Selena has lived with us for almost two years (in August) and is finally beginning to show signs of joining the family. In her defense, I brought her home seven days after she'd been rescued (a day before her death sentence). She had stitches from her tummy tuck so she had to make a return trip to the vet. Not long after that she developed ringworm which required a vet trip and then developed food allergies which have kept her itchy and uncomfortable until the past four months when we finally found a food she can tolerate. She's been cut on, pilled, poked and probed almost the entire time she's lived with humans. Its no wonder she was distrustful.

But now she's feeling the need to join the family and is more willing to play with Hobbes when the humans are in the house. Which affords us the opportunity to watch her play. In the past month or so she and Hobbes play chase in the evenings. She chases Hobbes from the kitchen down the hall to the bedroom and then he chases her back from the bedroom down the hall to the kitchen. This lasts for almost an hour every night (and I don't know how often they play the game during the day).

The upshot of this game is that my once pudgy Hobbes is becoming muscular and trimmed down. In the past Selena was able to get away from Hobbes by leaping onto the back of the couch. He wouldn't put in the effort and would instead wait patiently for her to come down. Last night he surprised her by leaping right behind her and chasing her down the length of the couch. Also, we have a two tiered kitty condo with the top platform being a smaller square than the bottom. Hobbes has always just managed to get into the lower (and larger) platform to sleep and Selena has jumped up onto the smaller top platform. Imagine my surprise this week when I came home from work and wasn't met by kitties, which wasn't surprising, it was cold and rainy, they were sleeping in; but I walked into the living room and found Hobbes on the top platform! He has never been able to get up there. When I first bought the condo he tried to get up but decided it just wasn't safe and he settled for the lower level. Now he sleeps up there regularly, which makes quite a picture since Hobbes is still a large cat (not fat, large) and his legs and tail hang over the side. He doesn't care, he's quite satisfied with himself. I was thrilled that he made the effort to get up there and am still happy but a little less thrilled when I found him leaping from the top of my scanner to get there. I'm afraid to see what effect this has on the scanner!

But all in all, I'd say the Selena exercise program has been quite successful!

Copyright © Julie Cook
March 23, 2001