Before the adoption was finalized, the kids knew all about our cat. We’d sent pictures of her to them, and created a page in our family scrapbook just for her. They often asked about her, and by the time we were ready to bring them home, they were in love with her. Great, right?

Not so fast!

They loved her, but she was not prepared for them. She didn’t get that the pictures of the children on our refrigerator would soon be romping through the house. She didn’t realize she would be sharing space with two more children. She had no clue she would not have as much of our time and attention. And no one, least of all our precious cat, knew how noisy it was about to become!

After the initial running away and hiding from them, she went straight to growling at them like a dog. Not hissing, no, that was too ladylike….nope, she growled a low, guttural growl that spelled “get thee away from me!”

The kids loved her so, and it was hard for them to understand why she didn’t immediately come and play with them, or let them pet her. My youngest is only four, so he has a tendency to run at her, rather than slowly, gently and cautiously approaching her (despite our many discussions on the subject).

Their conversations were peppered with, “Oh, see, she’s looking at me, she loves me now!” or “She wants to play with me!” Not so. Basically, she was keeping an ever watchful eye on them!

However, she was very curious about them. Their rooms had been off-limits to her, as the doors were kept closed, and now they were often open, opening up a whole new heretofore forbidden world to her! That was “Cool thing #1” for her.

She is an utter hair freak. I don’t remember my childhood cat being so crazy about hair, but this cat is! She loves to smell hair, play with hair, be around hair. So, when I am doing my daughter’s hair, she loves to come around and watch. After I am done, she enjoys nuzzling up to me to smell my hands. Through that, she has learned to associate their scent with something she likes, rather than mischief and mayhem!

Further, I’ve had the kids take turns feeding her. Again, she smells their scent on something that holds good associations for her, and it gives them a “legitimate reason” to be near her, in her eyes and she tolerates their nearby presence.

Now she no longer growls, and endures their petting her. She has made a couple of half-hearted attempts to play with them (after biting my youngest when he approached too fast…now he understands our many warnings, and has a greater appreciation for her!). However, he still claims she loves to play with him, so clearly he came out unscathed!

The tide is turning, and it looks like the kids have a new friend in our cat, after all!

Photo credit: Marie Stroughter