There was a large collection of soft corruguated cardboard pieces that hadn't found a home yet, and he made them his playplace. Hid his toys there, played games around it. gradually they slid down flat on the floor, and he started sleeping there, maybe having a chew or two before sleep, like a baby with a pacifier.
He weaned himself off the cardboard-as-comforter, but never really slept anywhere that I would deem comfy; no chairs were large enough, and anything too soft, apparently, was a heat retainer; and with his double coat of fur the last thing he needed was heat retention. He chooses, usually, sisal rugs. I have them all over the house, and he uses every one of them.
However. I did notice that when he has a Moment, because either the other cat tries to beat him up, or he's had an encounter outside, or he's disciplined for trying to eat the silverware, he retreats to his cardboard comfort place. It's time out, maybe, time to think things over and regroup. The last time he did this, Toby had just beaten the starch out of him, and Charlie spent two full days and nights on the cardboard, shredding bits of it, working things out.
He still likes large 3-sided semi-enclosed spaces with lots of crinkly noise-making paper that he can crash into, CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH, and he hides his toys in there.
Charlie seems to have figured out some good self-care techniques. Smart boy.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I saw him on the stone wall, and called to him, he looked at me, and got down behind the wall. I thought, he's not scared, he's just careful.
DeleteHe doesn't trust easily, or automatically, which may explain why he was on MY stonewall and not in his old home. I suspect he was an underfoot cat (and he still is) in a place where underfoot was not good. He may have tripped someone up one time too often, or had time outs in a closed box.
But I think most cats develop (I hate the phrase) coping skills. What works, what doesn't, and if it doesn't, well, we'll move on.
By nature I think he's typical of the Siberian Forest cat part of him, which is just that. Shy of strangers, peaceful, cautious of new things. Large. Shedding. Many many coats.
After four years he is just now learning the joy of changing the bed sheets, yes indeed. And he has Toby to play with. They truly remind me of Laurel and Hardy...
Poor baby. I guess those boxes are his pacifier.
ReplyDeletethat's it exactly. They're his comfort cave.
DeleteHe looks like my Daisy.
Delete=)
DeleteJust went and looked, Arleen, and you're right. They look enough alike to be littermates.
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