A Rough Week for the Zima-Zoo

This has been a rough week for our cat Zima. When we first moved into our house, the back bedroom quickly became her safe haven from Trekker. We put a baby gate up in the doorway to keep Trek out of Zima's food and kitty litter, which we kept in the back closet. It didn't take long for Zima to claim ownership of the bedroom. She has several favorite places to nap back there, and anytime she is chased by the dog (who always wants to play), she knows she can escape by jumping the baby gate and taunting the dog from the opposite side. It's actually pretty cute. Oftentimes, they have been caught lying practically next to one another, with just the gate separating them.

Zima enjoys lying on the guest bed (aka "her bed")

One of the projects on our "Baby List" was moving Zima's kitty litter and food to the basement, because, well, "Zima's Room" is becoming "Baby's Room." It took us quite awhile to figure out how to keep the basement door open enough for Zima to have access to her food and litter (we didn't want to put a kitty door in because we would have to basically destroy the door to do so) and without allowing it to just hang open (and allowing Fitz to get down there). We finally decided on a long hook, which Casey installed last weekend. It is the perfect solution, and I think it is even baby-proof: I'm pretty sure the amount of space left is just enough for a cat, but not enough for a crawling infant to slip through.

On Wednesday, I was feeling highly energized, so I did some house cleaning, and while I was at it, decided to move Zima's food. Once I start projects these days, I get tunnel vision until they are complete, so we went ahead and moved her kitty litter, too. I introduced her to the new locations of each of these, and even put a comfy box with blankets in the basement, should she want to make the basement her new safe haven. Then, I chased her out of the back bedroom and shut the door.

The back closet, prior to move (still haven't taken an "after" picture)

Poor Zima! She didn't know what to do. She stood by the door and meowed for awhile. She paced the house looking lost and forlorn. She eventually laid down on our bed lethargically. She refused to eat or drink or use her new kitty litter. I started to get worried about how long she would hold out. Casey started to get worried that she was using some other place for her kitty litter (particularly, his closet). 24 hours later, still no evidence of eating, drinking, or expelling waste. Just a depressed kitty cat.

Finally, I woke up Friday morning to find that she had eaten some of her food and at least stepped inside her kitty litter box. When I went to the basement stairwell to get Fitz's food for breakfast, she ran down to meet me and meowed at my feet, finally asking for some food. I gave her more food, and she went right to work eating it. Like nothing ever happened. I guess she's a pretty tough cat. She'll bounce back.

And at least she has a couple of weeks ahead of the rest of us when it comes to adjusting to life with Baby. :)

By the way, at 37 weeks pregnant, I'm considered full-term now. This lil' girl can come anytime she pleases (but there are still 3 weeks till my due date, and I'm mentally preparing for her to come late; otherwise, I might go insane in this heat).