when YOU are in the room and you provide the food. The problem is figuring out what is a high value food. Apparently, this flavor was not a big hit.

Candy plays hard to get. I play “eat your damn food!”

A hiss here or there, but not bad. Candy is willing to investigate the food, even if it means she needs to hiss at it as she does so. If I time it right, I will take the food away if she hisses and only bring it back if she is not hissing.

Candy is less fearful of the spoon, but it still takes effort to get her to come to me. She needs to be able to smell what's on the spoon and granted there's not much food on there to create much temptation. I end up bringing the spoon close, but moving it slowly away once she gets a good sniff or a tiny taste.

Chicken baby food is a winner!

Candy will definitely come towards me if I have baby food on the spoon. I worry that she's not getting enough nutrition so I do supplement the baby food with other canned or raw, yes raw food (she goes crazy for the raw!).

I was able to get Candy to put her paw on my (covered) leg today. She hissed when she touched me, but she did it. She didn't attack me. I just sat there quietly and sat still. I hope that being calm around her will keep her calm. Tough to do when I also feel tense that she might lunge at me, but so far, so good.

How can this kitten look at me like that, then hiss? She is so cute, though, right? She's only inches away from me, but no. I do not pet her.

I gave Candy more challenges. First, I added a small scratching post to her crate. She was VERY interested to smell it and walk around it. Since my original brush was just too big, I took a toothbrush and taped it to a wooden spoon. I rubbed the bristles against the newspaper lining the crate and she responded well to the sound. She wanted to investigate, so I slowly brought the brush closer. I scratched it against the sisal on the post and she stretched, then began to climb up the post to get the toy. She also began to forget to hiss quite as much.

The toothbrush doesn't bother her except for when I dared to brush HER with it. She let me brush her back, but she walked away from me as I did it. She hissed, but I did it a few different times with the same result. I didn't push her hard, but I did ask her to deal with a new stimulus and she did well. Sooner or later, she might come to like being brushed and it's a great way to get her to feel comfortable being touched...I hope.

I could go hard core on her and wrap her in a towel and force myself on her, but I want to see how she'll do if we take it a bit easy. I'm trying to balance getting this job done quickly, so I can take on more fosters, and getting it done well and having a better lasting result, which will take more time.

Candy's mood has shifted a bit. She's more relaxed and seems to be very interested in new toys and the scratching post. My goal is to get her to feel happy and safe, instead of frightened and depressed. It's important that I'm consistent, too. I've asked a lot from her the past two days, so I won't make any more changes for another day or so and see how she does.

Scared little girl, at least has taken to enjoying her mini-cat bed, instead of trying to kill it, as she had the day before.

Patience is a virtue that I'm struggling with. Candy got here a few days ago and I still haven't touched her-which is torture for me. I'm going slowly, but today I decided she'd been here long enough and it was time to give her a bit of a push.

Oh Joy. Candy is hissing at me, yet again. Hmpf!

Candy hisses at me all the time. In fact, she hissed so much, she “broke her hisser.” For when she tried to hiss, it came out as a little squeak. The good thing is that her ears have never been flat back, her pupils don't seem to dilate and she doesn't growl much. She's quieted down a lot more, but definitely seemed bored. There was only the basics in her crate: a litter pan, fresh water and food and a bed. That was it.

I just want to hold you, you stupid kitten! You're too cute for me to not touch you!

I gave Candy a small, lavender soft ball with a bell inside. Tweetie had one just like it that he loved. Being small, it didn't frighten Candy and she investigated it right away.

Candy reaches for a toy for the first time!

Because she had a positive reaction to the toy, I added an small krinkly ball, and later a toy mouse. I gave her nothing large or scary. She must have been playing with the toys when I was out of the room, because I found out later that they had been moved from where I left them and one had been tossed outside the crate.

I think that being able to play gets her mind off confinement and perhaps softens her overall well being. I also challenged her with a “Cat Dancer” and she liked watching it, but was a bit nervous about going too close to it just yet.

Candy is doing well, moving about the crate while I'm in the room. She doesn't get too close to me, unless I have food, but that's okay. She's not cowering in the back of the crate and I've even seen her stop to wash her face and once in awhile she looks up at me, which melts my heart, of course and makes me want to touch her. She's good at reminding me that she'll kick my butt if I try.

So the battle continues, but so far Candy is doing well.