It’s been two weeks since we lost our sweet Cita, and I know that I owe you Nenette fans an update about her, since my last kitty update post turned into a Cita-only post.

In the last two weeks, Nenette’s usual set of challenges has been compounded by a slew of changes all at once. All changes are traumatic for her. She’d been adjusting to Cita’s presence, and now she’s had to adjust to Cita’s absence. That seemed to be traumatic. At the same time, the carpet in our front room and hallway was getting ripped out and replaced with flooring. That was traumatic. And earlier this week, our houseguests arrived, and their presence, of course, has been traumatic.

Going back to Cita, though: Nenette seemed to know that whatever had happened, it wasn’t good. No doubt the sadness clinging to us clued her in, but there were other indications, as well. The baby gate missing from Cita’s room door. The fact that we no longer spent time in that room. Most of all, probably, the absence of Cita’s scent and energy.

Looking back on it, we actually wonder whether Nenette had been aware that Cita was dying the whole time. She’d been remarkably tolerant of her.

It really looked like Cita’s disappearance didn’t settle well with Nenette; Nenette was agitated for two days. She returned to herself once we scoured Cita’s room and everything in it and opened that door again. We also stopped giving Nenette the anti-anxiety med she’d been taking in order to ease her re-introduction to Cita.

As far as our houseguests this week, Nenette has made herself scarce, predictably, camping out in our bedroom and venturing into enemy territory the scary unknown only in the early mornings when said houseguests were still asleep.

She did have a surprising moment this week, though… she allegedly (I didn’t witness it) came out and approached one of our friends and asked him to pet her, which is unheard of, especially because it was the male of the two friends!

And right now, our guests are up and about, and Nenette is still around in the house. She’s being cautious, but she’s out. It’s funny – whether houseguests stay for two days or four days, Nenette seems to know when it’s their last day, and that’s when she starts getting brave, usually. Today is Day The Last, and Nenette isn’t running for her life to hide in our bedroom.

I took this pic of Nenette last night as we were lounging on the bed together:

 

 

In short, Nenette’s doing well, and her progress is chugging along. I hope to report that she’s less afraid when our next houseguests arrive in three weeks.

ETA – by popular demand – more pics!

Nenette’s Abyssinian side makes her coat colors interestingly different depending on time of day and type of light source. Here are a few pics from the last few months….

This one’s kind of blurry, but her expression is classic Nenette, so I had to include it:

 

 

Here’s Nenette displaying her inner wildcat:

 

 

 

And here she is spying on me as I was working one night:

 

 

Finally, Nenette decided to insert herself into my The Americans poster.

 

 

Happy Friday!