Magic, the mama kitty, has been very wild and shy. She feels safe in the Jiro Palace – the corner cage – so even though the gate has been removed, she stays there almost always when the humans are in the room. I think she’d live in a tree if she could – her favorite spot is the small, narrow shelves on one side. She lies on one of the top two shelves, where she feels safest.
Every so often she will come out even if I’m in the room, as she did this morning. She kept checking, to be sure I stayed in my chair and didn’t make any threatening moves, but she walked around, played a bit with the kittens, and looked out the big window.
I still hope she will become tame – confident that I don’t mean her harm. She takes treats, and sometimes will even let me stroke her flank with two fingers. It’s slow going, because she’s been a wild thing all her life. But on Saturday she stayed out in the cat tree when I came in, and she actually played with a toy – the wonderful Da Bird. It’s pretty irresistible, and she quite liked swatting it, and tolerated me swinging it around. Progress!