Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Introductions

When I take a nap, you will find Torbie in bed, standing on my chest as I pet her, pawing at my face if I stop.  She curls up next to my pillow and we sleep together. 

Did that. 

Then she gets under my desk while I'm on the computer and lays by my feet.  Doing that. 

Biscuit does his own thing, but he loves to lay behind my chair when I am on the computer, even though Ron has trashed this room.  He is doing that right now, very relaxed and comfortable. 

Baby Girl is out in the catio, what she'd be doing anyway.  She has eaten treats and acted completely unaffected. 

This is probably the best transition I have ever had with a new cat.  I have a couple of theories. 

But first, let's examine when we brought Torbie home.  Baby Girl had been an only cat for about half a week, she had just lost her Bubba.  She was pretty raw. 

She walked in my room and found Ron on the bed, sitting down, with another cat in his lap.  Not only that, he was feeding her treats.  That didn't go very well for a few weeks. 

This time, we kept Mama outside for a few weeks.  I would pet her, and then come in and let the existing cats smell my hands.  I rubbed a washcloth on all my cats and then put it out where the new cats slept, so they could get used to each other's scent. 

And it seems to have worked.  Not a speck of hissing or growling, just some hesitant, and expected, body language but everyone's getting on famously. 

Baby Girl just came in and ate some of Biscuit's specialty food.  Vet said that is fine.  Expensive for me, but fine. 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Worms for everyone!!!

Anonymous said...

https://www.ajc.com/news/national/year-old-woman-sentenced-days-jail-for-feeding-stray-cats/BLPFXqa62gGyp4vPf7y09M/

Anonymous said...

How can you take the mother cat inside when you clearly said the 2 babies are still nursing. Did moms cat get tested for felv

Heather Knits said...

The vet said Mom is basically dry (until she delivers again) and it was fine to separate them. I showed her a photo of Spot next to my foot and she said he is plenty big, especially when I mentioned both kittens eat quite a bit of dry food.

The kittens caught and killed a large beetle and left it by the front door for me. :)

Heather Knits said...

Yes, I had her tested for 2 communicable diseases FLV and feline AIDS. She is negative so I brought her in.

Vet said we would have had to have a hard talk if she tested positive.

Heather Knits said...

Someone told me about the old lady.

A couple of differences: now that I have taken her to the vet and had her checked for a chip, she is my cat legally.

2. She is inside the house so not a stray anymore.

3. Now we have to work on the kittens. Socialization is going pretty good for Spot but Cleo is still proving skittish. I think she had a bad experience. When I was in the garage early this morning I heard kids shrieking in spanish and running on my property, one of the older kids said "Leave the cat alone" in English and got them back to the car. So they are ongoing being terrorized by at least the #6 kids.