conuly

And she's also learned that by being still and calm, she'll encourage Callie to interact with her. Just today Callie came up to her and head-bumped her before running away! (It was huge, really.)

Ana's new knowledge only helps her a *little*, of course. A few days ago she accidentally locked Callie out in the back hallway. When she opened the door she decided, since Callie is scared of her, to open it in such a way as to not frighten the cat.

She hid behind the door.

Callie is a smart little cat. She knows doors don't open themselves, so when she saw this door opening with nobody there she immediately went to peer behind it. Ana responded by vigorously attempting to open the door wider and sandwich herself behind it more firmly.

Callie, clearly a little baffled by this strange behavior, tried harder to peek behind the door. Ana hid even better.

Callie doesn't have the best social skills, for a cat. Jenn calls her our little aspie cat, and that might sum it up (inasmuch as we can apply terms like that to non-humans at all). You expect non-humans to take a little time learning to communicate even slightly with humans, but Callie seems to have had trouble learning how to communicate with cats as well. When her siblings were learning to playfight, Callie responded by hissing and growling. It took a few weeks for her to work out that pouncing didn't mean an actual attack, and longer to learn any way to respond to this. She spent some time responding to playfighting by cautiously licking whichever sibling had her cornered.

Even once she caught on, the only game I've ever seen her be really good at with her siblings is "hide and ambush". She can play with toys, but with her brother or mom or my feet the only game she plays is "hide and ambush". It's adorable to see how, once she determines somebody is heading her way, she'll pick a hiding spot and wait.

So when she saw how determined Ana was to hide behind this door, she understandably freaked out and moved quickly away, staring warily at this strange child the whole time. She might not understand the non-verbal cues that every *other* cat I've ever met grasps as "I'm holding you, but I'm going to put you down now". (Leaning slightly forward and adjusting your grip. Most cats leap from your arms, Callie just sits there and stares at you.) Maybe it took her a little time to learn "come here" which, when paired with food, is generally very basic. But you know what she knows?

She knows for damn sure what it means when people are hiding and refuse to come out! She wasn't going to get pounced on, not her!

Ana, to her credit, persevered and even tried an "I'm more scared of you than you are of me!" face. This did not help matters, but at that point nothing would've.