Sometimes A Little Goes A Long Way

          Things have improved immensely since my last post, and I owe it all to one thing. Kaida (or as my father now refers to her, Wynona) now spends every night downstairs as opposed to in my bedroom. A few sources have told me that cats work out territory based on a time share arrangement; therefore, I've been trying to play to that with convincing her to spend evenings downstairs. Kaida still has access to my bedroom during the day, while I'm awake. Once the sun goes down, however, she's out. 

           I feel incredibly guilty about this, only because I originally introduced my bedroom to her as her "safe" room. Now she's not allowed in it for 8+ hours out of every day. But honestly, I feel like our relationship will be much better if I'm able to get a good night's sleep without paws all over my face and meowing in my ear. I'm much more eager to see her in the morning, as opposed to being eager to escape from her.The air conditioner issue also influenced the decision. Once July and August hit I'm going to need the air on, period. I don't need her peeing on my bed because she's afraid of the air conditioner. 

           She does sit outside my door and meow for a few minutes at different times during the night. An online source recommended using the requisite spray bottle of water and spritzing her underneath the door when she whines. One thing I'm getting better at is distinguishing between "talking" aka a normal meow and "whining" and only disciplining the latter. 

          She is still very much a lap kitten. Tonight I came home from a 12-hour work day, and was told by my mother that she had slept for pretty much all of the afternoon. So once I had finished dinner, I tossed some toys for her and sat down on the couch, expecting to be chucking toy mice across the room for awhile. Instead, she hopped up on the couch and curled up in my lap. I moved to the floor eventually to entice her to play (knowing full well what her sleeping now would mean for the overnight hours) and she curled up between my crossed legs. Honestly, when she's whining for attention all I need to do is sit down. 

        Tomorrow we go to the vet for the first time. I have a list of questions all set! We'll see how it goes.