Day One: Osa on Sentry Duty

Osa has been with us for a week now and I’m happy to report that she seems to be taking charge of the household and its people quite seamlessly.  There are some aspects of life in this big house (much bigger than she was used to) that she has apparently decided to accept, a few that she has is having no part of, and several that she’s patiently training us about.

She spent the Days One and Two hunkered down, sometimes positioning herself so she could watch what we were up to and sometimes disappearing for hours on end, thinking over the situation.  By Day Three she decided that we needed “to have a little talk” and, since we are a bit slow to comply with all of her suggestions, she is still talking.  A lot.

Osa On Alert

Most of this rather one-sided discussion seems to have to do with food.  She has let it be known that, although she will eat dry food, she’d much rather have that wonderful smelly canned stuff with gravy and, even better, would be a constant supply of kitty treats.  The food situation is still being negotiated – mostly because she came prepared with bags and cases and vacuum packs of all the above.  Mediation may be called for when her supplies run out.

Osa gets high marks thus far for fastidiousness.  She has used her litter box from the get-go and seems content to confine her claw-sharpening to the spiffy compressed cardboard scratching sculpture that also came with her.  By Day Four, she was taking pains to wash her face and otherwise groom herself frequently but was unapologetic about leaving the occasional small tuft of fur here and there.  I could almost hear her say, “Some things can’t be helped; get over it” when I dragged out the vacuum cleaner.

For the last few days, seemingly satisfied that her surroundings are going to adapt to her needs, she has been turning her attention to us two-legged denizens.  She comes to be with us in the evening to watch TV, although she’s not yet ready to sit on laps or be cuddled.  But she sits nearby and purrs loudly, apparently content to let us pursue whatever useless endeavors we seem to spend our tine doing. She does enjoy long chin-scratches and whisker-rubs and is crazy about the mousey laser light that we think of as her “exercise program.”

Osa-the-Wily-Hunter

And, I must say, exercise is probably a fine idea.  She weighs close to fifteen pounds – a real chunk.  Besides which, she is the heaviest-on-her-feet-cat I have ever known.  When she jumps down from an upstairs bed THUMP! the whole house seems to shake.  I am reminded of my grandmother’s advice to her daughter Medora about tennis lessons: … if you stay at it, you are bound to become lighter on your feet and more flexible in all your movements.  Unfortunately, Osa has not yet shown any interest in sports or athletics.

Sometime during the dark of the night she establishes herself on the foot of our bed where she stays until morning or until otherwise disturbed.  Last night I was wakeful, as I sometimes am, and when I turned on my bedside light to read for a while, here came Osa.   She walked (stomped) across Nyel’s sleeping form directly to me and curled herself in the ‘spotlight’ which happened to be right on top of my book.  Of course!

All in all, I believe Osa is settling in quite well.  I think Gordon would be pleased.  Since she is “a 2004 model” (according to the vet with whom we checked) and rather set in her ways, we have assured her that she will continue life as an “inside cat” here in Oysterville.  When the weather improves, though, I’m thinking of taking her outside (in my arms, not on a leash) for a walk-about and maybe introducing her to the chickens.  Or… maybe not.