Tilly update

She is so sweet natured but also very timid. She spent most of her first day in her own space, the Utility room, where she hid underneath the blanket in her basket. Then Mike went in to check on her and declared that she had escaped!

I ran downstairs thinking that she couldn't possibly have got out, but still wondering if perhaps………..

Now, this may be a sweeping generalisation about the male population but I do believe that women are better at finding things. So when Mike declared that he'd "looked everywhere" I knew that he probably hadn't and I was quite right!

A bit of female logic told me that she'd be lurking somewhere dark and off the ground where she'd feel safe so I went straight to her - on the shelf above the litter tray where we keep spare newspapers.

Phew! She was quite happy to be stroked and fussed in there.

That same evening we brought her into the lounge and discovered that she loves sitting on a lap and being stroked.

Looking completely chilled out on Mike's knee 

I'm not sure which one of us wins the prize for silliest expression!

She sat with us quite happily watching a film but then when the TV was turned off she freaked out. She launched herself off my lap and ran round the room searching for somewhere to hide. Poor love. We caught her eventually but she was so stressed out that she hissed at us so we took her to her room and put her in her basket, covered it with a blankie and then left her alone to calm down.

The next morning I fed her first before heading out to the horses and ducks then came back to see her at around 5:30am. Look at that sweet little face and the teeny-tiny white spot in-between her eyes. Gorgeous girl.

I left her door open to see if she'd venture out whilst I busied myself making bread in the kitchen. I saw her peep round the door and ignored her to let her find her own way. She tiptoed in and proceeded to investigate. I could tell she was looking for hidey-holes, as if she needed somewhere she could escape to in an emergency.

Next she investigated the music room and tried to climb into the bookcase! When she couldn't find anywhere to hide she meowed and came to me for a stroke. I made myself a coffee and went and sat down to read whilst the bread was proving. Within minutes she jumped onto my knee and stayed on there for 1/2 hour, purring away quite happily.

At 7am I heard Mike stirring upstairs and as soon as he opened the bedroom door she was on alert. The sound of him coming downstairs sent her running to hide behind the settee and she refused to come out until after lunch. Then she was OK until someone knocked on the door which sent her off to hide in the dining room for several hours until I had to coax her out to feed her.

We're just going to have to be very patient whilst she gets used to the noises of everyday life and let her hide if she needs to whilst giving her lots of attention to help her. What we are also going to do is get her a basket with a hood on that we can put under the piano so she's got a hiding place in each room.