Primal instincts

 I usually have to search for Gambit. He is sometimes laying on the couch but most of the time he is under the chair or hiding somewhere. Yesterday I came home to a usual search for him which slowly turned unusual. I couldn’t find him and as I walked to the kitchen, I saw broken pieces of glass everywhere. 

Without changing my clothes I started cleaning the glass into a thick bag. Gambit wasn’t anywhere to be found. I looked in the bedroom, closets, washroom, etc and still couldn’t find him. I took the vacuum cleaner and started cleaning the smaller particles and I knew the sound won’t make him come out of invisibility. 

I had a lot of thoughts in my head, did he escape from a window? Everything was closed. Did someone heard the accident and Gambit was injured and they took him to the vet? My mind couldn’t stop coming up with scenarios to explain the situation.

I could understand the accident must have been loud and traumatic for a cat who is expecting to be home alone. Fortunately I couldn’t see any blood trace on the ground indicating he made his way through without getting injured but I still couldn’t stop worrying about whether he is fine or in pain.

In the end, I found him at the far corner, underneath the bed. Even though I had looked before but somehow I missed it. He was in his instinctual mode. You can tell when a cat loses his personality and becomes an animal. It appears in their eyes. Something goes away.

I waited for him, threw some treats on the floor but he wouldn’t even pick the ones right beside his nose. 

I went out and thought maybe he is a reflection of my panic. I have seen in many instances he comes to me when I am feeling centered. I can’t just tap my hands and he comes to sit beside me. So I was like maybe I have to brighten the vibes. I cleansed the house with sage and started cooking some already marinated Korean meat. I thought maybe these smells will make him feel different.

I filled his food bowl. I started eating and he didn’t come. I even had a piece of blueberry pie for dessert to feel very good about my stomach but he was still there. So I took a tube of his favourite treat and went to feed him through the side of the mattress which would allow some access.

The food was so irresistible that it brightened his eyes slowly. A quarter way through I went to the other side of the bed to pull him out by food. It was successful. I did a couple things we do, which he has to put paws on my foot and have the treat. But he was still halfway scared. For the last step I went in the living room and made him eat it close to the couch. After eating he went back to my bedroom.

But now I knew there are some sparkles in his mind. I started playing a video game and he slowly came out and had some food and went up his tree to rest.

We did not have a 1:1 session that night but in the morning I got to groom him again