Welcome! Actually, you are NOT welcome.
I can’t quite recall if I’ve disclosed a dubious distinction that was, like all things good and bad in a relationship, initially mine, but has become ours. We have 3 cats. It’s a bit of a long story… short version is: I wanted two so that they wouldn’t be lonely when I was away. A friend ended up giving me hers, who was from the same litter, so now we have 3 cats from the same litter. This little fact about me was something that has caused many a raised eyebrow, much labeling of me, and, I heard after the fact, a plea from my mother to my older sister to stage an intervention with me. That was when I was single and living alone in a small house in a small town. With my three cats. I get why people were worried.
Along came Joe. Who had no cat allergies! And a willingness to let these furry little creatures into (and occasionally dominate) his life. He didn’t run away. To be fair, I told him right off the bat. Our initial meeting may have gone something like this: “Hi, I’m Geraldine. I have three cats.” Okay, not quite, but I’m pretty sure I let him know within the first 12 hours. I liked him; I had to be honest. You can bet my parents breathed a sigh of relief.
Fast forward almost 5 years and Joe has now had to endure moving the cats once from Massachusetts to California. And we’re doing it again going the other way now. This time, instead of subjecting my poor sis Bea to flying cross-country with one, (who has a stinky gland when he’s agitated. NOT pleasant.) I decided to make two trips in a week. Airlines only allow one pet per passenger, and often restrict to 2 the number of pets allowed per flight. The whole 3 cat problem presents itself in many permutations.
We decided I’d bring one lucky candidate to NYC first, deposit said candidate in our newly leased apartment, and then we’d return a week later with the other two. In the meantime, same loving sis Bea would keep the first cat company in the evenings in the scary new apartment and city. Who was to go first, then? We decided that Temma is the most independent and bounces back quickly from any travel-related trauma, of which we hoped there’d be none. (Ha.)
In the days leading up to our departure from Palo Alto, I felt sorry for Temma. She’s so small. And she enjoys playing with her siblings. Look at how pathetic she looks, all by her lonesome in the hallway of our Palo Alto place with her siblings just a few yards away!
How’d the trip go? Funny you should ask… Temma is a fiesty one. She’s very, very sweet, but she’s active and curious. Runs around the house looking busy a lot. Well, this turned out to be a disaster at the airport. Joe had her last time and he’s stronger and more firm with the cats. I think he had her well immobilized when we flew from BOS-SJC 3 years ago. This time, I didn’t get a good hold of her as I took her out of her bag at the security checkpoint. It was a terrified, terrifying, hitting, spitting, scratching biting black and white furball of fury. She got herself wrapped around the table of the security table and the leash and collar I had her one was choking her. What. A. Scene. I finally managed to grab her, received quite a few scratches and even a good bite for my efforts, and wrangled her back into her bag on the other side of the metal detector. Never again. The poor passenger in line behind me even sustained a scratch or two in his effort to help me. Thankfully he was an animal lover and not a litigious type. Temma hyperventilated the entire flight over.
And I felt horrible for her. Thankfully she seemed to be okay after an hour or so at the new apartment.
And she very much enjoyed having Bea stay with her while we were back in California retrieving the other two and packing up our stuff.
(What, climbing on people’s backs isn’t welcome cat behavior?)
I was very excited to reunite the cats so that Temma wouldn’t be alone any longer. When we got back to California I asked Joe if he thought Zoe and Teaj missed Temma. He looked at me and said: “They’re cats.” I was rather miffed. I knew he’d take back his anti-anthropomorphizing stance when he saw how happy they were to be reunited in New York.
The journey with Zoe and Teaj went far better than it had gone with Temma. Which isn’t saying much, but it actually did go very smoothly despite weather delays and a Noreaster welcoming us in NYC. We got back to the apartment late that night and set the two cat carriers down. Temma came over to sniff them. I unzipped one and out popped Teaj’s head. HISSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!
Apparently, in the short week since she’d left California, Temma has gotten used to being an only cat. And she seems to not know, or at least certainly not like her siblings anymore. For the first day we were all here, she’d growl and hiss every time she caught sight of the others. Not quite the happy reunion I’d had in mind. Perhaps Joe is right. They’re cats. They establish and defend their own territory.
She pretty much hid in this box for the first day or after we got here. Grumpy little chicken.
Three days into our stay, she’s at least able to be in the same room as them and sit near them. She still hisses and growls if she feels catches them looking at her for more than 3 seconds. It’s sloooowly getting better, I think… but I was definitely taken by surprise at this turn of events. She’s very happy that Joe and I are around, so it’s not a complete memory loss on her part… but perhaps she’s just developed a new, cool NYC attitude. And this apartment was hers for a week and is therefore her territory. Feline visitors are not welcome.
