Karmen

Up until January of this year I had two cats called Prince and Karmen - I now only have one - Karmen.  Prince disappeared whilst Nigel and I were away on holiday and even thought I have done everything to find Prince - he has not returned home or been seen by anyone. This post; however, is about the changes I have noticed in Karmen and her behaviour.

Prince and Karmen have grown up together with Karmen being a few months older (she will be 4 in September) and so I assumed that traits like her timidness etc were part of her character. Yes, when Prince disappeared she pined and lost weight, which resulted in me taking her to the vets for a check up because she wouldn't eat and was losing a lot of her fur.  The Vet assured me she not underweight and that she was probably missing Prince and just to give her time and if I was still worried then to bring her back again.

When putting her food out I discovered that if I sat with her then she would eat - gradually I started to move further away from her eating area until she no longer required me to be present.  Karmen and Prince both had their own eating bowls but Karmen would wait for Prince to eat first then start on her food and, so, I guess she was still waiting for Prince to eat!!

Prince would be the one who loved visitors coming and enjoyed all the fuss that he received and Karmen would run into another room and hide - now she welcomes guests and allows people to stroke her, although she still does not like being picked up.

Karmen has never gone to Nigel BUT  a few weeks ago she jumped on to the garden bench and sat with him whilst he was enjoying a cuppa.  I went and got her brush and she allowed him to brush her - another first.  Going one stage further last week she climbed on to my lap curled up and went to sleep - another first.

It was Prince who would chase balls, wool, paper in fact anything around the floor and jump all over the furniture and Karmen would watch from the sidelines - not anymore, she has developed a playful nature. Karmen can now be seen and heard running up and down the stairs, jumping around and on the furniture, diving into the dirty washing bin, running around in circles chasing her tail on our bed - it would appear she has become a kitten once again.

This evening, though, she really did stop us in our tracks. Nigel and I were in the lounge watching the TV and Nigel was eating his chicken curry - he placed his plate on the coffee table whilst he sipped his drink - at this point Karmen walked in very casually and pinched a piece of chicken from the plate and devoured it - never in four years as she ever done that!!!  I am beginning to wonder if this cat is really Karmen after all :)) or whether she had some involvement in Prince's disappearance!!

Whatever!!!! she is certainly a lovable character and I am enjoying watching her as she becomes more and more confident and wondering what she will do next :))