We’ve had Cocoa the Cat for about a month now, and I thought I’d provide an update. In a nutshell, she has yet to come into the TV room, hates being picked up, and has only inadvertently climbed into CootieGirl’s lap while on her way from one side of the bed to the other.
So it’s going great!
No, seriously, she’s doing very well considering we were told she is an extremely shy and nervous cat.
Her first week we hardly even saw her, since she spent 90% of the day hiding under CG’s bed. But now she roams the downstairs quite a bit, spying on us from the hallway that leads into the kitchen, or peering in the doorway from the dining room into the kitchen. She’ll do laps around the kitchen and then run back upstairs the minute there’s movement. Despite being only steps away from the TV room, she has yet to venture into that section of the main floor.
She comes into our master bedroom every night to drink water from the bowl we keep in there, and she explores the master bathroom and closet quite a bit (she likely still smells remnants of our previous cats since they had a litter tray in that area for years until Mini passed away six months ago). Denis said one night when he was in bed in our room she jumped up to explore but when she saw the human in the bed she quickly jumped down and ran out of the room. She loves to flounce and get pet, which is so strange considering how skittish she is. But the picture shows the position she is in 90% of the time – on her side, ready for pets. She also has the quietest voice I’ve ever heard on a cat – her “meeps” are so quiet that you can only hear it if you are within a couple feet of her, or if there is no surface noise going on at all.
She and the dog mostly ignore each other. She has never hissed, hit or raised her back at him. But he is still traumatized from getting hit by Jacob the Cat, so he still cowers around her despite being 6x her size in weight and build. And heaven forbid she sits at the top of the stairs – he will refuse to come all the way up if she’s there. One morning Dobby went downstairs early in the morning when Denis got up early. Cocoa moved to lay down in front of our bedroom doorway, and when Dobby came back up to continue sleeping (since I was still in bed), he “couldn’t” come in the room. He ended up laying about 10 feet away from Cocoa, waiting for her to move out of the doorway to let him in. Poor doggo.
We were happy to realize that Cocoa is a grazer, which means she moderates her own food intake. That was one thing we loved about our OG cats – they all ate within their means and so we could put out a huge bowl of food and just refill it a few days later when it was empty. We couldn’t do that with Jacob, who never knew when to stop eating, so CG had to feed him twice a day. But so far, a month into our life with Cocoa, she self-moderates her food intake and CG only has to fill her bowl once a week.
I have given her several nicknames, all of which CG despises.
- Cocoa puff
- Cocoa butter
- Cocoa bean
- Cocoa krispie
I’m sure there are more I’ve said, but those are the main ones.
We’re hoping that Cocoa continues to adapt well and that she’ll finally realize that she is SAFE in our house. I think the day she curls up against CG’s for a nap, or the day she jumps on the sofa in the TV room and hangs out with us, will be the day CG and I both start crying a bit, realizing that Cocoa has finally claimed us as her family.
ETA: I have been told that within hours of this post, Cocoa the Kitty indeed came into the TV room to explore (CootieGirl was home since they only had a half-day of school today), AND jumped on the sofa to hang out for a bit!  Progress!
