nlbarber | The clan increases

I have failed to announced the newest addition to the household. Trilla arrived last November, and after a somewhat uncertain beginning due to some health issues*, she has settled in nicely. Even Fred only growls at her some of the time, now.

Trilla the cat is "a compact and cheerful person" like her namesake in Scout's Progress (by Lee and Miller). Trilla is Jon dea' Court's second at Binjali's, a master pilot, and it's she who teaches Aelliana menfri'at, a style of fighting. (If you haven't read Scout's Progress, go do so At Once. It's my favorite of the Liaden books.)

Trilla's a bold explorer, at least in the absence of Strange People. From the first she would set out, encounter a warning beacon (Fish's growl), slightly alter course and continue, encounter enemy fire (Fred's pop! with a paw, accompanied by a hiss), alter course slightly and go on.

However, the name is most apt because....she trills. Most of her vocalizations (and they are many) are that sort of trilling speech most cats use only occasionally. I had considered Shadia as a name first but found it was difficult to use, and the little jump over to Trilla then was eminently logical.

Looking to alter the piloting equations.

Fish, a pretty laid-back sort of guy, accepted Trilla's presence fairly quickly.

First Christmas tree. *This is edible, right?*

*Well, if I can't eat it, I can climb it.*

Fred: *What does that kitten think she is doing!?"* (OK, not really--at Christmas Fred was still avoiding Trilla whenever possible. This is Fred seeing if she can eat the tree.)

*Trilla came to me from my yard lady, who runs an informal rescue primarily of dogs. Yard Lady apparently thought she knew the history of Trilla and her sister and skipped a Feline Leukemia test. (insert glyph of extreme anger/frustration) When I took Trilla to my vet a few weeks after she arrived, she had a weak positive test. This is complex to interpret, but the bottom line is that I decided to live with the risk, vaccinated the other two (which in a worst case scenario would be bolting the barn door after the horse was well away), and will re-test in another month or so to see if Trilla still appears to be shedding the virus. Hopefully she will be one of the significant percentage of cats who get FeLeuk but then either get over it or have it go latent.

The clan increases

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