Ferris' first week at home

Here are the pics I've been promising. I'm not a great photographer, but some of these aren't TOO bad! Just click on the pics to enlarge and see them better...

Here he is, first night home in his cage, VERY scared:



And the first meeting between Ginger and Ferris that night:



Here's the cage set-up I had him in for the first three days - it worked VERY well:



Here are two pictures of his very, very feral siblings in the cage that he was in for a month at his foster home:

Here are pics of Ferris the first time I let him out to meet Ginger:

First face-to-face, she's letting him know who is boss cat:



Ferris avoiding her gaze, notices the cool collar she has on - My, what a nice collar you have there. Where'd ya get it?



Ferris still doesn't trust yet - he's quite suspicious of me with the camera, but he's so interested in the toy mouse, he's dealing with it:



He's a litter kicker, lol - you should see him toss litter way up in the air behind him!!!

Here's the fancy new "condo" I made for him when I took the cage apart. He was in it for all of 30 seconds, just long enough for me to take this picture, and he hasn't gone back into it since! (Hint: look into the circular window I cut out)



Here are two pics I took the very first time I was able to hold him, on day three. What a cutie!!!





And A jealous, very ticked off Ginger. She was growling up a storm when I took this picture. Look at her ears, LOL!

A couple more of Ferris as he learns it is okay to play without fear, I believe these are day 4 at home:

Kicking up his heels:



Ferris the mighty mouse hunter:



Here is Ginger helping herself to his baby food as described in another thread - this was actually a breakthrough moment!



And Ginger eating from her new dish. I gave her smaller, older one to Ferris. She was suspicious of the new dish, but since it had her food in it, it must be ok to eat from. Hard to see through all the fur, but I can feel her ribs and all the bumps in her spine when I pet her. She's so thin - good thing, because she'll be eating kitten dry food for the next few months (Ferris keeps eating her food, so I have to switch her back to kitten for a while.)

And the last batch of pics - I hope you've enjoyed viewing these as much I I did taking them!!!

Ferris showing off his brand new collar on day 4, literally moments after I put it on him. He was testing the air between the kitty condo and the fridge, just before he made a test leap. He made it!



And these three are from last night, day 6. He's come a long way - I'm SO in love with him!!!







That's it for now! Thanks for letting me share!!!

Awww, he is a very handsome little orange man glad everything is going so well!

Ginger and Feriris are both so beautiful !!! It certainly does look like things are coming along ....Ferris looks like hes relaxing ..... hes such a beautiful boy ... Ginger is gorgeous, too !!! How is she with him now ? How is she responding in the same room ? Do you let them out together for long periods ? ...... TELL ME EVERYTHING !!!

Originally Posted by Pami

Ginger and Feriris are both so beautiful !!! It certainly does look like things are coming along ....Ferris looks like hes relaxing ..... hes such a beautiful boy ... Ginger is gorgeous, too !!! How is she with him now ? How is she responding in the same room ? Do you let them out together for long periods ? ...... TELL ME EVERYTHING !!!

Click to expand...

Actually, I let him have the run of the house as of day 4, and they are getting along better and better every day!

The cat tunnel/cage worked wonderfully for three days, then I put it away and assimilated Ferris into the kitchen, and by that evening he was wandering the house. I think the tunnel actually caused Ginger to be more aggressive than she might have been otherwise. Seeing him through the mesh was just like looking at the stray cats in the backyard through the window screens, and she's been attacked by cats through the screens before, so she felt much more threatened by the mesh between them. She was a lot less aggressive after I left him out.

Of course, she jumped right on top of him last night in front of me, tumbled him right over, and all he was doing was playing with a toy, LOL. She has swatted at him quite a few times, and growled right in his little face when I had him on my lap the night before last. I told her she should be growling at me, not him, but she didn't care. She was telling him that I'm HER human!

He's a troublemaker - he taunts her to make her chase him - it's so cute! She is jealous, and shows it in her posture, but I'm giving her LOTS of loves, so she'll get over it.

I went home at lunchtime to check on them on Tuesday and they were both passed out HARD from a morning of chasing each other. I haven't gone home at lunch since - he is really getting along much better than I could have expected, considering what his foster home situation was like, and while they aren't sitting together yet, last night they were lying down within three feet of each other with no taunting, so I'm just thrilled at the progress!!!

Oh yes, introducing kitties to new kitties........I know that experience well! Everything sounds perfectly normal! Ferris and Ginger are so darling!!!!

That is so wonderful that Ferris is doing so well and I can't believe how far he has come in such a short time!!! I know this must be so rewarding for you as a meowmmy!! He is just so adorable too and in a few weeks it will be like they were always together.

Thats fantastic they seem to be coming along just great !!!!

That is great the The two of them are getting along so great... There both adorable!

Thank, guys!

You know, it's funny, but I look at that first picture, then I look at the last picture, and it's almost hard to believe he's the same kitten!

One thing that I'm doing that some of you may not agree with, but seems to be working, is that I'm not waiting for him to come to me - I'm going to him. I'm picking him up and holding him for a few minutes each night. I check his gums, clean his eye boogies, check his ears, and scritch, scritch, scritch. I look at his little paws, and scritch some more.

I know he's technically a feral, but he needs to know that I'm the meowmy and I need to be able to hold and touch him to take care of him. I gave him his first kisses on the top of his head last night.

I get him all relaxed and purring, then I slowly release my hold on him until I'm not holding him anymore, he's in my lap all on his own. Then I let him walk away. I do this sitting on the floor - he seems to accept me better when I'm sitting on the floor, and I'm sure that's because I spent the first few days doing just that - sitting on the floor in the kitchen talking to him.

Ferris was trying to get away from me the other day when I was trying to pick him up. He started climbing up the new kitty condo and he hissed at me. I just laughed at him and carefully grabbed him. He doesn't scare me!!! LOL...wait until I have to trim his claws. THAT will be fun!

I tried brushing him with a rubber curry comb last night, but it didn't grab much fur. Not surprized, though - there are little blonde tufts of fur located all over the rugs and furniture in my house! Who needs a brushing!

He hasn't tried to bite me at all since the night I brought him home, and that's a real plus. If he does try, though, he'll quickly learn that it will have zero effect on me.

It's funny - when Ginger hisses at him, I hiss at her, and then she looks guilty. Hee-hee!!! Who's the boss cat? ME!!!!

Oh he is so adorable! I like his condo!

Ferris is a sweetie pie and it looks like he is starting to win over Ginger.
They are 2 lucky kitties.
I can tell that you adore them.
Thank you for sharing their pictures.

What beautiful kitties!!!

LOL, I've been hissed at on occasion, and I hiss right back too! LOLOLOL

More pics please!!!