one year with tina

to honor this anniversary (actually May 16, but i'm lazy), here are some of my "best of" tina moments:

probably the first pic i took of her, the day i brought her home. i want to laugh at how cautious we were around each other. well, both of us are shy but want a lot of attention and affection... the idea that "my cat is like me" was born very soon, as i observed her: well-behaved, gullible, lazy,  playful, picky with food, ...it's a pick-and-choose.
anyway, again true to the parallel: i thought she dealt quite fine with being in a new place for the first time, but then the actual integration was pretty slow. (only actual argument we had right in the beginning was over a flower pot which she liked to knock over on a daily basis. oh, and waking me up at 5 am)

major milestone: cat accepts my petting and thus disables me from doing schoolwork. back in june she would spread herself all over my papers and textbooks, try walking on my computer keyboard, and purr very loudly. the louder the purr, the happier it made me, as if i'd produced it through the pure awesomeness of how good a cat owner i was. 

welcoming her friend luna on a visit. tina adores sarah's cat, luna, whom she lived with for a couple of months. she always goes to luna to hug her and lick her and generally cuddle with her. luna is pretty indifferent, but she tolerates tina at worst, and sometimes she plays along. 

here's a cat that's very true to the stereotype that cats love boxes. i only managed to get her to sleep in her catbed after rubbing it with catnip...but the box? no need for any convincing. this box ("tina's summer cabin") came from my parents with my birthday present and instantly became a hit: shelter and toy all in one. it still exists, although in a pretty battered condition, and now there is a second, narrower, box also in use. the narrower the better, apparently. 

other things tina likes: sitting underneath the lamp. i think it's for the heat.
her relationship with my bed is weird: she will move into the bedroom when i go to bed, but prefers to sleep either on the night table or at my feet at the bottom of the bed. she doesn't like going under the covers at all. also, she will sit on any non-cover thing that you put ON the covers: sweater, blanket, towel...

...like this. but maybe it's just a cat thing.
i have a bit of trouble differentiating between "cat things" and "tina things", since this is the first pet i've had and also the first time i'm paying proper attention to cats. the only real comparison i have is luna, who is much more zen, and/but tolerates humans better.  me included. 

...lying in the sun : only enjoyable from the inside of the kitchen. as soon as you let her out on a warm sunny day, she will go and sit under a chair. 

sitting in high places: this is the highest spot in my kitchen accessible to her, from the back of the sofa. even this is hard, and she's fallen a couple of times while attempting to jump up. cue laughter. she only discovered this spot sometime in december, and at first she would climb the sofa, look up and miaow at me to pick her up and put her there.
this cat is 2 years old now, which in human years is about 25, apparently. that's what i tell her when i shame her: "cat, you're an adult - you should be able to jump this high." or contribute to rent, or something.

things tina doesn't like: the cold. actually i think this is quite sensible of her. but i did have to try and see what her reaction to snow would be (spoiler: not positive.)

our conflict of interests is as follows: i love to hold her and squeeze her, she mostly just wants me to leave her alone. some compromise can be reached when i pick her up in her catbed or box and hold that on my knees.
i know it's not that she doesn't like me, it's just that she wants things her own way. when i come home she greets me at the door by throwing herself on the rug and rolling around waiting for belly rubs. 

anyway, it's extremely clear that B. is her most favourite person ever. for multiple logical reasons too: he plays with her constantly, feeds her weird stuff like raw fish, cheese and cream; and respects her personal space.
also notice the spring innauguration of the collar from my mum, with a personalized tag courtesy of sarah. 

i really hope she knows she's loved, and also that she enjoys herself overall here in my home. i've forgotten how life was before her, and i'll miss her a lot while i'm gone on holiday.