Tulip spent her first day home alone yesterday. I worried all day long. I had school, so I didn’t get home until 10:30 last night. However, I called Eve on my dinner break. She said that Tulip was just fine and that she had found the litterbox on her own during the day. I was so proud!

When I got home, she was hiding under the couch. I’ve decided that I’ve really had about enough of that, so we flushed her out. I had to play kitty rodeo for a while because she was spooked. But I found that if I get down on the floor with her and pet her really firmly, she usually calms right now. It worked. I walked her over to the couch and convinced her to come up there and flop with me for a while. She totally relaxed.

When we were ready for bed we brought her back to home base. She went right in her carrier and laid down. It’s a straight shot from the bathroom to our bedroom so I could see her little ears pointing in our direction after we got in bed. She was still wide awake and wondering what we were up to. I decided to get her and put her on the bed to see if she’d sleep there with us. She was very curious about the room because she hasn’t spent much time in there other than hiding under the nightstand. She did about 100 laps around the bed trying to figure out where she was. I was about ready to give up because I was exhausted and it was late. I decided to try the petting trick again and it worked again. She flopped herself down on the bed and went to sleep. When I woke up, she had worked her way up a little higher and was sleeping in between us. I gave her a little pet to wake her up and was greeted with a big stretch, yawn and loud purring. She woke up in a wonderful mood. I love it!

We took her back to her home base where she relaxed in the carrier while we ran around getting ready for work. We tried to get her to eat. She showed a lot more interest but fell just short of digging in. Eve ended up smearing a significant amount of wet food on her which she licked off. Then she went over to her water bowl and drank a lot of water. That made me happy. Things are looking up.

Tulip got off to a timid start this morning. She’s still not really eating or drinking. She had a couple more pieces of dry food this morning. Last night we got a tiny bit of wet food in her by smearing in onto the back of her paw. She’s completely uninterested in eating. That has me less concerned than the fact that I haven’t seen her drink yet.

Last night she suddenly decided that she was nervous. We brought her back to “home base” where she curled up in her carrier and went to sleep. This morning she wasn’t very eager to come out. She did finally decide it was okay. We’re still learning where the litterbox is, so I try to encourage her to go in there. She’s been in there twice successfully with some guidance from us. So far, no more accidents. We’ve discovered that when she starts pacing back and forth in front of a door, that’s our cue to escort her to the litterbox. This morning she was in there for quite some time, but didn’t do anything. I’m a little concerned she might be constipated, especially with the lack of water. I gave her a bit of vaseline. In the past, the vet has recommended this for hairballs. They all seem to like it. I smeared some on her paw. Hopefully that will help.

This is her first day home alone. We decided she’s be safest if she was restricted to the bathroom area. She has her carrier, blankets, toys and food in there. Hopefully she’ll be okay. I suspect she’ll spend her whole day in the carrier. If I can sneak away, I’ll go visit her at lunch. It’s just about killing me to know she’s there alone.

Tulip discovered the couch yesterday afternoon, or I should say the top of the couch. She had been hiding under it from time to time before that. I was sitting there doing homework and she was poking around the living room. She came over to visit and put her paws up on the edge of the couch. Once she realized what it was, she jumped up. I had down-filled, faux suede blanket spread out which she found her way onto. She immediately started kneading and purring. She ended up plopping herself down on the blanket and sleeping most of the afternoon. Cute! Every once in a while she would stretch her arms out toward me and yawn. I’d give her a little pet and she’d curl back up and sleep some more. That made my whole day.

Tulip arrived last night. We picked her up at Petsmart where Janet volunteers. She was quite content in her pet carrier and stayed that way for the whole ride home. On the way, we stopped to pick up some dinner. While Eve ran in to get the food, I stayed in the car with Tulip. I opened up the top of the carrier so I could pet her. She seemed to like that and was pretty affectionate considering she doesn’t know me yet. When Eve got back to the car I closed the carrier back up and we came home. She didn’t seem to mind at all.

We brought the carrier upstairs and left her in it while we unloaded the rest of her things from the car. She’s got a lot of stuff for one small kitty! We set up a litterbox for her in the bathroom, so we decided we’d put her carrier just outside the bathroom so she would hopefully find it quickly. We opened up the carrier and it didn’t take her long to venture out. She didn’t go far, but she did poke around the bathroom a bit. We sat with her for quite a while, talking to her and petting her. We had quite a long day so we went to bed fairly soon. She found her way back into her carrier which we left open for her. She spent the night in there and seemed to be pretty content.

This morning we went in to see her. She was still in the carrier and responded nicely when we talked to her and petted her. So far we can’t seem to interest her in any food or water. But she does know where the food bowls are. She hasn’t been in the litterbox yet either. Hopefully that’s not a big deal.

We got up and made coffee. We could see her from the kitchen. She poked around the bathroom some more, then ventured into the bedroom. She found her way under the bed and then finally under the nightstand. That’s where she’s been ever since. She seems to just want to sleep under there. We go in there to check on her every once in a while. She seems a little annoyed with us when we try to interact with her under there. I guess she just needs some time to figure out what’s going on. Hopefully she’ll decide to come out from under there soon.

Overall she seems to be doing pretty well. She doesn’t seem to be particularly scared, just really confused. I’m looking forward to her being more relaxed with us.

We learned of Tulip while searching the internet for local animal shelters. We came across the website of FOCAS (Friends Of County Animal Shelters). Tulip was in foster care with a FOCAS volunteer named Janet. As soon as we saw her picture and read about her, we knew she was the cat for us.

Janet was kind enough to let us come to her home and meet Tulip. She’s a bit on the shy side, so Janet had her waiting in a large wire pet kennel for us. When we arrived Tulip retreated to an empty litterbox that was in the kennel with her. She didn’t seem particularly stressed or scared, just very cautious. As we stood next to the kennel and chatted with Janet Tulip laid at the entrance of the litterbox and listened in. She seemed quite interested in what was going on but completely uninterested in coming out. After chatting with Janet and talking to Tulip through the kennel for a while, we opened the kennel door. Tulip stayed put and allowed us to get closer and pet her. I was very relieved to see that. She sniffed us and listened very attentively to us. Her face is so sweet, it’s just priceless. We fell completely in love with her. Janet’s husband came out to the garage to join us. He decided to take Tulip out of the kennel so we could interact with her a bit more. She allowed him to hold her while we talked to her and petted her head. She was quite tolerant which made us really optimistic.

As we drove home, we discussed the meeting. We both thought things went really well. We decided that we were ready to commit to adopting Tulip. We will be bringing her home for the first time tonight. And so the adventures begin…