It seems impossible to me that my introduction to Harri Roadcat took place more than 3 years ago. The patience displayed by her caretakers in Illinois and their willingness to drive into central Missouri to make the handoff, Harri's resilience in adjusting to life in a mobile broom closet and taking leash walks in all sort of different places, the wonderful experiences that we shared during the 9 months she was on the road with me - that all seems like just yesterday.

But for the last couple years, Harri has been living the life of a house cat. A house cat in a rather full house, as she had to adjust to living in a house with 5 other cats. But adjust she has!

Before Harri came, Cleo was the undisputed ruler of the house. Cleo slept where Cleo wanted, Cleo played with whatever Cleo wanted, Cleo ate when and what Cleo wanted. When Harri first came into the house full-time, she had to figure out which of the other kitties she could boss around and which ones she couldn't. This lead to some interesting confrontations, but nobody got hurt and nobody's pride got injured.

Harri quickly learned that her orange brother was a really good target for pounces, that Ranger was good for an occasional wrestle, and that Tabitha was good for some mutual chasing. Amelia makes a good pre-snuggle warmer-upper - if Amelia climbs into my lap to snuggle, Harri frequently climbs up as soon as Amelia leaves and curls up in the warm spot.

Harri is also warming up towards her Meowmie. Since Harri and I spent so much time in each others company 24 hours a day, Harri decided that I was *her* human. No other humans were needed, and she didn't enjoy being near other humans. But in the last couple years she has warmed up to Nancy, will sometimes lie down beside her on the couch, and will even allow Nancy to pet her for up to half an hour at a time. She still won't do "fall asleep with paws and tummy in the air" arm snuggles with anyone but me, but I'm confident that she will in time.

The whole clowder has settled in their dominance dynamic now. Cleo owns the bedroom, Harri owns the living room, and everybody else shares the rest of the house. Harri and the other kitties often do the nose-sniff, and Harri always growls when they do. Not the "I'm going to get you!" angry growl, more like the "I'm a tough girl, and don't you forget it!" kind of growl.

The only things that are absolutely, positively exclusively Harri's are the boa feather wands. If Nancy or I starts playing with another kitty with either of the boa feathers, Harri will come running and lie down on top of the toy. Sometimes at night when Harri wants assurance that all is ok she'll carry one of the boa feathers to the stairway and stand there meowing until someone comes downstairs to pet her and tell her that all is fine and everybody is safe.

One of the things that endears Harri to me is her being at the same time a tough-girl kitty and a needy little kitty. She clearly tells the whole house "these boa feathers are mine!", and she expresses her toughness with her nose-to-nose growls. Sometimes when we're in the back yard she zips from the ground to the first branches in the maple tree in the blink of an eye. But when it's time to come down from the tree, she meows until her Paw comes over and stands next to the tree then gingerly steps from the lowest branch onto my shoulders. She zips up and down the basement stairs with Tabitha either chasing her or leading her, but when I'm working in the basement she does the two-paw-at-a-time "I'm a little tiny kitten and these are such big stairs" stair descent until I lean over to let her step onto my shoulders.

Another thing that impresses me is the way she cares for her fur-sibs. She is the smallest of the kitties, but when someone gets locked in a closet it's usually Harri that paws and cries to tell us that someone needs rescue. When the cats are all in the back yard and a loud noise outside the fence startles someone, Harri is usually the one who goes running towards the source of the sound, tail puffed out, to try to protect her clowder-mates.

And she has settled comfortably into the role of spoiled domestic kitty. For the last couple years, when I break out her kittying gear (harness and leash) and offer a walk she has turned away and gone to find something to play with inside. She is also quite happy being spoiled (like always being fed breakfast on the kitchen counter, instead of on the kitchen floor like the commoner rabble). One of these days I'm going to hook her up and take her for a walk anyway, just to see how she likes it.

So though I haven't been posting nearly as many Roadcat stories as I used to, the Roadcat is happy and healthy and well-adjusted (well, at least as well-adjusted as a cat can be). She has made the transition from roadcat to housecat smoothly but continues to remind everybody, human and feline, that she is *THE* Roadcat.

With a little luck, after the current flurry of too-busy weeks calms down a bit I'll be able to post some more Roadcat, Rangemonster, Samuel Badcat, and Amelia Fluffycat stories. Cleo and Tabitha will meanwhile continue in their quiet, spend-most-of-the-time-hiding lives, coming out for an occasional cuddle.

Copyright © Dan Mahoney
November 13, 2007