Talk about your kittehs!

[Avatar]

Well...

Got up at 5am on Saturday morning to let a couple of my terrors out, and who should I find sitting outside the door but my beautiful, fluffy, half Maine Coon She-Demon.

Last time I know I saw her was in September / October of last year. She's been gone for the last 8-9 months, and I'd basically given up on her, assuming she'd either moved on due to the terrible twins moving in, or come to an unfortunate end.

She wasn't in too bad a shape...one ear a bit torn up, but not emaciated or anything. The others were all in, so she was growling like a tiger, but she came in, ate heartily, and left.

She was back to eat again at 13h00 on Sunday, and then at midnight last night.

Mixed emotions...so glad to see her, but now I have to start worrying about her all over again, including her interactions with the permanent residents. (So far they just appear shocked to see her, but that will wear off.)

Damn cats.

--A

[Skyweir]

Hahahahaha damn cats .. like do they even think this stuff though?

Our big ginger tom .. went missing for months .. we put posters up, went on pointless late night raids of the neighbourhood, followed wild goose chases of false sightings .. you name it ..

Well we decided to move to rural NSW with our other two kitties... two rag dolls .. a chocolate point and a blue point ..

All good .. the week we were packing and moving .. one morning went to the front door and who should be standing there ... but Dora .. It was probably our fault for giving him that name lol

He was half his size, looked quite shaken up. Came inside sweetly and then followed us everywhere .. even in the shower .. he would not leave my side. He would sit in the shower with me and just wait for me to shower and get out before he would.

Lucky for him we were able to move him with us to a total paradise.

You know how peeps advise that you keep a cat indoors for about 2 weeks to acclimatise to a changed environment .. well .. when we got here they were just too excited and they ran and lept up trees .. just soo excited with the new place in the country.

Damn cats

[Sorus]

Could not handle having mine go outside. I would worry nonstop. Fortunately they don't seem to be curious.

[Linna Heartbooger]

Our big ginger tom .. went missing for months .. we put posters up, went on pointless late night raids of the neighbourhood, followed wild goose chases of false sightings .. you name it ..

Arrrghhh.. that would be no fun...

He was half his size, looked quite shaken up. Came inside sweetly and then followed us everywhere .. even in the shower .. he would not leave my side. He would sit in the shower with me and just wait for me to shower and get out before he would.

Lucky for him we were able to move him with us to a total paradise.

I kinda love this story. Thanks for sharing it!

[Skyweir]

Awww I kinda love you Linna Linna chicken dinner

[Linna Heartbooger]

Awww I kinda love you Linna Linna chicken dinner

[Avatar]

Well, she turned up again twice yesterday, but as I feared, the 2nd time Penny did her best to eviscerate her in the kitchen. Full on cat fight, and haven't seen her since. *sigh*

Hope like hell she comes back and we can do something about the others.

--A

[Sorus]

Oh, no. Penny sounds like a handful.

[Skyweir]

Av it can be done .. if she comes back segment a part of the house off for ninja escape kitty .. But she cant be let out .. get out. The other kitties also need separating from her.

It wont be easy .. especially given you live in an apartment or small dwelling.. so more challenging to establish seperate areas that you can slowly and incrementally merge. But the kicker will be keeping escapee ninja kitty in.

There are a number of ways to encourage coexistence but its not without challenge. But involves feeding, treats and play toys.

Good luck

[Avatar]

On the plus side, She turned up again this morning. The GF had to juggle a bit because Penny turned up behind her, but managed to lock Penny out while She ate.

*sigh* Sky, they can't be kept in. Every one of them was a firmly established outdoor cat before they adopted me.

I've tried in the past, usually when one or another was injured to the extent that they couldn't go out.

Managed while they were injured, since they were too hurt to try hard, but if they're in full health they go mad. They climb curtains and bars, try to force themselves under doors, claw everything in sight and more.

Not long ago Penny had to spend the night at the vet, and all she did all night long was try and force her way out of the cage, to the extent that she abraded her face until she had open wounds on her cheeks.

My plan, insofar as it is possible, is to try and get She's scent on us as much as we can, then expose Penny to it on us, and hopefully she'll get the idea that it's acceptable.

She was with us well before any of the extant cats (She was my 2nd adoptive cat, and the only one by the time the ginger turned up), so I feel really bad that She was edged out by the terrible twins.

--A

[Skyweir]

oh wow you do have quite a challenge on your hands

They seem like quite wild children but theyre your children .. fur kiddies .. and you know them best.

Good look .. your plan sounds like a good one. How do your kitties like catnip .. cos that might be something to try. My kitties have never really reacted the way Id hoped to catnip .. does nothing for them .. but mine freely go out and in as they please and have a pretty good life all round.

My ginger the one that went missing .. is the best at chilling .. he goes out to do his business but chooses to be inside with us as much as he can .. We leave the back long room with cat flap as a place the kitties can come in to when we are out ..

But I got three boys and they are much better and tolerating one another. My little Lachie came as a kitten and the others are his senior .. Dora my male explorer .. that we thought was a little girl before we realised he was in fact a little boy .. is the eldest and doesnt tolerate foolish kittenly behaviour .. but wont spaz out .. just pushes the kitten away with a paw.

We recently had a little female kitty staying with us while her mum was away .. and Dora and she just got each other .. they were completely cool .. but she hated my white raggy for some reason and little Lachie

Girlies are always a little more difficult to understand


hahahahaaha ..

When we arrived we had 2 raggies .. Gilbert and Sulivan two boys .. so Gillie and Sully But Sully our chocolate point .. went missing a year or so after we were here .. we think it was a snake that probably got her.

We have a lot of poisonous brown snakes .. which the kitties cant seem to be able to resist .. I will say though Dora has caught and killed quite a few since weve been here .. And I totally support his work ..

[Sorus]

I swear by synthetic pheromones - Feliway and whatnot, though try to get the real Feliway, not a product that claims to be 'with Feliway'. (If you get it from a vet, it's probably the real stuff. If you get it from a shop or Amazon, it's probably the knockoff.) The knockoff does work if that's all you can get, but avoid the plug-in version, because the electrical components are a bit sketchy. (This may vary internationally.)

Girlies are always a little more difficult to understand

Tell me about it. My current brood is all girls. My feral brood was 50/50 - I was worried when I took in the second male, because the first had lived as a Tom for his first few years, so I worried about him becoming territorial and spraying and whatnot - but they became BFFs and all the drama came from the girls.

Min and Kara will never be BFFs, but they also don't really want to fight, and they have enough perches and whatnot that they can successfully ignore one another. Kara will sometimes be a jerk and insist on sitting riiiiight next to Min. "What? I'm not bothering her. I'm just sitting here minding my own business." And Min will just sit there with her ears back a little because she knows Kara is trying to push her buttons.

[Avatar]

Yeah, when I thought we were going to be moving, (and it was just She and the ginger), I investigated the pheromone stuff as a means to acclimatising them to a new home. My vet can organise it for me. (Hell of an expensive though.)

Problem now is that She spends so little time here, (literally just eats and leaves) that I don't think it would be enough exposure to make a difference between Her and the others.

And yes...the girls are bitches. The male tolerates them mostly, and they mostly tolerate him, but each other...both Harley and Penny hate She, She hates them, and even though the two little ones are litter mates, they still have their moments with each other.

Damn cats.

--A

[Skyweir]

Thats a pity its so expensive there .. have you looked at internet sites to see if you can get some a tad cheaper. I know buying anything through our vet, who we love, is unbelievably expensive.

So I dont buy regular stuff from him.

Gracie had her trip to the vet to get her shots today .. and was put on a diet??? The nerve??? HAHAHAHA .. shes only 2 so not a major issue but she could lose a kilo ..

I think if we just stop giving her off cuts and food we eat shed probably drop that kilo in no time. Meh .. but we might have to exercise some discipline .. lol

[Avatar]

Ah, not serious, like I said, don't think it will help right now.

All of mine could do with dropping a little weight. Too many treats, and we basically feed them on demand, which is bad.

--A

[Skyweir]

Well its what we do ..

[Kizza]

They get fed morning and night in our house.
The cat food and dog food are all secured properly now after the experience of finding Hades inside the dog food container (its a 25 litre thing on wheels) after the lid wasn't secured properly.
Usually every day the siamese walk through the house like an alarm calling for breakfast at 5:50am, while the rex tries to sit on the wifes pillow.

I know if I carried on like that then the wife would soon throw me out!

[Sorus]

The cat food and dog food are all secured properly now after the experience of finding Hades inside the dog food container (its a 25 litre thing on wheels) after the lid wasn't secured properly.

I'm picturing the scene in Ghostbusters where they open the freezer and there's a portal to hell.

THERE IS NO KIBBLE, ONLY HADES....

[Kizza]

The cat food and dog food are all secured properly now after the experience of finding Hades inside the dog food container (its a 25 litre thing on wheels) after the lid wasn't secured properly.

I'm picturing the scene in Ghostbusters where they open the freezer and there's a portal to hell.

Hahahaaa, Yes! Hades looked like he was the leader of a brave expedition when i found him. The container is tall and narrow at around 3 feet high.
He realised from my curse that he wasnt supposed to be there, and did the bolt lickety split.
Our cats dont discriminate...... They will eat cat food AND dog food.

[Avatar]

...calling for breakfast at 5:50am...

You're lucky. My ginger woke me up at 03h30 this morning. And at 04h30 my She-Demon snuck in and woke me up again, ate quite a lot, growling continuously, and buggered off again.

Penny was out all night, only turned up at about 05h15 which is a bit lucky in this instance, since I didn't have to go from sleeping to blocking an attack on She.

Damn cats.

--A