more harley news

its been another long break since i last posted, due mainly in part to my net book having contracted a virus and leaving me uninspired to blog. with the exception of a nip here and there that does still draw blood, harley has come a looooong way from the striking bites he was making back when all this new training began. i attribute his better behavior from a combination of the Feliway room difuser - think glade outlet room air freshners - and my learning to read his signs, plus, he doesn't sleep with me in bed anymore so when he does its a treat and its monitored. i also make sure i spend more time with him if i have been away longer during the day and that he has a good supply of food, which he always did have but which seems to put him at ease to know he's going to have food a plenty.

harley has taken to a new morning ritual of greeting me on the bathroom sink as i step out of the shower, usually in the morning. he will purr and head butt me and loves being petting up to a certain point at which time he lets me know he's had enough. it seems to bring him some comfort knowing that we have this time in the morning.

he has done well with guests but has a thing for running out into the hallway of the apartment building. sometimes he has driven me to say, "remember you were a stray once and think of how good you have it here." shame, i hear, works well with kids so why not cats? ;-)

i do love him though, its just taken a time of transition from a long line of lovers and not fighters. my scars are healing and hopefully they'll eventually fade. they stand as reminders of how far we've come and where i don't want to go with him ever again.

this holiday season is our first together and i admit i miss tiger quite often but i know i gave him a good life and i'm trying to do the same for harley bug. we're a work in progress. :-)

long overdue update

hello, friends of harley :) its been too long since i last posted but i'm happy to say its because harley and i have been busy enjoying every day and training and haven't been on the computer all that much.

i'm pleased to report that harley's biting has all but stopped in that he hasn't drawn blood in over a month now. he did attack the top of my foot which is about all he does now and so he gets a little time out, not the full 30 minutes like originally, to remind him its not acceptable behavior. my wounds from earlier bites are pretty much scars now so i'm using a scar cream to reduce their appearance. right now harley is curled up in his look out post that was formerly my tiger's favorite spot. he has the softest blanket i own in there with him and the slider door is open so he has all the fresh air he can handle. plus, have i mentioned how nosy he is? he could provide a full report on the neighborhood if i let him lol funniest was when the lawn sprinklers were on. he could here their signature "phht phht phht" but not see them. it was hilarious to watch him trying to scope out the source of the noise.

i attribute his change in biting habits to more attention paid on my part, to both him in general and also being more aware of the signs that he was agitated. many times i placed him in the crate at the mere suspicion that he was getting worked up and would bite. it seemed to calm him and or get him to stop the agitation he was feeling. also rewarding his good behavior and enjoying the new routine of head butts and brushing him as he sits on the bathroom sink in the morning when i'm getting ready for work.

he also is no longer allowed in the bedroom at night and that's been for almost 2 months if not longer. during the day when i'm at work i might leave the door to the bedroom open so he can chill on the bed without me, but i want it to be a treat and not the norm.

i have yet to procure a bird or mouse viseo for him to watch but i haven't actually gone looking for any. i'll make a point to do that this month. and i firmly believe the feliway room diffuser plug in thingy has also helped to keep him calmer 24/7.

i will say this though, harley has replaced biting with being on the no harley zone kitchen table lol i suppose its a trade off.

peace. shalom. namaste.

operation harley - week one

its been a month since i've posted but it seems like longer. especially the last few weeks.

operation harley is my concentrated effort to break harley of his biting habit. for clarification, i don't mind a friendly or warning nip that is brief and barely makes more than a general impression on me. what we're working on is harley's drawing blood.

first and foremost it must be said that harley is a great cat. he has a sweet and comical side, and he always greets my guests at the door, rubbing against them and smelling them part of his training now involves guests greeting him with a treat. my thought is he'll immediately associate visitors as friends and if they pet him, he is gentle and gets a treat, it's not just me rewarding him for good behavior. but this is a small part of the whole training program.

thanks to deb at Catales, harley's shelter mom, and donna, our cat sitter from Furnanny 911, and my own years of having cats for pets, i've come up with a multi pronged approach:

* time out: harley now has a time out crate whichis used only for time out. he gets no more than 30 minutes for his offenses and it'll only be shortened when improvement is seen and the biting is rarer than it is now. the clock timer is his buzzer and i don't use it for anything else. this way he knows the buzzer is for his timeout and he won't be confused by hearing it another time. when he goes in i tell him why, i ignore him when he's in there, and when its time up he is let out.

* reqarding good non biting behavior. harley gets greeted at the door with a pet on the head and a treat. the rest of the time i only pet him if he initiates, then i watch for the signs that he might bite: tail whipping around, angle of his head, puffy tail. i redirect with a toy, never a hand or foot which he likes to bite, and even physically remove him from the area if it looks like it's going to be an issue if he stays. when he's good, he gets treats and i tell him that good harley gets treats for being friendly and calm.

* the squirt bottle of water haas been in use for awhile but is now reinforced by time out.

* harley no longer sleeps in my bed or my bedroom at night. we say our goodnights outside my door and i sleep better knowing i'm not going to wake up to a toe or my arm getting attacked like i had been. this is the first time i've had a biting pet so this si new for me to not have him in bed at night.

* rescue remedy for cats. per the bottle, place 4 drops on a pet treat and 4 in their daily water. its used in situations of extreme stress like when animals are rescued from an emergency situation. deb had seen this work very well for a dog they had and i'm hoping it does the same for harley. i love that its a natural remedy and there are zero chemicals.

* last but not least is feliway which is a feline pheromone in a spray or plug in. it is supposed to calm him instantly. i have seen it work well and am waiting for the plug ins to arrive. they last 4 weeks and have refills available. i got two ordered from the pet store and plan to place them strategically in the apartment.

operation harley has been in effect since this past tuesday to we're not quite at a week yet, but so far i've only sustained a clean scratch on the back of my calf which drew blood. he's had 3 time outs, including one while i was blogging this. mom was here for a few hours last night and he needed no discipline. but he did jump up on the kitchen table which is a no harley zone so he got a squirt for that.

i'm off to run errands and sttend a nature inspired writers and artists workshop at white memorial in litchfield, ct. after a week of training harley, overtime and general loose ends to tie up, i hope this is a nice break and a time to feed my creative side. despite my present headache.

the "no harley" zone

harley has free range of the apartment, including the book cases where he will sometimes jump almost straight up to roost on a shelf, pushing all else to the side while he's up there, to make room for himself. he has a down feather pillow in a gold thread case on his favorite spot on the linen dresser where he can sleep or observe and see into the bedroom and the all the rest of the apartment except the bathroom, and also look out the slider door.

the one place harley isn't allowed is on the new kitchen table. it's actually the only table he's known here as i didn't have one when i moved in.

the glass top lets me see when he's sizing up the distance from the floor to either the cushioned seat of the chair or the glass top itself. this gives me the advantage of time as i grab the water bottle and give him a surprise squirt while saying, this is a no harley zone!

whether or not he is on the table and chairs while i'm gone i don't know. somehow i don't doubt that he is.

proud mama moment

harley and i ventured to the vet's office again yesterday afternoon. his third time in the carrier going to the vets and he is officially no longer happy about it.

the last visit they mentioned possibly stitching up one of his openings where the incisor had been removed during his recent surgery. i didn't want him to go through that so i'd been hoping he was healing well and they'd say he wouldn't need stitches afterall. additionally, he'd been scratching one of his ears lately and it seemed to be more than usual, and then there was that piddling incident to address.

after a little bit of a wait that had both harley and i napping on the cool metal exam table, him with his nose buried in my elbow as my arms encircled him, and me resting on his soft fur, the vet came in. harley's gums, she said, have healed nicely and stitches aren't needed (yea)! she checked his ears and said he has almost no wax in them, and that the little extra scratching could be environmental allergies. i vowed to run the air purifier i have more regularly for both of us. with the humidity more stuff may have been hanging in the air than usual which would explain why both of us hadn't been well last week during that hideaous heat wave.

next was the piddling. she asked some questions about when the incident happened, has it happened again, does he make pain sounds when in the box or otherwise. his bladder was empty so she couldn't get a sample for a UTI test, but when she examined him she said his kidneys and bladder felt like they were in good shape and the fact that his bladder was empty, and i could attest to his box being used regularly, she said she didn't think it was more than behaviorial when it occured. trust we will be addressing that at home. since it happened last week when the weather was awful and i was sick from it, i think i didn't pay him as much attention and he was letting me know. i hope thats all that comes of it.

harley now weighs 12 pounds, having lost a pound or two since i first weighed him in may. the vet said its a healthy weight, his shape is just right, his fur is shiny though even i know i need to comb him more often if he would let me. we'll work on that together. and finally, the vet said he had a clean bill of health, see you next year for his check up, and she wished all of her cats were in as good shape as harley is.

yea, that was a proud mama moment, knowing he's doing so well, and that we make a great team.

post op harley

it's been several weeks since my last post as harley and i have been both working with his post op, less teeth than before, care and making the most of the summer before this heat wave hit the area.

to re cap, harley went in to have a few infected teeth pulled. when they called me with the update, he was 12 teeth lighter than when he went in. the vet said there were impacted teeth and in the end it was a lot for a 6 yr old cat but we don't know what his life was like before the shelter, like what he was eating, and it could well be genetic. he came home, happily, i might add, and after reluctantly taking a yucky liquid antibiotic for several days, he seemed to have turned a corner.

the result is he bites a heck of a lot less, and when he does, it hurts a heck of a lot less! he lost an incisor which is part of that transformation. he is more snuggly and purrs a lot more than he did before. he even encourages me to pet him as he purrs, and that can go on for up to 15 minutes before he moves on to something else. the vet will see him again on monday. hopefully he won't need stitches for the incisor gap. they wanted to have it heal up on its own first.

good thing he sees the vet soon anyway. i don't think he has a urinary tract infection; no i'm pretty sure he was just delivering a clear message to me at 330am this morning. i was online checking something and without any fear, he peed on a beanbag foot rest i have in the living room. this was done right in front of me. i was amazed at his brazeness, but i had to say he wasn't happy with his food selection the last few meals - he expresses his dissatisfaction by scratching the cloth placemat so its covering his still full food dish - and i wasn't feeling well so i hadn't yet cleaned his litter box.

so i got the footrest and his litter box into a garbage bag and cleaned everything up. this morning he got a new placemat, a new bowl, and new food with new water. he ate then .... you guessed it ... proceeded to very cleanly pee in his litter box, followed by a ton of chasing his milk ring toy. when i made myself a sandwich for breakfast, he proceeded to annoy me for some of the turkey then moved on to a catnip toy.

i'm thinking he's just fine but i'll ask the vet to be sure.

what a character.

harley at the vet's

harley survived his first vet visit since sharing mi casa, and i'm pleased to say he faired well, though my wallet didn't i'm afraid, and he's going thursday to have some bad teeth pulled. but aside from that, he's received a good bill of health. he's been micro chipped in case he pulls a houdini, had his nails clipped (thank the lord!), weighed (12.11 lbs), and otherwise updated with shots. the infection in his tooth means antibiotics each night which he hates but takes and then the surgery thursday. i also picked up something akin to advantage to help with ticks, fleas, etc. all told, he now officially costs more than my new dining room table which is still on order.

but i have to say he did the crate thing very well and actually was bugging to get back into it after his exam. he's been very mellow since returning home, which is kind of nice for a change. he seems very comfortable around the apartment and is currently sleeping with his hed snuggled into the goose down pillow in a gold fabric i adore.

the pictures posted in this note are harley hiding out at the vet's office, on the exam room counter behind the computer.

random harley moments

harley lounges on me during a movie...he looks so content


it's been a busy few weeks since i last blogged and harley has made some strides in not biting as much and snuggling more. the squirt bottle is now second to simply blowing in his face and saying, "no biting!" to which he looks more offended to the air in his face than anything else. he actually attacked a kleenex box when i put it between us as he was going for my hand again. he's getting the hang of just relaxing with me, mostly on the couch as we watch a movie. he seems to be channeling tiger, my late cat, because he does some of the same moves and stretches and even lays on me in bed like tiger used to. i'm fairly certain that by now he weighs more than 14 lbs. his first vet visit is saturday. i'm sure they'll confirm it for me. lol he also tries to open cabinet doors and jumps into the tub now and then. the vet will be clipping his nails, thank goodness. getting him into the carrier will be interesting i'm sure. meanwhile he's relaxing on various pieces of furniture, loves the sun and the slider door being open, and continues to bring joy to my life by just being himself.

and in this corner, weighing in at...

14 pounds!

harley stepped on my scale last week as he's nosy, which we know, and i was getting ready for my day. with all four pays sqaurely on the scale as if i'd put it there just for him, he weighs himself in at 14 pounds.

i looked at him and said, in all seriousness, "WHO is FEEDING you?!"

uh, yea, that would be me lol

gosh, he sure is cute.

new harley pics posted

in this pic is my harley bug and charlie's angels as depicted in the full throttle film. he likes the heat of the dvd player and snuggling in bed. i think he has pretty good taste.

more pics of harley at home are posted under the photos of harley link on this page. enjoy the many faces of my furry monster.

this one is like he's staring down the water bottle i have to squirt him with at times...

helping out at home

harley is definitely a character and the only cat i ever owned who had an almost unhealthy obsession with the inside of the refrigerator. its a nearly daily experience that he'll be sticking his head in while i get the milk or wheat germ for my smoothie and he has his entire upper body in the fridge. i dont understand the fascination.

last night i decided it was time to clean the fridge out which provided harley with the the perfect opportunity to snoop around in there even further as the door wasn't shutting right away as usual. as you can see, he got inside, and then trust me, i quickly got him out not to mention wiped down the fridge lol

between spying on the neighbors and his curiosity as shown here, harley would make a great flatfoot, uh, flatpaw :)

my 15 minutes of fame!

harley here to pat myself on the back as a featured adopted cat from Catales in their Spring newsletter (see excerpt below). "fiercely independent" is me alright, but i gotta say, i do love the perks of being the only cat in this quiet home mom has made for me here. she leaves for work or an adventure and i get the whole king sized bed to myself, and at night i hog the fan. hey, i know a little something about comfort, too, you know? why right now i'm bathing myself on the couch, correction MY couch, while i dictate this note to mom who so patiently dotes on me. she loves me so much i try to smile when she calls me "bug" or "harley bug", i mean, its not exactly manly is it? lol but hey, she knows what i like for toys and having the blinds open during the day, the screen door open at night, and my dish always full even if i don't finish it all i have enough and then some. i know a vet visit is due next month as she has already sat me down to prepare me. i hope i like the new doctor. mom says please go into the carrier quietly, but i saw her looking at leather gloves used for falconry in an effort to protect her arms just in case i fuss.

i want to take this opportunity to thank Deb and the great family at Catales for rescuing me and keeping me around with so much love and attention so that when mom came around she found me and took me home for good. its been over 6 weeks now and i don't jump at the sounds like i used to. apartment living is different and i did sneak out to the hall one night but made a sharp u-turn and high tailed it back inside. mom wasn't pleased with me but i can't say i blame her. i can be a sneaky pete at time.

but yea, this fame isn't going to my head at all. i mean, i was already kind of a big deal before and now mom makes me feel like i'm king of the world every day.

***

A story like that of Sir Sagamore, a.k.a Harley, is what keeps
all of us in the rescue community plodding on. Sometimes the
good guys do win…

Our “Saggy” was found wandering alone and brought to
Catales a fair number of years ago. Fiercely independent but
one of the most memorable characters amidst the chaos, he
always longed for a home of his own, a castle so to speak
where he could be king without having to beg for attention.
And finally, just a few weeks ago, he found his fur-ever home
with Sharon Arsego. Not only is Sharon patient, kind and
compassionate, she is also smart enough to outwit dear Saggy
as you can tell from the Internet blog she has set up called
Harley At Home. Please follow the future adventures of our
own dear friend Sir Sagamore as he learns the true meaning of
his home being his castle. Harley and Sharon can be found at:
http://harleyathome.blogspot.com.

“Harley has made my life a lot brighter. We were certainly
made for each other.” Sharon Arsego

isn't he handsome?

new harley bug photos were added to the photos link, and more are always in the works. enjoy!

it's a hard knock life

for a few days i couldn't figure out why harley would wake me up at various hours of the night by tagging my toes with his teeth. i noticed he was sleeping at the foot of the bed on my side and not next to me at the head of the bed like he originally did. it's a king size bed and just the two of us so what was that about, i wondered.

let it not be said that cats aren't smart. they most certainly are, and especially harley. seems the sleeping at the foot of bed came about when i started running the oscillating fan on an end table...and the fan faces the foot of the bed...on my side. aha! move the fan, move the cat. because, as comfy as he would get this way (see included photo) my toes weren't having it anymore lol

we've now come to a happy medium where a wall of pillows separates harley and i from the head of the bed and we both enjoy the cool air while my toes rest easy.

oy.

harley joseph arsego

have just a minute as its been a busy week already in the harley household. due to his attitudinal and energetic behavior, harley now has a full government so when he's super bad i can call him like our moms used to do with us, "harley joseph arsego! get OFF that stove RIGHT NOW!" lol water bottle still works best.

right now he's playing with the ring from the milk bottle. under strict supervision so as not to have a choking incident, and he has expressed his complete dislike in pate style cat food in amost unique way; he scrunches his fabric placemat up around the bowl. creative but messy lol

ah well, he likes guests and has a favorite spot or two to stretch out so i guess we're doing ok. found out he loves his catnip, and my toes. ouch!

harley's latest thing

so tonight i'm typing on my new netbook and as i'm learning the keyboard when i hear a strange sound coming from the right and behind me. seems a certain little, or rather, medium sized someone has learned how to stick his furry head between the quad fold closet doors and get inside! the good news is that mom is now equipped with a squirt bottle so we're a little more evenly matched. he's been good lately but the spring air seems to be making him friskier than before.

his other new thing is to run at a mad mad dash from anywhere in the apartment and then sliiiiiiiiide across the kitchen floor, being certain to bang into the base of the cabinets. he's been sticking his head in the fridge ever since day one but only seems truly interested when he sees me with kielbasa or deli meat.

well, its time to call it a night. someone needs to make up the bed and you can bet it's not harley bug.

harley says...part one

harley says, "yes" to...

... steamed salmon fancy feast appetizer wet food

... waddded up printer paper over any other toy

... red mouse toy second only to the wadded up paper

... sitting in the bedroom window

... mommy keeping the bedroom window blinds up 24 hours a day for me

... spreading out on the coffee table in front of the slider door

... sleeping on top of the kitchen cabinets

... watching mommy jump and gasp when i take her by surprise by being on the cabinets

... only liking the salmon flavored treats though there are eight flavors available

... walking on the computer keyboard, typing the wrong password to mommy's accounts

... sleeping anywhere i darn well please

a paws in the action

its been a busy few days in the sherri and harley household, mainly with us just lounging around like a couple of bums! easter morning we spent in bed watching "the holiday" with jude law and cameron diaz, kate winslet and jack black, while i ate some chocolate mints and he slept. or rubbed against the mini dvd player screen. or jumped to the window sill to watch our neighbors leaving for church or dinner. harley bug has nipped a bit more, but mainly when he's hungry and wants his bowl filled or when he's been overhandled which means being moved out of the way of the dvd screen :) i've told him he makes a better door than a window but he isn't amused. he's also started this new things, well, new to me, where he plops down to rest and lets out this sigh, kind of like a person would when they're comfy and settled in somewhere nice. it took me by surprise at first because i've only known my aunt's dog, thor, to do this; never a cat. we get out his angst with one of the interactive toys. he sure is crazy about those!

harley also finds my couch to be a tempting scratching post. i redirect him to one of his three mommy approved posts and he goes from there. when his first choice is the posts he's rewarded with some love. he's quite picky about the flavors of his treats so i'm making a list of the ones he doesn't like as we weed them out of the mix.

course we found out which wet food he likes by chance as we received an easter basket from my sister and her family and my aunt. i got bath stuff and he got toys and treats. seems the fancy feast steamed salmon at 4 for 5.00 at stop n shop is the pick of the six flavors of foods i tried. yea, champagne taste on a cat nip budget lol ah well, he knows he's cute so he gets what he likes.

off to bed now as we're beat from all this doing nothing!

very a-mew-sing, harley

i want to establish some what of a routine with harley bug (that's what i've been calling him and he seems not to mind it) for when i return from work. last night, since i was so sleepy from his antics the night before, i was more than happy to follow along from the previous night and simply sprawl across my bed while he plooped down beside me and we just chilled out together. he did take longer to relax than i did but this is ok, as he had been sleeping on this very bed when i opened the door and announced my return. the night before he'd been under the couch so we're definitely making progress. as he had been sleeping, he was excited for company. once he did some kneading and some head butting and the usual purring, we were both relaxed and fell asleep before 9pm.

one of the things i've noticed about harley is he's a bit dramatic. one minute he's quiet, very still, laying on the bed. the next he *throws* himself down hard and takes me by suprise. how he can throw himself down from a laying down position i don't know because he does this so quickly i miss where he gets the leverage from lol then last night, he proceeded to walk on the window sill and appeared to be between the curtains and the blinds, trying to see outside while the blinds were closed. this looked like a recipe for disaster so i called, "harley bug" and he left the window to lay down and go back to sleep.

we were in agreement, however, that the skunk smell coming in from our open bedroom window was unnecessary and not to our liking at all.

***

i had to step away for a moment as i was interrupted by a crash of some sort coming from the bedroom. the photographic evidence of who and what created that noise is shown above. needless to say harley is adventurous and would've continued exploring the bedroom closet had i not encouraged him to leave the clothes hangers in peace.

i'm also happy to report that the collar has remained on and he doesn't seem to notice it anymore. also, after all the goodies purchased to amuse him, he enjoyed the wadded up piece of note paper the best, swatting that thing around like he was training for the olympics! we also discovered the back of the couch and how much we like to scratch it. as this is not acceptable, i found the old scratch board tiger used to use, bless him, and harley took to that right away. it's pretty worn so i'll pick up a new one for him this weekend.

seems someone wants my attention as my view is being blocked by a grey wall of fur and purring. best attend to his lordship :)

so, about last night

someone who shall remain nameless kept his new mommy up throughout the night with his meowing. and his jingle collar. and his jumping on and off the bed. oh! Let's not forget when someone found the bag of salmon flavored treats and mommy woke up to feed someone the treats. plus, seems mommy picked up friskie's moist food but maybe not the right flavors as someone doesn't seem to be eating it but does, at least, eat the dry food and drink well. then morning came and this same someone lies right along side mommy or sprawls out on the bed for the rest they now need and mommy didn't get. :)

someone also met a new family member, grandma, and not only met her but ran right up to her and accepted all kinds of scratching and petting and "oh my aren't you handsome"s. he proceeded to walk on her when she was seated and showed off his cat alert system when he heard noises in the hallway.

I think someone will be having many cat naps today for all their excitement during the night. :)

a few things about harley

1. he's stealth and very much ghost like. he is nowhere and then poof! he's everywhere. its almost uncanny and also a bit unnerving, especially as he likes to...

2. walk between and around my feet and sometimes at a rapid pace. this is why today, harley has been inducted into the hall of collar wearing cats. the bell warns me, annoys both of us, and the tag that reads "if i'm out, i'm lost" with his name and my number are because...

3. while he straightens like and arrow and goes into a trance at the sound of anything outside the door leading to the hallway, he is taking a keener interest in what is behind the door. the less wary he becomes the more likely he is to bolt.

so the collar, as shown here, is the skull and crossbones in deference to harley's attitudinal (new word, perhaps? lol) character. he seems fine with his except it did take him by surprise when he went to lie down on the table and it went "clink". he literally couldn't stop looking down for about five minutes lol such a mystery it created for him.

4. harley likes the vertical blinds. he walks between them and the slider door so that if you didn't know he was there, and you can't see him when he does this by the way, then you'd think a window was open or there was a spook.

5. he is a master of facial expressions. he looks adorable one minute, and attitudinal another. its like a shape shifter but only on his face lol

6. he's a love a nutter. big time with the head butts, the purring and the kneading continue. looking forward to snuggles again before bed tonight.

and lastly, 7. he was hiding under the couch when i got home from work today. he was mewing and i said, "harley, you're not being held hostage under there, come on out you silly bug." so he did his marine crawl with his front paws pulling him forward on his belly, and out he came with the aforementioned snuggles.

and best yet, he ate, drank, used the box and the apartment is, delightfully, in tact. and clearly well occupied. :)

do we *like* having the parking lot in view?

we're still undecided if we like being able to see the parking lot from our bed room window. we're watching the cars leave for work, and we're staying at a distance meaning the bed vs. the window post.

meanwhile, harley was on the bed with me during the night like he is now, purring, kneading the duvet, and rubbing up against me. he also slept with his head on my foot for a little bit and woke me up with his crying twice. once was just before my alarm went off at 6am.

he has three food choices and i think i see a dent made in the dry food. just explained to him i have to work today so he'll be alone for awhile. hope he does well with that.

we're seeing double...and using the litter box :)

harley found another cat living in the apartment. actually, it was his reflection in the curio cabinet mirror, but i didn't think much of it until i noticed he was slinking *around* to the back of the curio, which is the kitchen, looking very much like a detective trying to flush out a suspect that was hiding nearby. my solution? cover up the offending mirror and put his mind at ease. i told him i had banished the other cat, telling him this was harley's home and he'd have to scram.

seems to have done the trick because since then, harley has been on every piece of furniture, including across my lap top (see more photos in the links of interest section).

he was alone for the first four hours when i left for the dentists and the grocery store. when i came back, he was crying for me and came right out from under the bed when i got down on the floor. he hasn't gone into hiding again since. :)

harley says, "cdxfgtttttt." (he typed that while walking across the keys lol oh yes, and a lamp *almost* found its way to the floor and my nose took a hard hit when he head butted us both. he's a strong guy!

also, harley found and christened his litter box. whew! huge relief here. am watching that he's drinking although he hasn't shown much interest in his food. i'll check it tomorrow morning before work and see if he snuck some down during the night.

lots of purrs, head butts, paw kneading and looks of contentment going on. this is a good end to just over 24 hours of us hanging out.

i think i might have a sleeping partner in bed tonight and his name is harley bug :)

purr-age and courage

so i get down on the bedroom floor and who comes racing over to me, but still stays under the bed, but harley. :) and he begins kneading the air, pulling himself along the carpet, lets me get the crusty out of his eye, and he starts purring like a super happy kitty.

then, he comes to the edge of the bed and crawls out! he scopes out the dresser, the nightstand, even makes his way into my bathroom, but then he zips right back under the bed.

lying on the floor i'm eye level with him. i see him do the marine crawl under the bed to the other side by the window. he is stealth for a big guy! i watch his head and upper body disappear as he stands and walks and makes his way around the bed a little, sniffing, and now bellowing a little, and then zip! right back under the bed.

i've left him now for an interactive toy and my camera. i'm hoping he'll be encouraged to come out again.

he did nip my hand once as a playful gesture and i'm learning to read when he's wanting to go untouched. its a process. :)

little victories

ah, little victories. i'm taking them where i can get them. harley isn't under the couch anymore, but, alas, he's now under the bed. :) the good news is that he didn't just run from one hideout to the other. the progression came in small steps, a dance if you will. it started with him staying far away from me and only acknowledging me now and then as i spoke to him. then we had some sniffing of the treats in my hand. a few hours later, it was him coming over to me and letting me scratch his ears, his chin, and also his back. this is a good sign as he didn't like me petting his back when we had our meet and greet.

i knew we were going to be okay when he first showed me his belly, and it was combined with him kneading the air and the carpeting, and then, he turned his head on the floor and i could hear him purring. ah ha! all this lying on the floor with him, talking with him, giving him the layout of the apartment, the neighbors, how i got here; basically telling him my story that was now becoming his story, it was paying off.

somewhere in here i slept. i suspect he came out for a look-see during that time because the edge of the couch near the floor had cat hair on it. is where he squeezed himself underneath it. i had wiped all the hairs away before i went to bed so these were new. good sign.

but the morning came and he was still under the couch. or was he? i looked. no harley! i rubbed my eyes. still no harley? i think of jumping up to start looking for him when i see him standing up in the corner under the couch. its an ikea piece so there's a space where he could comfortably stand and he sure enough was. his tail was wrapped around his paws which were together and when i said his name and touched his toes he stirred as if he'd been asleep.

what followed next was a break through. he did the drop, the roll, the rub my belly move, he came to the edge of the couch a few times, and then, because he was now starting to play with the camera cord i thought i'd have a chance, i gently coaxed him out from under the couch (meaning i slid him out on the carpet) and he came without any argument which means this move was on his terms lol. not a nip, a noise, no protests (although he is a big stubborn cat and when he didn't want to come out before, even with me holding the couch up with one hand, he simply didn't). he was in my arms and we were walking the estate!

first he tried hiding behind the couch pillows but once we were walking he was straining his neck to see everything. i showed him the litter box, his food and regular water dish vs. by the couch, and then, the real deal, we went to the king size bed and we just hung out there, meaning i snuggled him and spoke to him and he was lying down letting me pet him.

and then, after about five minutes *on* the bed, he dashed *under* it.

more good news is he let me pick him up, and not just that, but hold him, and then, he let me hold him on my shoulder so he looked over my back as we walked. not one protest and i knew this meant we were, we are, going to be ok.

by the way, he's a *heavy*, solid, sturdy cat. picking him up is my new aerobic work out lol

so now, we wait, as does the kitty post in front of the window. i hear he likes to look outside.

home but hiding out

harley is home, but bless him, he's hiding out under the couch. first he hung back in the carrier and looked around to make sure he had some lay of the land. then, as i sat at the desk working on some emails, i saw him slink out and make a zig zagged dash for the safety found under the couch. i just got down on the floor, no easy task for this heavy weight with the bad knee :), and sure enough, he's still there almost 30 minutes later.

it's all good though. he'll have to eat, drink and use the box soon enough and when he sees the king size bed and all the lusciousness there, he'll be more than ok. dad says love and treats and soon it'll be belly up asking for tummy rubs.

right now we're listening to some jazz, on the way home he stopped bellowing when he heard susan boyle singing. he even let me rub the top of his nose through the carrier and he closed his eyes in enjoyment, contentment. its a start and contentment is our long term goal.

for those of you following this blog, you may not know that harley (originally named sagamore) has just been adopted from catales, a no kill shelter in middletown. he lived there four of his six years with never a home of his own, but the shelter was excellent to him and i know he thrived there while waiting for me to find him.

catales is on facebook and can be found at catales.org. they're a no kill shelter and strive to find forever homes for their rescues. sponsorship is an option if for any reason you want to help them and their feline residents but are unable to take one into your home. please visit them online for more information: catales.org

technical difficulties

it seems the power is out at the kitty shelter so i'm on standby to pick up harley today. i've arranged for tomorrow off from work as well as today since the adoption is in flux and i wanted time home with him that first day. i also have a dentist appointment tomorrow afternoon and frankly, today has been a bit of a bummer day all around. i woke with a cloud over my head and it continues with water now coming in my bedroom window frame. its so bad that the plaster is chipping onto the carpet! the manager sent in a maintenance guy who said it was obviously a repeat issue. might need the window guys to come in and check it out but its a fair weather day project and today is not fair weather.

so, going to shower and continue my mission for a better day.

the meet n greet

when he did the cat equivalent of rolling his eyes in annoyance at another cat muscling in on our meet and greet, i knew this guy was for me. no doubt about it, harley and i have issues; we can sooooo relate to needing our space, and tolerating others up to a point. sometimes a very short point lol

like me, harley longs for solitude away from the masses. we do well in a group but prefer the small intimate gatherings of say, one or two others. thats been hard for harley to find in the loving no kill shelter he's called home for four of his six years gracing this earth. for harley, there's always been not just someone, but several someones around at the food dish, the water bowl, the outside enclosure entrance, the kitty tower. all deserving and all unique in their own way, but for harley, he longs to be the king of his own castle.

that's where i come in. :)

harley will be coming to live with me for a two week trial period starting march 30th. described as energetic, and intelligent, i foresee a lot of interactive play and a climbing tower as i've been advised by his shelter mom, deb, would be ideal for him to have. i wonder how he will like having 700 square feet of living space and a gorgeous king size bed all to himself? hmmm... lol