Just Trapped a Calico - taking for Surgery Tomorrow - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAFM 

Sounds like she is doing well. Are u spending some time in there talking to her?  This will help her. 

Time - what a wonderful resource - of which I have little of. 

The door is not closed, I have a screen door covering the door opening - and she can hear all kinds of activity during the day.  When I take her food, I do talk to her.  I've found that whispers are accepted better - after all, they do have great hearing.  Whispering doesn't seem to frighten them as much as talking out loud.

But, thank you for the reminder - I'll try to make more of a point to be in the bathroom talking to her. 

Callee, April 21, 2012 UPDATE

Dear Callee - probably our straw that broke the peace in our household of cats. 

Of course - most of the problems have been due to human error. 

Firstly - she's more of a feral than I thought she was.  I thought she may have been lost from a family and once trapped she'd settle in to being in a safe place.  HA!

 - She's probably been on her own since she was a small kitten ??.

Secondly - I thought I had her litter box trained - HUGE mistake, huge!  Every room I put her in has been peed in.  Yes, I used the litter to attract her - and, like I said I thought it was working.

I didn't find this out until I put her in the family room where she promptly started using the sofa as her pee spot. I've cleaned the sofa as best I can, and it is now covered with plastic shower curtains.

Then, one of the male cats that as NEVER had a problem with peeing outside of the litter pan, started peeing all over the places he is allowed - I suspect every place that Callee peed.  I was shocked to see him pee on a leather chair for the first time - he had NEVER done that sort of behavior.  (Yes, I considered a health issue - and watched him to make sure it wasn't.)

Simon would be the one, he is super intelligent and extremely sensitive - ugh!

Then, there's Gray - our former stray - and until he was neutered - a prolific marker  outside, but never inside the house.  He hasn't had any problems until Miss Callee arrived - now I have two sprayers.  

FUN Anyone?

Callee loves our oldest, and most easy-going cat - KiKi.  And KiKi loves most any animal that comes his way.  I let KiKi in with Callee, and our other Calico (medium hair) Phoebe.  Phoebe and Simon are brother and sister.

Until the second week in April Callee would only come out of her hiding when my husband was in the room - alone.  

Bringing KiKi and Phoebe into the room has helped Callee come out from hiding.  KiKi is playing and grooming her.  Phoebe only tolerates Callee - Phoebe is Calico, too - so now we have two Calicos and all that comes with the attitudes (they are real!!) of a Calico.

I wish I could get a full pic of Callee - she has the most beautiful markings.  

She's beginning to fill out - she was only 6 pounds when she was spayed.  

So, our cat household has been turned on it's head with the addition of Callee.  

Gray Family has reduced area - now only in the office space - along with their outside enclosure.

Simon spends time, mostly, by himself when the other two (KiKi and Phoebe) are in with Callee.

Callee now seems to have been only peeing in the litter pan - KiKi may be helping with that - he uses her litter pan - especially if he can't get out of the Family room when he needs to go.  

I hope that we'll be able to get Simon to warm to Callee - but, this is going to take time, longer than I want.  I'd love to be able to work Callee into the KiKi Family zone so the Gray Family can get their space back.

Well, that's my story - only to add --- even IF I knew all the issues we'd have with the addition of Callee - I'd do it again - I'm not a quitter.    I just hope that I haven't hurt Simon during this process - he's getting a lot more lovin' now  to make up for his loss of companionship of the other two during the day.

The Three (KiKi, Phoebe, and Simon) once had the whole house to play in and call their own, now they are living in one of the 4 zones we've designated.  Sometimes I feel sad knowing that our Original Three have had to give up a lot.

g

Thanks for the words of encouragement! 

Thanks for the link to Laurie's article.  Funny, I've been using white vinegar and alcohol on the hairballs, and that's all I had when all the peeing began so that's what I used.  I figured we'd be throwing out the sofa - but now that I have information - maybe we'll be able to clean it up, but, ???. 

My husband went to the store and brought home the stuff like Laurie talked about in her article, the kind that I have to keep applying.

  At least it is better than the vinegar and alcohol that I was using.

I've been isolating Simon in our bedroom - mostly to try and observe his peeing in the litter pan to rule out health issues. Tonight he escaped out into the hall - I saw him, but couldn't do anything because I was in with our FeLV (Buddy) and didn't have my hands washed - besides Buddy was on my lap getting his butt patted and I didn't want to interrupt his lovin' time.

After Buddy left my lap I left his room and disinfected my hands, then went on the hunt for pee.  I was sorry to find it - on the front door - probably another cat had sprayed the exterior and so Simon responded. Or, the pee that I had just cleaned up just with bleach didn't do the job like the enzyme cleaners would and Simon still could smell where he had peed before. ugh!  Simon has always been the one with the great nose, so it's not surprising that he is so upset with the other cats' pee.

First I bleached and mopped the door and floor, then I applied the repellent spray.  Hopefully that will hold until we can buy the recommended product. 

Callee:  tonight she has really decided we're safe to be around.  She's picking up on our habits and noises we make in the kitchen. She's out and about even with me there.  Climbing up on the cat tree and laying on a shelf - her eyes are showing that she's not afraid any longer.

I think what's really helped has been KiKi and Phoebe being in there with her.  Their presence seems to have been the key to her beginning to accept her new home.  I pick up KiKi just to show Callee that I'm okay - she's taking it all in I can tell by the way she's watching me hold and cuddle and talk to KiKi.

Callee wanted to play with Phoebe, but Phoebe hissed at her, so Callee got down off the tower, tucked her tail between her legs and went back to her bed.  I felt so sorry for her, she looked so dejected.  Fortunately, KiKi let her play with his tail after a little while, and all was well with the world.

I'm tired, it's 11:40 pm, and I still have other cat things to do before I go to bed, but I'll share the odd way Callee plays with KiKi in another post.

Hope I don't have too many typo's - I've just gotta go, so hitting submit and crossing my fingers that this post makes sense. 

Boy, Callee has her moves.

My husband said he was watching Callee and KiKi play and she had an different move we hadn't seen before.  KiKi was laying on the floor batting at her, and she turned her butt towards him and backed into him.

I got to see her in action last night - she's very camera shy so unable to get a movie - if I do, I'll post it.  Soooo funny to watch!

I wonder where she learned that technique?!!  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Feralvr 

Silly little girl I do think that is a goofy move and have seen a cat do that. Especially if they are in heat So it could be a habit and she is showing her love to Kiki Some kitties just love to put their rears right up close to another cats face - it is how they know each other - by butt smells Would love to see a movie of her

Boy, I'm glad that I know she's been spayed, then!    I just knew she hadn't invented that move - it's really too cute.  

Today she wanted to play with KiKi - he wasn't interested and tried to ignore her - yep - she stuck her butt in his face and he forgot he wanted to be left alone - funny, too funny.

Each day seems to be steps forward, she even let me use my little Electrolux stick vac to vac up stuff - I didn't push it wanting her to just become familiar with the vac sound - it's really a very quiet little machine.  I realize that we might have a step backward from time to time, but for now, I'll enjoy the progress.  

Getting a video of her move isn't going to be easy, but that won't keep me from trying.  :)

I let one of the cats from Gray's family, Gray, Jr., into the room (from his zone) with Callee (she was in there by herself) - he's very timid, and Callee was stalking him., She was too much for him, and he was afraid to walk past her to escape back into his home zone.  To help him, I stepped in between them so he could hurry to the door to get out of the room.  It's this sort of fearlessness that reminds me of our other Calico - Phoebe - tough little critters.