Hold Me!

I am not as affectionate and cuddly with my cats as I could be.  This includes Taki, who I found near death and nursed back to health, bottle fed, and raised. I did not cuddle her at first, for fear she would not survive. I was afraid of getting too close with disastrous results. That was wrong, I know, but what I did. Although, I did hold and pet her as a baby, I did not cuddle her. 

Each of my cats has their own pattern for cuddling.  Sake likes to be held in the mornings. I feel really badly about this, because she wants me to hold her as I am heading out the door to go to work.  Fortunately, I sometimes start out earlier than I need to, and have some time to hold her. Also, fortunately, most days, I have some flexibility in the time I arrive at work.  But, I often do not feel at ease when I am holding Sake, because I am thinking about the need to get to work.  And, I know she would probably let me hold her longer than I usually do.

Sake also likes for me to sit in the living room in the evening. I do sometimes. But I often sit in "the office" where the computer and printer is.  I have wireless, so I can use the laptop in the living room, but if I am doing any printing, I have to be hardwired to my old fashioned printer.

Haiku also likes attention in the evening, when I am in "the office."  She likes to sit on the office chair, and will even sit on my lap while I am working at the computer. If I have the TV tray set up next to the office chair, she likes to sit there. When I have a second chair in the office, she may lay in it while I am working on the computer.

Haiku will join my on the sofa.  Until I got the replacement windows, Haiku and Sake would not be on the sofa at the same time. However, when I open the windows behind the sofa, they will both sit on the back of the sofa, at opposite ends.

Taki looks for affection in the evening: this is consistent: When I was bottle feeding, I fed her and left in the morning and at lunch, but was able to feed and pet in the evening.

It is so difficult for me to realize that Sake will be 11 years old this summer, and Haiku has just had her 10 year birthday. Taki will be a year at the end of this month.  I still think of Sake and Haiku as babies. And, of course, Taki still is a baby!

Oh, I am getting old.