In Which My Cat is Shy

Originally posted on Near Life Experiences.

This is for GBE2 Prompt 64 Hidden

My cat Kali has still not really adjusted to her new living arrangements. When we first came here, the cat spent the first few days alternating between hiding under the futon and screaming her head off. (I am not exaggerating, she was wailing as if she were trying out for a banshee barber shop quartet.) It took her days to get around to eating and drinking again and about two weeks before she stopped freaking out.

At one point, I had a major scare. I couldn't find Kali anywhere, and I was afraid she had gotten into an area she wasn't supposed to be in. I looked all over the room and couldn't find her. It turned out that she had somehow managed to squeeze in under the bureau draw, something I wouldn't have thought was possible if I hadn't seen her do it!

But she still has not really settled in. She is extremely shy, and spends most of the day hiding under the bureau drawer, the bed or behind book cases. She comes out at night, but she still shies away from me when I try to pet her. (I suspect she is anticipating getting another bath, which I had to do because she was spraying all over herself. Either that or she thinks she is going to end up some other weird place if I catch her. Poor kitty.) To make matters worse, there is a stray cat that basically thinks it is awesome to lounge outside the door and listen to my cat growl at him/her/it.

In contrast, her older birdie bro, my cockatiel Leo, settled in within a very short time. He has already been through one major move, and aside from deeply resenting being carried in a shoe box, quickly settled in. (And I really would have expected Leo to freak out more, he is much, much older than the cat, and he tended to freak out a lot when we were living at the apartment complex when he could hear the neighbors. At the apartment Kali was generally shy around people, but will eventually come out of hiding to say hi.)