Cat has abandoned me for roommate

[bruce bush]

Well, at the time I moved in his two (Ernie & PJ) were neither spayed nor neutered. That's how PJ became Ernie's sister/wife if you catch the meaning. If not, PJ is Ernie's biological sister, and the mother of his two daughters. I have to give him credit though, he is one hell of a good father to his girls. Especially Ariel (the short haired one. Ernie is a tux and PJ is a tortoiseshell calico. Both kittens look like their dad (Ernie) but for some reason, which neither my roommate nor I can figure out, one is long haired. I mean really long haired. Just a big poof ball of hair. And the other is short haired and smooth coated. Anyway, yes, all 6 females are spayed and all 3 males are neutered. And no, my roommate is not bothered by the fact that his 4 cats have traded him in for me. He is a disabled veteran and therefore really can't do much around the house. So I do all the cooking, cleaning and what not in addition to caring for his furry hoodlums along with my 5. All 5 of mine were abandoned by their former humans, I can't stand people who abuse or abandon an innocent animal. The first of my 5 is named Tipsey. I did not name her. I assume she was given that name due to the white tip of her tail. When I took her in, she was so scared that she literally hid in my closet for several weeks. I had to feed and water her in there as well as place a litter box in there for her. I quickly discovered that she did not know how or was too afraid to drink water from a bowl. After 3 days of there being no change in the water level of the bowl, I thought I was going to have to force her to take water, but I thought about placing a cup of water in there instead, just to see what would happen. As soon as I placed the cup of water in the closet, she started drinking the water. Then after about 3 or 4 weeks, she started to gradually come further & further out of the closet until she was no longer needing to hide in there. The night of the first day out of the closet, I went to bed and before I realized what was happening, Tipsey was laying on my belly doing that kneading thing. All I could think at that moment was, wow! She came out of the closet and wants to sleep with me. So I let her be. As I stated in my first post, I didn't know she had been abused by her former human. I had no idea about the tail swinging until much later. I did however discover that when i would stroke her from top of head to what I thought was going to be the tip of her tail, well....she let me know real fast not to touch her tail. Mind you, she is a poly dactyl and as such, has 6 toes on all four feet. And in those 6 toes reside 6 razor sharp claws with which she got me good several times. Over the course of about 3 months, she learned to trust that I am not going to hurt her tail or her in any way. Now, fast forward 5 years I am the only human she will let touch her tail. And she still sleeps on either my belly or my hip depending on how I am laying in the bed. And she still does that kneading thing on my belly. You know, it's quite relaxing actually even with the 6 razor blades in her paws.