So I drove out to Chicago for a short week of work with a car full of some essentials: clothes, pots and pans, pillows and blankets, and anything that might help my cat adjust to her new environment. I would have to camp in the new apartment on the pillows and blankets for the week, and then go home for the long weekend to finish packing, get a truck, load it, and drive it to Chicago to unload and officially move in. While unloading boxes from the car, Waffles was placed into a large walk-in closet so that she wouldn’t be under foot or clawing the hell out of me.

After I was done with the lifting, I let her out of her carrying case (the thing she hates the most in the world), lifted her up, and carried her around the new apartment to get her acclimated. She clung to me the entire time, claws digging into my shoulder. She was terrified. After I set her down in the living room, she quickly hugged the floor and slid right back into the closet where she didn’t come out for the rest of the night. She spent the night in her carrying case. I kept the door cracked so she could come out if she wanted to, but would also have the illusion of safety if she felt frightened. Her food and litter were both also in the closet with her, so she wouldn’t have to leave if she didn’t want to.

Throughout the week I went to work and went through general training, filled out mountains of paperwork, and would come home at the end of every day to find her still in the closet. Waffles would come out to sit right next to me – practically clinging to me for dear life – while I would eat dinner while sitting on the three pillows that I had populating the living room. As the week went on, she would get better, but would still avoid certain rooms completely – like the dinning room and kitchen. Whenever the radiator would turn on, she would run away like she was being chased.

On Thursday I got out of work, packed the car with empty boxes, and drove the 4+ hours back to Ann Arbor to continue packing and schedule a truck for Saturday.