Status Update – We Need A Cat Psychologist
Torpedo and Butterfly…a really bonded sibling pair.
Okay, I think I need a cat psychologist for my grumpy old man, Torpedo.
A little background for those who don’t know: Torpedo and his siblings were born to me when I lived in Alabama. I rescued their mom, Larien, from a coworker who was disappointed that she wasn’t cute anymore and was going to have her put to sleep. Nooo!!! So I rescued Larien and brought her home…where she promptly got knocked up. My fault, I know. I let her be an indoor/outdoor cat and procrastinated having her fixed. So kittens.
I had Torpedo and his sister, Butterfly, for twelve years, since the Athens Olympics (which is where they got their names. Torpedo was named after Ian Thorpe, the Thorpedo, and Butterfly was named after Michael Phelps, who won the 400m butterfly the day she was born). Those cats have moved with me everywhere, and I hadn’t realized how very attached to them I was…
…until Butterfly developed diabetes (in 2015) and died December 1st. It hit me way harder than I thought it would, mostly because I nursed her through about 10 days of declining health, until I had to make the decision to have her put down. That was a super sad day! But Torpedo was a huge comfort, even though he was in mourning too.
No, Torpedo, you can not sleep on the bed with me tonight…
And as I learned, cats actually do mourn. Torpedo demonstrated all of the behavior of a cat mourning the loss of a bonded partner. So, being the foolish human that I am, I figured the perfect way to help both of us move on was to get a darling new kitten. So halfway through December, Justine joined our family.
Justine comes from a feral background, so it took her a while to adjust and feel fully comfortable in her new home. But for the last few weeks, she’s been 100% happy, bouncy, feisty, and affectionate. She’s adorable! But man, she has so much energy.
However, as it turns out, Torpedo has been very grumpy toward Justine. He swats at her and chases her around. I figure it’s because she’s young and has way too much energy and annoys him, and because she’s not Butterfly. I think Torpedo still wanders around the house looking for his sister from time to time. He still misses her. And sometimes he gets really mean toward the kitten. Like, after I shut them out of my bedroom last night, at one point I heard a horrific yeowl. And this morning I found blood on the tile floor. But Justine won’t let me get close enough to see if I can find any wounds. Hmm.
How could you be mean to a face like this?
The other thing is that Torpedo now gets VERY upset when I leave the house for more than a little while. I was gone quite a bit yesterday, and he was restless and meowed at me a lot and just didn’t want to leave me alone at all when I got home. I started out letting them sleep on the bed with me, but as I’ve discovered, my quality of sleep goes way, WAY down when they’re on the bed at night. Well, mostly Justine, because as tiny as she is, she manages to take up an entire queen-size bed! Torpedo is much better at sleeping on the corner and not getting in my way as I toss and turn.
Anyhow, I definitely need a cat psychologist to sit down with Torpedo and let him know that it’s going to be okay. I’m not leaving him alone. And he’s never been alone a day in his life before Butterfly died. I also need that psychologist to tell him to stop tormenting the baby! She’s no threat to him. (Well, except that I think she will be when she gets a little older. She’s a dominant type) I’d settle for the two of them getting along. Especially since I have a lot of travel coming up this summer, and I’m either going to be leaving them mostly alone with someone coming in twice a day to feed them, or hiring a house-sitter to be here with them. And I’ve got a few quick overnights very soon too. I feel so guilty for leaving Torpedo alone, but on the other hand, he’s a cat and I’m not putting my life on hold because he needs me to sit with him.
*sigh* I don’t suppose cats do very well in therapy….
