The kittens are winning...sorta.
On sunday afternoon Charlotte and Everest finally beat the challenge of the baby gates and wandered around the entire apartment while I was getting ready for work. When I came out of the bathroom I found them in the bedroom where they ran across Shadow. I stood there for a bit to see what would happen. Shadow stayed up on the desk and hissed and growled at them. This was the closest that he has been to them since they were brought home last week. He would constantly look out towards the living room and walk out towards it but would always turn back to the bedroom.
I was able to get the gates back up and set them up differently. This time they reached from the floor right to the ceiling and I thought to myself that there was no way the kittens could get through that. Boy, was I wrong. Everest, living up to his name, scaled the gates and slithered through a small crack that was between them. I scooped him up and put him back into the living room and reset the gates yet again. This time they can't get through.
I figured that sooner or later the kittens and Shadow are going to have to meet again so I decided that as long as I'm home the gates are coming down for a few hours a day. Since I'm off on monday and tuesday every week I started with it monday morning after I got home from work. The kittens loved to be out exploring again and running around chasing each other. There were a couple of interesting things that happened. Everest and Shadow have already been face to face but this time they had a staring contest. A staring contest that Everest quickly lost. He turned away and moved on to explore other nooks and crannies in the apartment. Charlotte is the more cautious of the two but she also had a close encounter with Shadow monday morning. She appeared on the nightstand a couple of feet away from Shadow who was lying on "his" desk. He growled and hissed at her and she quickly turned and moved out of his space.
Everest likes to "leap before he looks". He ran up behind Shadow earlier tonight wanting to play. Shadow quickly whipped around and hissed and raised a paw to swat at him but Everest made a bee line for the living room before he could get walloped. There is still a long way to go before things are settled. Shadow is slowly but surely asserting his dominance over them. The do clear out of his way when he hisses but he does allow them to get close sometimes.
I don't let the kittens run free all of the time. At night they go back in the living room and they will be in there by themselves while I'm at work. They have gotten into Shadow's feed dish and into his litter box but I'm happy to report that their scent on "his stuff" hasn't deterred him in the slightest from using them.
I also have some pics of them to share:
Charlotte:
Charlotte:
Everest:
Everest:
This pic is of another staring contest between Shadow and Everest. "E" took off a couple of seconds after it was taken. He lost again.
I apologize if I placed this in the wrong forum. If someone feels a need to move the thread to another part of the site then feel free.
Thanks,
Bryan
On sunday afternoon Charlotte and Everest finally beat the challenge of the baby gates and wandered around the entire apartment while I was getting ready for work. When I came out of the bathroom I found them in the bedroom where they ran across Shadow. I stood there for a bit to see what would happen. Shadow stayed up on the desk and hissed and growled at them. This was the closest that he has been to them since they were brought home last week. He would constantly look out towards the living room and walk out towards it but would always turn back to the bedroom.
I was able to get the gates back up and set them up differently. This time they reached from the floor right to the ceiling and I thought to myself that there was no way the kittens could get through that. Boy, was I wrong. Everest, living up to his name, scaled the gates and slithered through a small crack that was between them. I scooped him up and put him back into the living room and reset the gates yet again. This time they can't get through.
I figured that sooner or later the kittens and Shadow are going to have to meet again so I decided that as long as I'm home the gates are coming down for a few hours a day. Since I'm off on monday and tuesday every week I started with it monday morning after I got home from work. The kittens loved to be out exploring again and running around chasing each other. There were a couple of interesting things that happened. Everest and Shadow have already been face to face but this time they had a staring contest. A staring contest that Everest quickly lost. He turned away and moved on to explore other nooks and crannies in the apartment. Charlotte is the more cautious of the two but she also had a close encounter with Shadow monday morning. She appeared on the nightstand a couple of feet away from Shadow who was lying on "his" desk. He growled and hissed at her and she quickly turned and moved out of his space.
Everest likes to "leap before he looks". He ran up behind Shadow earlier tonight wanting to play. Shadow quickly whipped around and hissed and raised a paw to swat at him but Everest made a bee line for the living room before he could get walloped. There is still a long way to go before things are settled. Shadow is slowly but surely asserting his dominance over them. The do clear out of his way when he hisses but he does allow them to get close sometimes.
I don't let the kittens run free all of the time. At night they go back in the living room and they will be in there by themselves while I'm at work. They have gotten into Shadow's feed dish and into his litter box but I'm happy to report that their scent on "his stuff" hasn't deterred him in the slightest from using them.
I also have some pics of them to share:
Charlotte:
Charlotte:
Everest:
Everest:
This pic is of another staring contest between Shadow and Everest. "E" took off a couple of seconds after it was taken. He lost again.
I apologize if I placed this in the wrong forum. If someone feels a need to move the thread to another part of the site then feel free.
Thanks,
Bryan
