She's back, but it wasn't a pleasant experience.

The other weekend we went down to Vegas to get Gretchen (and participate in the Mom Tobler catering event). The trip back was, I believe, an unpleasant and upsetting experience for Gretchen. She worked herself into a frenzy within the first 5 minutes and would not stop panting, leading us to believe she was dehydrated. She kept tearing at the nylon/mesh cage with her claws so I eventually took her out of the cage to hold her on my lap. She freaked out even more and tried to escape through the windshield. So we zipped her back up into her cage and draped a sheet over it and ignored her cries for help. Within 30 minutes she quieted down and remained in a hopeless state for the majority of the drive. Occasionally she'd work up enough strength to try to tear through the cage, all to no avail. She also managed to tip her kitty litter box upside down at one point. Poor thing, once we got her home we noticed that she had rubbed her nose raw against the nylon/mesh trying to escape.

Here she is in her cage...

A closer look reveals that she won't even acknowledge us...she is so hopeless and helpless.

Straight up terrified.

And still terrified.

Oh wait, what is this?? Gretchen LOVES her little kitty bed. Thanks Mom Tobler for donating the bed to us. She loves it! And she is getting way more comfortable with her new home.

Now she only gets skittish and scared when hearing wierd noises, like when the heater kicks on above our bed.

But usually she's happy as can be on her kitty bed.

Thank goodness she's getting comfortable here in SLC. We didn't want to have a cat that hid under the bed for weeks. Fortunately she only hid under the bed for one night. She even cuddled with me on the couch last night as I watched episode after episode of LA Ink on Netflix. We are glad to have Gretchen back. When she isn't scared of the world she is so fun to annoy and be around!