Molly Cat is acting strangely

I am not sure that Molly takes to an abundance of visitors. We have been blessed, this Christmas, with some wonderful company. My brother and his wife came for the festivities. They arrived on Christmas Eve in time for lunch, and left after Boxing Day lunch. However, very sensibly, they elected not to stay here. I have a spacious two-bed-roomed flat, but it really is too small for three adults and one cat. There is a very nice hotel about ten minutes walk away, and they stayed there. It worked perfectly. It meant that we had the pleasure of each others' company, but that we still had our own space. They came and went, and I was able to retire for rests without feeling guilty. Altogether, a splendid affair (except for the food - but that will be the subject of a separate post).

Molly, however, was not altogether sure. She took some time to get used to them being here so often, and seemed a little put out. Nevertheless, she got used to them and became almost sociable by the end. What, I think, she had not bargained for, was a constant stream of visitors after that. People popped in for tea, coffee, drinks, nibbles. I had friends to supper yesterday. I thoroughly enjoyed it (despite getting progressively more tired). She, I think, did not.

This morning, she behaved in a most peculiar manner. At about 06.45 I was dragged from slumber by the sound of Molly howling. I called her. She ignored me. I called her again. No response. I reluctantly got up and went to look. She seemed fine. There were no obvious signs of distress. I fed her, in case she was hungry, and went back to bed. Five minutes later, she started howling again. She would not come to me, she ignored my calls, she just howled. And then she started bringing me her toys. I was NOT going to play at this time of the morning. I snuggled down and ignored her. Eventually, she went to sleep. Very odd. She has never done anything like that before.

We were planning a quiet evening tonight, but some dear friends returned to Nottingham and it was the perfect moment to catch up. The arrangement was made rather late in the afternoon, and I got engrossed in the cooking. It wasn't until I got the lasagne into the oven that I thought to feed Molly. Unfortunately, this pretty well coincided with my friends' arrival.

Molly does not like being watched while she eats, not even by me. She does not like noise and disturbance. My friends have two boys aged two (my Godson) and one. They are delightful, but they are boys of that age. Molly retired, disgruntled, to the study. She refused to come back and did not eat. I felt guilty. I should have fed her earlier.

My friends have left. I so loved having them, and seeing how the boys had changed in the intervening five months (I would not let them come when I was very susceptible to infection). Molly is, after all, a cat. But she is MY cat, and I love her. I'll make sure I feed her early next time.

And let's see what happens tomorrow morning.