Natalie

What can I say about Natalie? She's a cat of extremes. When we first met her at the kitty jail, she was extremely, painfully shy, and pretty much hid in a hidey-hole whenever she could. We were told we'd need to do a lot of work to get her confident around people. I was pondering this when she was first out of the carrier when we got home. Then she took to an "igloo" for two days and nights and when she finally came out and ate while we were in the room, it felt like a major breakthrough.

Then came the phase where she'd allow us to stroke her, but only once a day, when she was lying in a certain position and only for about five minutes. It was a frustrating time, particularly as Nathan was so friendly. She was such a scaredy cat, the two times we've had any work done on the house, and had to shut them in the living room, she hid in the grand piano. IN THE PIANO. Poor little thing, she was terrified! And we were a bit worried about the family heirloom.

Fast forward a few more weeks and it's all so different. She's still a bit scaredy, and will run away if she's not in the mood for attention. But when she wants something, she lets you know. Out of the two of them, she's the one that will follow you around, dogging (surely that should be catting?!) your footsteps, jump all over you. If you're lying down she'll rub her face almost the full length of your body to show you who you belong to. It's sort of nice, because she was so afraid of us before. But it's also INTENSE. I call it lovebombing.

She's the brighter of the two, and got the hang of the cat flaps more quickly and is always desperate to go outside, way more than Nathan. I think she's got a stronger "feral" instinct. They were born outdoors to a domesticated mother but didn't come into contact with humans til they were about 12 weeks. They're really well-behaved, all that considered.

The other thing about Natalie is that she's a little fighter. FIGHTER. We pill Nathan with quite easily really, he doesn't fight us, and doesn't even unsheath his claws when he's trying to push our hands away. When it came to worming time, we didn't think we'd have a problem. Three pills later, and a lot of upset on both sides, we've found something to put on her food. I've also caught on to the fact that she won't eat anything if she's not seen it go from container to bowl (clever, like I said) so I've had to resort to cunning tactics.

She likes hunting flying insects, lying on the stairs, being stroked when she feels like it and climbing trees.

She dislikes being held down to be pilled, being brushed, wet food, the television and loud noises.