Gilbert is home

[kittykittykitty]

That is so funny!

[Ray P]

When Corky takes a chunk out of the wood work and we catch her and tell her no she dose not hide, but she will give you that look, as you say the stink eye.:rolleyes:

[Greywings]

I think you are each others grain of sand and you are both creating pearls of wisdom patience and progress.

Fred fred always looks quite innocent when you find him chewing the woodwork, he has the "who me" attitude.

[katana600]

I took way too much pleasure at David being in the doghouse with her. From what I could see, she was a magician doing her magic trick covering her face with one wing trying diligently to make him disappear. We both got the ole stink eye all the rest of the weekend. It was kind of nice to have company.

[Inara]

I took way too much pleasure at David being in the doghouse with her.

 

Sounds like a case of greydenfreude

[katana600]

Oh what a good laugh Inara, I missed this post and really enjoyed it this afternoon. Good one. Little miss sassy pants had a few days at home with a pet sitter. She is in her cage the whole time but she seems to revel in the safety of her cage even while the door is open when I am home. We took a rental RV to Pennsylvania to go to a wedding. Both our daughters flew from TX to GA and we brought along both the young men they are dating. Excellent trip with one malfunction after another with electrical issues with the beautiful modern RV. Every day I was grateful not to be concerned for life or death issues and knew they were safe at home. The carbon monoxide detector malfunction was determined to be the cause of all the trouble. It went through all six batteries for the Diesel engine, the generator as well as auxiliary batteries and couldn't be silenced even while connected to the campsite electric. Can you imagine how two parrots would be a timeless reminder of the alarm? Gilbert was so happy to see us return. I was convinced she is in such a better place with trust and managing her own stress. On day two of being home, she unexpectedly lunged at me while I was walking past her and I barely dodged a vicious attempt to bite me in the face. After that, she pulled and chewed off so e feathers. So much for managing her stress. That one afternoon of acting out was exchanged for a peaceful existence since then with many solicitations for me to rub her head. It's so hard to "read" her. Normally when I come in the room, or stand up if I am already there, she trips over her own feet to rush inside her cage to escape any interaction, period. Now she is still rushing into the cage, but scrambling to get to her "touching" perch. This is where she comes if she is soliciting a scratch on her head. She has abruptly changed from rushing to safety inside her cage to quickly getting inside and keeping the safety of the bars between us but clearly signaling she wants the reassurance of my touch. She always grips the bars so tightly with one talon while she vigilantly fixes one eye on me, prepared to lash out and bite if the mistrusted human goes too far or puts a finger too deep inside the bars. The thing that is different now is her eye pinning. For more than two and a half years she never pinned. Her vet and I wondered if she possibly had a head injury that rendered her incapable of pinning. She started barely fluctuating her pupil to the distinct pleasure of sharing warm oatmeal. Now she is clearly pinning fast and predictably showing pleasure in getting a head rub when she feels safe inside her cage. She will actually relax and her eyes roll and she blinks long and slow as she is nearly hypnotized into inadvertently drifting off to sleep against her will. We have come a long way. I visualize one day she will sit on my lap and feel safe the way Java does.

Edited August 13, 2014 by katana600
Typo

[katana600]

Miss Gilbert has a way of showing her rumpled little maroon tail feathers when she has a complaint. A while back I thwarted her efforts to fling her stainless steel food or water dishes by replacing them with heavy ceramic. The water dish is just the right size to drop in a metal bowl for a liner. While I was away she whiled away her idle time figuring out how to push that bowl hard enough to raise one side, hold it down with a claw and bit-by-bit rotate it until it breaks the suction anchoring it in place. I watched her work it free and give it a forceful fling sending water up the wall. She particularly was entranced by the loud drip sound as it hit the papers on the floor. I was not going to give her the satisfaction of hurrying over to replenish with fresh water. About 3 am were awakened by such a clatter I thought she had fallen from her perch. When I turned on a light expecting to soothe her, instead I was greeted by the sight of her standing on the floor of her cage, the proverbial prisoner with a tin cup banging away across the bars of her cage. I had forgotten to refill the water dish and she was thirsty. She gulped fresh water and piped up "night night" which was my dismissal to return to bed.

[Ray P]

Boy dose she have you wrapped around her talon. And you think she is not normal. lol

I can see the bonding all the way up here in Ohio. All you need to do is smooth out the rough edges.

Your relationship is about to explode.

She did not need a rescue, all she needed was a drink and she got you up to take care of it.

She dose know who she can depend on. She just wants to keep you in check.

[katana600]

Even in the wee hours, I was grateful that she was okay. It was pretty funny when she gave me the word to go back to bed. Today, since I know her reactions, I am getting into some rough territory. I am driving a rental truck to the Dallas/Fort Worth area to pass along some household furnishings to my daughter. A friend is moving her daughter for her first term of school so its good to share the trip. Miss Gilbert was abandoned from one home without preparation, just get "him" out, the moving truck is loaded, kind of thing. When I have moved furniture or put boxes together she has had a few meltdowns. I had to move her cage to get the big stuff out. She is so very quiet, watching my every move. I talked to her and told her I was going to come back and that David would be here. She watched me intently and her eyes were pinning. I've noticed before, but its more certain that her left pupil is shaped differently than her right. It looks a bit like a comma or a round little tadpole with a curled tail. It's time for her annual vet visit so I will ask. She does have my number but she is always "doing the math" so I can't get hers. LOL. Never have I felt so outclassed and outperformed. She's a tough one to get to know but I have a feeling when she is sure, she will have an overnight epiphany and decide I am okay.

Edited August 14, 2014 by katana600

[kittykittykitty]

I continue to be amazed because of this little girl.

[Greywings]

She is the ultimate observer of human behavior.

[Inara]

Oh what a smart little cookie she is! Banging the forgotten water dish was so clever. I agee with Ray, she has you wrapped around her little talons. Don't you just love that little almost hypnotized face with the half closed eyes?! HRH will do that when I lightly stroke her cheeks and over her ears. . .with a chopstick. Yes, a chopstick. Don't ask, long story and I don't want to highjack your thread. Suffice it to say I and she now refer to it as her "precious." So lovely that Miss GG allows you to hypnotize her with your fingers, cage bars between or not. I think that is so wonderful, and shows a great amount of trust, even though she still remains hypervigilant.

 

Be safe on your big truck journey. Having Dave be home, and you come back will be yet another tick mark on Miss GG's internal "is this really my home and my humans?" list. I so love, f rom afar, this wild little girl.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Inara

[Ray P]

I think Miss Gilbert has all our hearts in a bag under her wing.

She has us where she wants us.

[katana600]

Little Miss G was very distressed Wednesday afternoon and chewed and tattered her chest and pulled a flight feather that was ready to molt. After I got her cage moved back in place, she calmed down. David came home from work Thursday as usual and he said she came out of her cage and there has been no more nervous chewing. We got all our work done today and I will soon be back in my nest and will do no more traveling for a while. In fact, I may quit answering the phone. :-)

[katana600]

PS: I am looking forward to a chop stick tutorial, that sounds interesting. Also, every short term absence and return give Miss Gilbert a little more confidence. It seems counterintuitive that being gone helps her understand that things are the same. She is exposed to different caregivers, still has fresh food and water and her needs are met by new people. Our house sitter has a young adult son and he tends Gil. She has a definite preference for men. Joshua has been brave enough to learn to scratch her head just the way she likes it. I miss her too much, but each time is easier and she is evolving and learning new coping strategies. It's good for all of us and makes us better when we are back under the same roof.

[kittykittykitty]

I am sorry she was so stressed as to chew again, but she will know everything is alright when you are safely home again. Yes, Ray, she surely has me "in a bag under her wing."

[katana600]

Moving furniture is a sure stressor for her and I did as much as I could out without disrupting her. She is just too observant to get anything past her. David said once I left, she is just fine. I think it was Dave who wrote recently about rescues is that they never forget. As we go along, the things she can remember is that she is always safe and I always come back. I will be back Wednesday and I know she is going to be relieved to see me again, but she will hold her cards close to her tattered little fluffy chest and give me her poker face and perhaps the stink eye.

[Inara]

Yes, with each successive return, Miss GG does learn that you will always come back. She's getting quite the list of tick marks under the "yes they really are my humans" column. So glad that it's a little fluff and some chewing, and not a cage full of feathers. Inch by inch, bit by bit, one little feather left alone at a time. Dee, I was amazed and awed at your courage rescuing that little kitty in traffic! What a kind soul you are, and Miss GG knows that. Certainly she will be delighted when you arrive home to "Stink Eye Wednesday." I'd like to think it will be tail fluff/shake and chirp for a moment or two in delight, and then the stink eye.

[katana600]

This is the way I imagine my reception in Miss Gilbert's mind. "Oh, it's you again turning up like a bad penny. Well I guess that's for the best. Your substitutes don't do anything right. Gawd. I've worked more than three years training you to perform your duties adequately. I hope you didn't forget everything you have been taught. Sigh. It's so hard to get good help these days." Hahaha. I am looking forward to getting back home though I have had quite the adventures.

[katana600]

My homecoming was a five airport twelve hour day. I never thought I would hear this announcement from the cockpit "Due to waiting out the storm in Houston and flying through the storm we used more fuel than expected. Atlanta has had a weather closure and we are in a holding pattern. Unfortunately we do not have enough fuel to hold so we will be diverting to Birmingham now to get gas". Miss Gilbert was just as happy to see me arrive home as I was to be here. She has been incredibly sweet, relaxed and chatty. This is a turning point in her confidence that my absence will be followed by a predictable return. The sweetest thing was when she offered me an opportunity to rub her head, leaned back and sang out "Gilbert okaaay" followed by "Time to go night night Gil girl". All is well in Miss Gilbert's world. No cussing today even when I ran the vacuum cleaner.

[kittykittykitty]

Dee, I would be exhausted! The darling Miss Gilli Girl proved your prediction wrong, or is she just waiting to give you the stink eye? My thought is she just trusts you to keep your promise.

[katana600]

I think she was relieved to see LuLu back in the kitchen fixing her vittles. Once she saw me get settled in, she has been a little abrasive. She called me a lady of the night three times last night and I pretended to be deaf. She knew I could hear her and she laughed. She was up to her tricks today being happy and a little nicer. Its a lot better every time I leave and return. This time I didn't find any chewed feathers floating around. Hopefully I can stay home for a while. I am exhausted. Between cat rescue, changing out ceiling lights and fans, moving furniture and helping my daughter settle her home, the drive and wild flight schedule, I'm thinking like Gil girl. There's no place like home.

[Ray P]

You have given Miss. Gilbert the gift of time. The bad things in the past are fading.

[katana600]

You are so right Ray. It's time, giving her predictability and keeping promises. Something I noticed when I arrived home was evidence that she had been mobile in my living room. When I picked David up at the airport I finally had time to talk with him and asked about it. She launched off her cage and explored the living room and every time he offered her a lift back to her cage, she came back to him. He may be be her touchstone developing a bond to be her "one". As much as I would like for that to be me, it's enough to know that with patience and hard work to gain an understanding of her, she is showing positive signs of having the capacity for trust and affection. The encouragement from you and others gave me faith that she is worth the long wait in grey time. I think in the coming year she is going to show who she really is meant to be on the inside. For so long she has frozen herself in time inside a shell being anxiety and instinct driven. Her walls may not be tumbling down but there are chinks in the fortress and I am getting a few toeholds to climb over and reach into her heart.

[Inara]

Agreed. Time, predictability, and dependability. With a large sprinkle of love, and a huge dollop of patience. Dee, you have created the perfect recipe for Miss GG to turn from laddette to lady. I do get a tickle out of her modern day Liza Dolittle language and antics. It is hard for me to imagine *anyone* calling *you* of all people a lady of the night. She is such a loveable stinker. One can only imagine what kinds of things she has been exposed to in her little life. Of course she was delighted to have her LuLu safely home again, as are we.