Newly Adopted Stray named Buddy

Hi,
Since Tabby's passing my wife and I have been looking to adopt another kitty. I don't know how many hours i've spent searching Petfinder.com, but one of our local Humane Societies turned up the sweetest kitty ever. I originally was looking for a Tabby cat. After looking around the local outlets my wife saw this beautiful black and white kitty and said she really liked it. Then it crossed my mind that it would be really wonderful if we adopted a kitty my wife could call her very own. We talked it over and the next day we went back and adopted the sweet kitty. The kitty was a stray that was rescued from someones auto wheel-well. We named him Buddy.

It's an in-tack boy about two years old they estimate, no tarter on the teeth so it's fairly young. He tested negative to all the things we could think of and he is presently quarentined in one of the cages in our basm't until he get the all clear. Our other stray, Tiger, is upstairs for now until Buddy's retest for, Leukemia, herpes, and distemper(FeLV & FVRCP) which will be done on April, 14th is completed. He also will be neutered this Thurs.

I'm thinking this kitty was abandoned for a short while because he is so friendly and doesn't have a mean bone in his body, a far cry from a Feral cat. He did though hiss at the cage door when I first put him in there. His body didn't react just two light hisses and that was it. I'm thinking he's not used to a solid wood door and caught him off guard. I also noticed that his eyes were just about fully dilated for the first three days. It's the fifth day now and there more normal. It's funny when you've had a feral cat around for a while you learn to pick up signs that probably wouldn't be noticed. Body language is that of a very tame kitty. I can even let him roam the basm't and he just walks around and shows no fear and doesn't even want to hide. He plays with toys and the wand toy as well.

We are so happy he came into our lives. He has already bonded with both of us.

About the only think I think I need to do is socialize him with Tiger. After his quarentine on the 14th, I plan to exchange articles of cloth so they get used to each others smell. Then sight & smell. I plan to setup a fly screen barrier between the main level laundry room where Tiger is now sleeping at night, he roams the house during the day, and put Buddy on the other side so they can get acquainted with a barrier inbetween. I think i'll see how that goes for a week or so and then try a larger mesh screen and see what happens. Then finally just let them get together supervised and see what happens. They both are playful kitty's without any issues at the moment so I anticipate a smooth socialization.

Any other ideas on socializing my two kitty's is alway appreciated.

Here are a couple pics of our newly adopted kitty named Buddy.

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

blueyedgirl.... you can come over and give Buddy a big hug anytime.

otto.... i'll keep in mind the feliway plug-ins, great idea.

LDG.... yes I have learned alot from killerapple's Patches and Batman. That's were I got the idea for the screen. Thanks for the reminder about the scent cloth under the food dish and the treat there as well. I'm making a list now so I don't forget anything.

Thanks Kailie and rahma, He is precious and very happy. We love him alot already, he is just so sweet.

Thanks, we thinks so too.

Thanks, I think he is a good match for Tiger. They should get along fine. I'm going to use your screen idea after the cloth/scent exchange.

[quote=blueyedgirl5946;2848490] Buddy is doing fine. He rubs all over me and just wants to be loved. He really doesn't have any issues. He got neutered today. He did fine and was so glad to get home. He was so happy that he moved his sleeping bed around, spilled some of his water, threw his toys all over the place and wanted to be scratched and rubbed all over. He's one happy camper.

WOW! the day after his neutering, which was yesterday, he was still celebrating his home coming. He overturned his sleeping bed and dug half his litter all over the carpeting in his cage. He was a terror. I had to put him in his carrier and bring him upstairs and vac the cage out. Thank god he's not reluctant to go in his carrier. He doesn't associate the carrier with anything bad.

Today he finally settled down to a more normal state. One thing though he is now edicted to his wand toy. He won't leave it out of his sight. Before his neutering I spent a lot of time playing with him and the wand toy is his favorite. If I hide it from him he finds it even on top of the table. It's hard to hide it from him and get him in his cage because he always wants to know were his wand toy is. He is so funny. He is going to make Tiger a real good companion when his quarantine is over on the 14th, then I can start to socialize the two of them. Can't wait to get them together.

The past few days I have been letting Buddy(B/W kitty) roam the house with Tiger(resident kitty) locked in a room, to spread his scent around so both will get each others scent before actually seeing each other. I have been exchanging hand towels placed in each others bed which I placed under their food bowl and when I gave them treats. That part went real well.

So Sat. I started the sight smell routine through the screen. I thought it best to start with Tiger out on the back deck and Buddy inside the house. Tiger was sitting on his mat when I let Buddy out of his pen. First off they touched noses for a good smell of each other which was a familiar smell from the hand towels and scent around the house. Tiger took a brief smell and walked off. Poor Buudy wanted more and was eager to play. Tiger walked away and sat on the deck looking at Buddy with little concern. Both are pretty well mannered. Sunday morning they did basically the same thing.






So Buddy started to think if Tiger doesn't want to play, i'm going to play with your favorite mouse toy.






Please Tiger will you come over and play.


Will you please stop taking all those pic's of me.


Tiger will you quit laying out in the grass and come over and play.


I guess no one wants to play. maybe later.


This afternoon we placed a screen between the laundry room and the family room. Things started the same with a big nose to nose sniff and then Buddy realized, hey this guy is now in the house with me. Buddy got a little excited so Tiger raised his one paw to calm him down and he backed off some. Tiger then walked a few feet back from the screen and sat down. Buddy did the same thing. Good vibes between both of them. No vocals, both stayed relatively calm. Things went real well. I'm planning to continue this exercise through the screen for a couple days at least. Looks like their going to make great friends.

Thanks bunches.

Had a little excitement this morning. I've been doing the cat on either side of the screen socializing sessions in the morning and evening for about 1/2 at a time. Well this morning I went down to the basm't to feed and clean Buddy's litter box. There are two doors to each cage, one at either end. Food and water on one end and litter box on the other. So I had both doors open. So I went to get Buddy some fresh water so I put him in his cage and forgot I left the other door open. I went upstairs and filled the water bowl, but when I opened the basm't door to go down again there was Buddy at the door and he ran into the house area where Tiger was. Well the chase was on. Tiger is very even mannered and would rather run than fight. In fact I have never heard him hiss or grawl.

I tried to catch one or the other but they were too fast and Buddy was chasing Tiger all over the house. I ran down to the basm't to get a window screen to break thing up. When I got back upstairs I called to them but didn't hear a sound. I looked all over the house and couldn't find them. Then I heard some hissing. Buddy had Tiger backed into the desk under a chair where his mouse toy hangs. They where both sitting there in a stail mate a foot or so apart. Tiger gave Buddy a couple hisses so I put the window screen inbetween them and Tiger went into the other room while I was able to pick up Buddy and bring him down stairs. After they were separated they went back to their old self. Didn't seem to bother either of them which is a good sign. Even after the screen/socializing sessions, I would leave Tiger back to running the house and he doesn't even look for Buddy. He seems not to concerned about him other than when he gets chased.

At the evening session today Buddy's body language was much better. I used the wand toy on him. It got his mind in a playful mode rather than the intense look at Tiger. Buddy even walked up to the screen an rubbed the side of his body on it while Tiger stayed near. Once Buddy settles down a little more then I think they will be good together without the screen. I hope that's soon.

Yeah, Buddy is like a kid, full of energy. Although, he is settling down a little and his body language is more normal. Walking straighter up and rubbing on the screen and other objects with is body. He is not laying flat on the carpet ready to launch himself at Tiger anymore. I can see that Tiger is picking up on Buddy's new calmness and is giving the low meow like he wants to get on the other side of the screen. Yesterday morning Tiger was giving Buddy the very low sounding grawl telling him he was displeased with his behavior.

Today it's much improved so much that I was thinking of leaving them get together. But I thought i'd better give them a few more days with the screen inbetween them. It's funny that Tiger is usually the one who wants to play with other cats but with this new ball of fire he isn't quit sure about him yet. So he just tries to avoid him. I can see their getting to understand each other a little more each day. I'm pleased about the way thing are progressing.

Friday the 23rd Buddy wasn't feeling very good. He wasn't moving around too much. His eating slowed down and he stayed in his bed most of the time. Saturday morning not much change so I called the vet to bring him in. They took his temperature and it was 105.1-F and showed tightness in his stomach. They gave him all kinds of tests from liver/kidney to red/white blood cells to urine check, x-rays and barium with another x-ray that showed the barium moving into the intestines which was a good sign. All the tests were ok.

They put him on antibiotics, and injected some fluid under the skin as a temp. I-V. We talked about getting him to an emegency clinic to get his fever down. But decided to wait till Sat evening (6:00pm)and I was to take his temp. and see what it was. Talk about being worried for this kitty we just adopted.

Come 6:00pm I took his temp. and it was 102.4-F which was much better. The vet told me it should be between 100-102-F. Getting Buddy's rectal temp. reading was a new experience, but it had to be done. The vet called that evening to see how Buddy was doing. He was looking a little better but not much.

By Sunday morning his temp. had dropped to 101.5-F. Finally after 34-hours, Sunday 8:00pm Buddy had a BM. I couldn't believe the large hair ball he had passed. The hair is on the left side and the regular poop on the right side of the pic of his BM. I'm thinking the large amount of hair in his stool was causing him the problem.



Last week he did spit up a little hair-ball so I tried to give him some hair-ball treatment but he wouldn't eat it. I'm giving him a little vaseline once a day for a few days till he gets past this. I had been brushing him every other day because he was shedding quit a bit. I'm also giving him some canned food, 1.5oz twice a day to help with his BM's plus he gets dried food.

Today he seemed back to normal. He had a normal BM at 1:00pm. He's running all over the house especially up the stairs. That was quit a scare. In the end it turned out to be a $500.00 hair-ball. But the main thing, he's ok. We love him.

Thanks. I'm really surprised that much hair could build up in his system. He doesn't like the hair-ball treatment stuff but fortunately he like vaseline. Plus some canned food is making his stool softer which helps pass the hair balls.

Buddy and Tiger's socializing has continued with improved results. Buddy is projecting more favorable body language. He is more relaxed when he approaches the screen barrier. Tiger sees this and doesn't back away from the screen but stays there and actually gives the low meow and wants to get to the other side of the screen. Not necessarly to be with Buddy but I think to go outside. I think this weekend i'm going to let them get together. Their very close to being ready for the next step. Tiger goes down now to the basm't to visit Buddy in his cage. Although he does proceed with caution. Can't wait till they can be together.