Monday Meows : Pinkie and Midnight travel
From Cactus Haiku on 1/27/2019
“Honestly driving with my cats Pinkie and Midnight was much better than last time. Last time they meowed almost all 14 hours. Seriously. I thought I was going to go nuts.
This time it was a lot less. Okay the first hour and then they stopped. I was soooo happy! Then they would start up everytime I stopped for gas for another 15 minutes each time and then stop again. After riding for 12 hours though, they started up again but intermittently. This 14-hour drive was so much better than last time we drove to California.
Once we got here Midnight forgave me as soon as I fed him. I tried to feed them on the trip. Midnight, who is a chowhound, accepted my food and water offerings. Pinkie was so pissed at being in a cage, she turned around in the cage and showed her rump to me and the food. She would have no part of it until she was out of the cage. Then when she was out of the cage, she ate but refused to have anything to do with me for two days. Slowly she forgave me and finally let me pet her. Yay!
As far as I was concerned, traveling is now doable. I can handle 15 minutes of meowing now and then. Don’t tell them that though. Wouldn’t want them to go back to nonstop meowing. I love them but honestly, the cats are not good travelers. They don’t know that I am contemplating an RV life traveling with them.”
Monday Meows here on 1/28/2019
So here we are staying in a trailer. At home, Pinkie stays in the back bedrooms all the time except when she goes outside. She sleeps with me too. Midnight hangs out in the livingroom and crawls in my lap to be petted whenever I go on the laptop.
Here everything is flipped. Pinkie stays with me in the front room while I blog. She makes me get up to pet her. Midnight likes napping on the bed in the back and sleeps with me at night. Pinkie gets lonely at night but is afraid of Midnight so she jumps up on the bed and then into the cabinet above the bed. She likes being higher than Midnight. What is interesting to me is if she is on the floor and he is too close, she hisses at him. But when she is in the cabinet staring down at him, even if it is the same distance or less, she doesn’t hiss. She just looks down curiously at him. I think she feels safer in high places.
When I first arrived here, I stayed at my friend’s two-story cabin for the first couple nights as the trailer wasn’t ready. Pinkie ran upstairs as soon as I let her out of the carrier. She would stare down at me, Midnight and my friend’s two cats from between the banisters. She was a very happy camper. My house back home only has one story so this was the first time she experienced a two-story place. She snuggled down with my friend in her bed and refused to acknowledge me for a couple of days. I thought she had plans to move in. But then she decided she missed me after all and came downstairs up to me and rolling over her back. She didn’t want me to pet rub her tummy, just pet her head with my foot. Pinkie likes being petted on her forehead with my foot. Only when she is in a particularly good mood does she allow me to pet her with my hand. Anyone else who tries to pet her with their hand sends her running. I was very happy she even let me pet her with my hand. Of course, she got pissed off all over again when I caught her, put her in the carrier and took her over to the trailer with Midnight and I.
Midnight is ecstatic he can sleep with me at night so he refuses to leave the bedroom except to eat or use the restroom. I think he’s afraid if he stays away too long, Pinkie will be the one who gets to sleep with me. Every once in a while if he sees Pinkie making for the bedroom, he’ll chase her back to the front room. She does her fair share of hissing too if he comes into the front room.
They are getting better at traveling but we have a ways to go to get them to accept each other. Now that Pinkie is liking me again, I will try doing Cagedunn‘s suggestion of petting her, then Midnight and vice versa with the whole hand licking thing again. Maybe this time it will take. I am also thinking that if I get something high for Pinkie for home like a tall cat tower so she can sit high in the livingroom, they can get used to being in the same room. Now that they have semiadapted to traveling, I have hopes they will adapt to each other.
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17 Replies to “Monday Meows : Pinkie and Midnight travel”
Pinkie looks like an ornament sitting up there on the cabinet. So cute!
I agree she is a cutie. Pinkie purrs her thank you too!
Charlee: “Wow, Pinkie and Midnight, you guys are practically outer space explorers! I mean, you know, by cat standards.”
Chaplin: “I want to hear more about the food in the car.”
Charlee: “I mean, Chaplin and I, we don’t really go anywhere and we don’t really want to. Well we evacuated from the fire that one time but it doesn’t really count.”
Chaplin: “I want to hear more about the food in the car.”
Charlee: “Anyway we hope you get to have lots of travel adventures. Traveling in an RV is probably about as close as you can get to traveling without actually leaving your house, right?”
Chaplin: “Especially if the RV has food in it.”
Midnight agrees with Chaplin. Food is a good thing, more of it is better. Pinkie agrees with Charlee, “We don’t really want to go anywhere. Napping in our own bed is the best.” Both Midnight and Pinkie agree on one thing — it’s a good thing I haven’t found a cheap enough RV yet. But I’m still looking.
I agree a high perch for Pinky should do the trick at home. Glad they are both adjusting to travelling.
They were not happy traveling back but ecstatic to be home again. I’m going to keep an eye out for a Pinky’s high perch when I go to the thrift stores around here. I saw a good one in California but it wouldn’t have fit in with the cats and stuff I was bringing back.
They will adapt to their surroundings and have their places. It’s how they roll. I’m glad this trip was far better than the last one. Progress is a good thing.
Have a fabulous day and week. Scritches to the kitties. ♥
They did adapt. I was really happy when Pinkie slept under the covers next to me and on the other side, Midnight slept on the covers next to me. That’s the closest they’ve ever gotten. And it kept me really warm. They both purr their thanks yous for the scritches.
HOpe you’re having a great feline friday.
I tried commenting two other times, switched to my google profile to see if it would work. Glad y’all are there safely.
I moderate so it can take a little while before I approve, depends on when I can get on. I appreciate your trying so hard. That was very kind.
Oh my, that’s a trip. I really dislike car rides and I’d likely sing the whole way.
It was a long trip but they were somewhat good going up. On the way back, they complained a lot more so the trip felt longer. They don’t like car rides either.
What a very exciting and interesting story. I do hope they eventually become friends. I read somewhere cats can be tree dwellers like the leopard,high up or Bush dwellers like the lion who prefers to stay on the ground I think your idea of a cat tower would work well. Can’t wait to hear more of your adventures as a family.x????
I hope they become friends eventually too. I haven’t given up on that. I’m going to look for a cat tower for pinkie now that I’m home. Thanks for the lovely comment.
Doing it once or twice a day makes may make it happen faster, but cats being cats, they may be oppositional just because they can be! Good luck.
Well, they fought more in the trailer because of the small space but didn’t hurt each other. They also got closer, a lot closer. Pinkie would sleep on one side of me and Midnight on the other. Pinkie hisses at my hand though if I try to pet her directly after petting Midnight. She doesn’t like his scent on me. Midnight likes to be petted any time. I’m starting to get that they are territorial and the territory is me and neither wants to share. Watching their interactions when they hiss, sometimes MIdnight gives ground and goes around her by jumping on a sofa and sometimes he confronts her and then she gives ground. Still they are much closer before the hissing starts now. Before they only had to spot each other to start hissing. They are back to same old same old now that we are home so staying on opposite sides of the house but I am now hopeful if we do all travel together in a camper of some sort, they will survive and probably like each other at the end. Given how close they can now get before hissing, there’s been a lot of improvement. I’ll look for a perch at a thrift store for Pinkie so she’ll come into the livingroom with Midnight and I.
A safe spot will definitely help.