Prison?

I decided the Nursery really had to be cleaned today, but I didn't want Lucy and Linus breathing in concentrated bleach fumes. So I devised this barrier, my old cube shelves from downstairs. (That was a project, carrying them intact up my curved staircase.) As you can see, they are pretty tall, and definitely heavy, but easy to swivel aside so I can get in and out.

While I was cleaning, Lucy rushed any visitors to the wall with her foaming-at-the-mouth growly hissy fits, and then returned to supervise, calm and wanting pets. Linus discovered the rolling jingly ball I brought in as his first toy, and made some tentative swipes to get it rolling, but really was more interested in the twitchy tail Lucy provided for him. He was very interested in the cleaning process, so I was glad I had someplace I could move him out of the way.

I went back out to the kitchen to dispose of the cleaning water and clean a couple of patches on the kitchen floor (Dolly again?), and turned around to see the silhouette of a stripey cat with a skinny tail. Wait, that has to be Lucy, I thought, and indeed it was, skulking quietly through the upper floor, not bothering the half dozen others who were there playing and helping me clean. I checked the "wall" which was unmoved, so figured she must have climbed over it. Silly cat, but she went back in quietly.

And then resumed growling at anybody who came near the wall, starting with Seri. At the moment Seri is in defilade by the desk, watching intently as Lucy nurses Linus under the sink.

The rate of Lucy's hair loss is definitely decreasing. She has lost almost all of her ticked fur, leaving a very short, very soft tabby coat in a subtle classic gray on gray pattern. I am thinking more and more that this is a result of an outside cat moving inside rather than illness or a stress reaction, though would never rule out a role of post-pregnancy hormones. You can blame just about anything on those. Lucy seems much happier with the door open so she can see me at the computer, and she's still segregated from the cats - except when she climbs the wall!

No, wait, I see her pushing with her paw between the shelves and the wall. I think I probably left too short an overhang on one side, and she squeezed through. Regardless, I'll close the office door while I am out and things should be fine.