Scaredy Cat

This morning, a guest is sleeping on our living room couch. I don't know why: I thought they were going to be in the guest room downstairs. But I decided to feed the cats their wet food in the kitchen, instead of going past the couch with the sleeping person to get to the cat's usual feeding spot by the window in the living room.

Cali was fine with this. Wherever I put the food, she's going to eat it. Jiin was absolutely not okay with it. I ended up having to put Jinn's bowl in the usual spot past the couch, by the window. The whole reason we switched from feeding the cats in the kitchen to feeding the cats in the living room is because Jinn is a scaredy cat, and anytime anyone did anything in the kitchen she freaked out and left her food. It's easier for us humans to avoid the window for the period of wet food consumption than it is to avoid the kitchen.

This morning, after Cali finished as much of her wet food as she wanted, Jinn tried, but was mostly failing, to finish up Cali's food in the kitchen. So I ended up moving Cali's leftover food to the usual spot by window, as well.

Jinn will probably always be a scaredy cat. Jinn is very comfortable with me, sleeps on me, and meows to get in my room, but when I sneeze she usually evacuates my lap. So I can't possibly take it personally, because she is the bravest around me. But the amount of fear she exhibits is pretty extreme.

I know that the stereotype of "scaredy cat" exists for a reason. And I've lived with scaredy cats before. But, somehow, this feels different. We've lived with Jinn for a little over 2 years now, and I feel like I haven't 100% figured her out like I had figured out Artemis, who I lived with for 18 years.

Last week, Dan accused me of hiding in my bedroom from guests. I was offended and I objected, and I realized that a big part of it is that Jinn is hiding in my bedroom from guests, and I am cuddling Jinn and making her feel more comfortable. If Jinn is closed behind a door away from all the people, she does not like it, but if Jinn is closed behind the door with me, she feels very secure and satisfied. She'll still usually evacuate my lap if I sneeze, but she does lay out and look very relaxed.

Because of 18 years of living with Artemis, I thought I was great with scaredy cats. And I'm not bad, but I feel like I need to figure out something systematic to make Jinn more comfortable in the house.

Normally, I object to the idea that our society does too much of adopting stray cats, and therefore we're not taking advantage of artificial selection to make cats good domestic animals. With Jinn, I'm starting to agree. She's just too much of a scaredy cat to be a house cat. Don't get me wrong, she's going to stay in my house, and she's a pretty happy house cat, but her reaction to the food in a different spot this morning was extreme. So I will continue to work on keeping good routines and habits, and cuddling with Jinn when she's hiding. But I think I will also look for more resources on how to comfort scaredy cats.