Monday night

Lately I've been noticing that when I get ready to go back to work on Monday mornings, Lucky goes and hides. (He was even acting weird last night as I as doing my last-minute chores.) I just found this item on the topic of "separation anxiety" in cats (there's a lot of information out there):

Signs of feline separation anxiety

Over-attachment to the owner, following that person from room to room around the house. [Lucky doesn't follow me around but both he and Bootsy sit at my feet at night while I'm watching TV and doing this.]

Distress as the owner prepares to depart (so-called pre-departure anxiety). This can take many forms but some of the more common presentations are meowing, sulking, apparent depression, slinking away, and hiding. . . .

I would describe Lucky as acting "depressed" this morning (as he was sulking, slinking away, and hiding). He didn't even come into the bathroom to watch the water while I was taking my shower. Later, when I got home from work, he wasn't there to greet me as he normally does. When I opened the door, he slowly came slinking out of my bedroom (where he hides). Also, he showed little interest in his food when I fed him and Bootsy.

From another article I found, here are some suggestions:

Don't make a fuss when you leave. Avoid paying any attention to your cat for a while before you leave. . . .

Don't make a big fuss when you get home. Instead, ignore your cat for a while. . . .

After a while, he was pretty much back to his old self. I guess it must be pretty boring around here when I'm gone, even with Bootsy as company. I feel bad about it, but there's not much I can do (and no drugs for him!). One thing I read is that a cat can be susceptible to separation anxiety if, for example, the cat was orphaned. I don't know a lot about Lucky's past, but I do know he was rejected by his original owners (maybe twice, even after they had him fixed and de-clawed, saying they didn't have enough time to devote to him) and was in foster care for a long time (and even the foster people ultimately didn't want to keep him, much as he probably bonded with them--or wanted to).

He's not even been here a year, and maybe he still flashes back on his past. He's only a year and a half old.

I think he's ultimately found a sympathetic care-taker, however.

+ + + + +

Watching Rachel Maddow. Condoleezza Rice is really trying to cover her ass about the torture.

I never heard back from my friend from my Montana days. I'm kind of surprised and saddened. But even way back then, she was kind of a proselytizer for the Republican Party (she was from Wyoming, so that's something to consider). I wasn't very political back then*. Now I am, but my politics are a very personal thing with me, derived from my own experiences, and I have no interest in trying to veer people to my beliefs. (I figure that on this blog I'm "preaching to the choir.")

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*when she pressured me to make cold calls for a Republican candidate she was supporting. I did it for a couple of days just to make nice with her. (It was like being a telemarketer, intruding on people at dinner time, and a lot of the people didn't appreciate it.) But I basically liked her as a friend. Nonetheless, I always thought she was a little pushy about the politics and maybe trying to hornswoggle me into something (viz., Bush's war in Iraq?). I'm not that naive or "liberal" anymore.