So we own another cat.

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[Guest]

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[rgraham666]

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/DeeDeeFirstPhotos016.jpg

What a sweetheart.

 

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[fifty5]

Isn't she? And she's spunky, too.

She is already attempting to get out of the room she's in. She wants to explore the house.

She should wait a bit, wait for a more gradual transition, as the other cats are much bigger.

I'm into dogs, not cats, so ignore this if it's wrong...

My instinct is to let her explore if she wants to. She'll learn manners when she meets the others. Spunky is good. Spunky, but knowing she isn't the Alpha, can be a survival trait. She could learn both good manners and cunning to go with her spunk!

 

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[starrkers]

Good luck Sarah - feline introductions are always... interesting.

 

[SlickTony]

That was part of the reason for taking her in, I must say. Her being female.

The last stray we fed and didn't take in (used to belong to our idiot next door neighbors) presented us with two litters before we got her fixed. We found homes for all the rascals but we didn't want to see that happening again.

I got a pic - she isn't too happy with cameras yet. She'll get used to it, though.

I've been calling her TK (tinykitty), hubby has been calling her Sticks - the kids are thinking about Double Diamond - DD - because she has a white diamond on her nose and in the fur pattern on her back. Her eyes are green. When she fills out she's going to be a seriously gorgeous cat.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/DeeDeeFirstPhotos016.jpg

Aw, she's a darling! Congratuations.

Sylvester, the shaggy tuxedo, has not been seen for at least two weeks. He's done this before--I think he has us on rotation--but he is also said to be fabulously old, so I worry. I don't know if he'll come back, or has gone on his final walkabout.

I see Violetta from time to time--she likes to climb the ligustrum tree in back of our house and get on the roof. She still won't let anybody get close to her. After more than a year, Il Grigio chirps and trills whenever he sees her.

 

[fifty5]

Kittens have no respect!

- but if she's going to stay, she needs to learn that - same as the young of any species, including humans.

Our pups got walked in the park - off the lead - from as soon as we got them (6 weeks). I can let them chase a ball down the whole park, confident that they'll behave well. (There is an exception - one of the two can be over friendly with kids smaller than he is. Leo wouldn't deliberately hurt a fly, but when he's knocked over a tiny kid when trying to be friendly, the kid may not understand. Luckily - or due to training - they both recognise my whistle that means come here NOW, guys!)

They do meet other dogs - and people - who don't share their wish to make friends. They almost always recognise that and just run past - "No, we weren't coming to see you, just running this way 'cos we wanted to..." (Little liars, but it's tactful.)

Getting a cuff around the ear following a lack of due respect can be just what a young one needs to grow up wise about relationships with others.

 

[starrkers]

fifty5: would you please tell all that to Harry? A year in, and he's still getting smacked down by all comers!

And he TOTALLY deserves it.

 

[fifty5]

fifty5: would you please tell all that to Harry? A year in, and he's still getting smacked down by all comers!

And he TOTALLY deserves it.

Persevere. Either he'll learn, or become the Alpha. Animals have their own hierarchical systems.

Or maybe he'll learn to be a loner and be his own, private person. As I say, animals have their own ways to survive with self-respect.

Dogs are much easier to understand than cats - at least for me.

 

[Guest]

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[fifty5]

Cats are different, I agree.

You obviously understand cats better than I do. It sounds to me as if you understand them well enough to cope.

I'll leave it there, except to wish you and the felines all the best.

to you all.

 

[Guest]

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[starrkers]

It's funny how an addition (or 2 ) changes the dynamic - Juliet actively hated Pantene, would stalk around the house looking for her just so she could beat the fur out of her. Since Harry and Billy arrived, they co-exist quite well. I've even seen them eating together (out of adjoining bowls).

 

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[starlightqueen]

Sarah, that's the most adorable little kitten! Good luck introducing her to the others in your home!

 

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[shereads]

Dammit, Sarah, I was going to send you Bernard or Caspar Katz as soon as you had an opening.* Bernard is even cute! (Caspar has a thin, pinched-looking face, is terrified of his own shadow, and doesn't seem terribly bright, but he adored my dog so I feel an obligation toward him.)

This is a real problem: my house is for sale, and I have five stray cats totally dependant on me. They aren't friendly enough to be adopted, and they refuse to get jobs.

What am I supposed to do with them?








*I'd have paid their cab fare. I'm that worried about their future.

 

[starrkers]

Dammit, Sarah, I was going to send you Bernard or Caspar Katz as soon as you had an opening.

My house is for sale, and I have five stray cats totally dependant on me. They aren't friendly enough to be adopted, and they refuse to get jobs.

What am I supposed to do with them?

Leave a trail of kitty bikkies to your new house?

 

[Guest]

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[shereads]

Leave a trail of kitty bikkies to your new house?

For a while, it will almost certainly be an apartment and not a house.

It was a mistake to get involved with them - I can't be sorry I got the mom spayed and the kittens neutered, but I'm terribly sorry that I had to get them used to me to make that possible...I have limited experience with cats, and I thought they'd become friendly enough over time that they would be adoptable, and I could find them homes. But they are still basically wild - yet seemingly incapable of fending for themselves.

So I'm really in a mess. I did a good deed, I thought, and now it's backfiring.



The five of them do nothing but sit outside my windows all day and stare at me. I raise the blinds in the morning, and there they are. Staring. Sucking in their cheeks to look starved.

Even the mom, who was a self-sufficient street cat before I intervened, seems to have forgotten that there are food sources other than me.

The neighborhood is full of people who put out food for cats. But there are so many strays, the competition must be fierce. Big tom-cats come around all the time to chase the Katz's and beat them up - I guess having them neutered turned them into pussies.



They're so shy of people, I can't imagine that taking them to the Humane Society would lead to anything but their being put to sleep. I might be able to pull some strings at a no-kill shelter where I used to do some volunteer work, and get them to take one or two of these guys - but that would mean taking outdoor cats and condemning them to live in a room crowded with other cats and litter boxes, when they're used to racing around in my yard hunting lizards and doing as they please.

Seriously, I don't know enough about cats to know which would be crueler: weaning them off of the food and hoping for the best when they start to scrounge around the neighborhood, or taking them to a shelter.

The only thing I do know is that I can't take on a pet right now. My own future is too uncertain.

Edited to add: she really is cute! The pink-bubblegum nose especially.

 

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[shereads]

Cats are smart.

Well, yes. Except for Caspar.

Poor dopey little guy...Did I tell you he snuck past me into the house one day after the dog died, and went searching for her? I'm sure he was looking for her - he'd done that once before when she was still alive, and knew she had a bed in my room.

Never did figure out why Bernie and Caspar loved the dog so much. She ignored them mostly, because she was blind and a little bewildered by their behavior. They'd follow us on our walks, and throw themselves at her feet, rolling over onto their backs as if for belly-rubs. She couldn't accommodate them, as dogs have no hands. But they kept trying.

Poor little guys.

I've been tempted to take Bernie in - he's the only one of the five who seemed to like me almost as much as he liked my dog. But it would be wrong to separate the others from their spokescat. (He's very vocal; complains about the quality and quantity of the food pretty much non-stop.) And it would be worse than cruel if I ended up having to move into an apartment with no pets allowed. Cruel for him AND me.

You've convinced me that the shelter is the best option.

Which means I have to get the cat-trap back from my vet and start this whole Huntress thing again. Argh!

Couldn't you just come get them? That would be best, really.

 

[Guest]

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