hno: Such a shame - especially after they'd Benn doing so well together. I really hope Sinbad finds the sense to stop sneaking up on her soon :cross: Mega
Unfortunately catching in mid stalk doesn't stop him. He either finds a way to squeeze past any interference or he slinks off and waits patiently for us to leave so he can resume his stalking.
BUT he has had another flash of actually useful brilliance.
He has now observed that Tempest is weak when it comes to play time. We just watched him run through a series of testing a bunch of his toys to see which ones catch her attention the most. When he finds one she likes, he rolls around in front of her gate playing with it and trying to tempt her out. It is absolutely adorable.
He loves books. Especially game books. He is constantly trying to get into the library, actually. It's how we cheer him up when he's been scared by something. A tour of the library and snuggle with books cheers him right up.
The poor guy has to find something else to do while Tempest continues to hold off against his advances. Mind you, the testing out what toys she likes at least gets her watching him in an interested way for a change - though she might swat out and steel her toys back.
She was actually so happy she was rolling around on her back on the stairs purring and squirming for belly rubs, and tumbled down a couple of steps.
Sinbad put a stop to it eventually sadly. He came around the corner several minutes later. Although it went reasonably well. She stared at him for about a minute, they were probably 3 feet away from each other, then she hissed and ran back into her room.
I was heading toward the living room to play with Sinbad, carrying his favorite wand toy. He was of course nipping at my heels, meowing eagerly and happily. I paused to talk to my husband, and Sinbad started playing with the wand, batting at the feathery end. Tempest saw this.
She came tearing out of her room, stopped at the top of the stairs to look at Sinbad, who paid no attention to her as he continued batting the toy around. Down the stairs she came, charging the wand to play too. I was holding my breath, this was amazing - Tempest was charging down to play with Sinbad right here playing!!
Unfortunately, when she hit the bottom step, Sinbad turned to stare at her in complete surprise. I could tell he was surprised, he had this dumbfounded look on his face like 'what do i do?? what do i do??'
The moment he focused on her, she turned around and fled back into her room, and once she started running he naturally chased after her.
But still. I consider this an amazing milestone. They were within 2 feet of each other, and she voluntarily came out of her room with the intention of playing with him. If only he hadn't looked at her. ^.^
These guys need to get taken off to a kitty counselor together to meow through their mis-communications.
What a shame Sinbad turned round when he did and they didn't manage to get that millisecond of playing together. Still if Tempest isn't hiding in the highest, farthest part of her room away from Sinbad's prying eyes this little adventure has ended well me thinks.
The only thing of note is that Tempest's body language is starting to subtly change as she is staring at Sinbad. Nothing I can really identify, but both my husband and I have noticed there is something a bit different in the way she watches him. Wish I could be more specific than that.
But I think it's a good thing. Here's to hoping. We really want her to come out. It's been a long time for her to still be alone in her room.
They have learned to join forces. On the weekends when I and my husband are trying to sleep in, the distance between Sinbad and Tempest will shrink to about 3-5 feet. He sits on the bottom of the stairs, she sits 4 or 5 steps up, and they sing the Chorus of Hungry Kitties until I get out of bed and feed them. It starts with Sinbad in the bedroom, but when I ignore him, he goes out into the hall and she comes down to join him in 'song.'
Once my feet hit the floor, she bolts back up to her room.