Cat Introduction Woes

[mservant]

     I can't wait - so wanting this to go well.   

I just looked up the meaning of Mekkhala and it came up as girdle or belt as well as the slope of a mountain!  

    

   

If hubby likes the sound of Mekkhala, how about Michaela for being 'like a god' in Hebrew, or Malaika which means angel in Swahili and Urdu?   Perhaps how the face to face free meeting goes will give you the answer.  

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[losna]

Try this:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manimekhala

 

[Columbine]

     I can't wait - so wanting this to go well.   


I just looked up the meaning of Mekkhala and it came up as girdle or belt as well as the slope of a mountain!           


If hubby likes the sound of Mekkhala, how about Michaela for being 'like a god' in Hebrew, or Malaika which means angel in Swahili and Urdu?   Perhaps how the face to face free meeting goes will give you the answer.  :catguy:   (   )      

That's funny - when I googled it it came up as a the name of a tropical storm in 2015. :dk:

Seeing the Wikipedia link, the name makes a LOT more sense. I love the meaning, so I can definitely see why Hubby likes it.

 

[losna]

Yeah, you are both right!! 

 

 

[mservant]

OK, so Goddess of the seas is better.  

   The question is whether she likes water - as in being on it or in it as oposed to drinking it.  

    (Or perhaps more worryingly whether she produces a lot of it....  and where.  

   )  

 

[losna]

Oh man. Can she produce buckets of pee.

Seriously. That hadn't occurred to me until you said it. :lol3:

But yeah. She produces more than Sinbad and Tempest combined. No joke.

 

[Columbine]

That's funny. Asha produces crazy amounts of pee too - so much so that we had her kidney function checked out. She's fine, just VERY good at peeing :lol3:

 

[losna]

Sinbad's guardian mode kicked in for Oatmeal this morning. 

I was too aggressive with transitioning her to canned food too quickly (those dry food poops are just revolting after having been on a raw diet for so long!) and she started vomiting. Sinbad sounded the alarm, and is still sitting protectively outside her bathroom.

So while she hasn't been exactly fully accepted yet, he must view her as part of the family to some degree.

 

[Columbine]

Aww - what a sweet boy :heart3: And poor Oatie being sick like that hno: I hope she's doing better now

 

[losna]

Yeah, I gave everyone a helping of treats, with extras for Sinbad. He really is a darling guardian who worries about every one.

And Oatmeal is fine. It was just me being too aggressive with canned food. She just vomited up her breakfast, and went about looking for more food and cuddles. Not because she was upset, mind you. She just looks for cuddles with the same unconscious tenacity that she looks for air to breathe.

 

[losna]

Hubby has now moved on to Norse themes. He just can't decide on a name at all. 

 

Currently he is pondering Freyja.

 

[Columbine]

Hubby needs to make up his damn mind :lol3: At least fix on a theme/genre to work within. At this rate Oatmeal will be Oatmeal for evermore :disa:

Very glad Oatie's ok :heart3:

 

[losna]

She's more than ok now. I went in for quite some time. She sprawled across my shoulder and fell asleep. Had herself a nice little nap, complete with the dreamy twitchies. Purred the whole time. 

Though Sinbad is now sulking. Mornings are his  time, and now I smell like another cat. 

They had better get along and snuggle together, otherwise I will go out of my mind. According to my hubby, Oatmeal is so attached to me now she gets super excited at just the sound of my voice. They said that at the rescue, too, that she would respond to my voice the moment I walked in.

 

[mservant]

Ah, it sounds like your home is now a 3 cat home to me.  

    Sinbad watching over Oatie, and hubby taking days and days and days fretting over what name might suit this balancing spirit so rapidly settled in with you.  Sinbad holding back on charging Tempest, and Tempest showing interest in the changes that are taking place outside her room.  

Fingers crossed for the living room nose to nose meetings.

 

[Columbine]

Ah, it sounds like your home is now a 3 cat home to me.  :bigthumb:     Sinbad watching over Oatie, and hubby taking days and days and days fretting over what name might suit this balancing spirit so rapidly settled in with you.  Sinbad holding back on charging Tempest, and Tempest showing interest in the changes that are taking place outside her room.  
Fingers crossed for the living room nose to nose meetings.

I couldn't put it any better! This clearly was meant to be :nod:

 

[losna]

It's been a very stressful few days, so haven't had much time to work on introductions. But we did let her run around exploring the living room and dining room for a bit.

Sinbad was lounging under the dining room table on one of the chairs, and she naturally made a beeline right for him. He watched her approach, only hissing a little when she stopped right beneath him and looked up at his face. They were nose to nose, about 4 inches apart. He hissed, she backed up a little, and then I shooed her away since I'd forgotten to bring a blanket with me in case of squabbling so wanted to be on the side of caution.

She of course then climbed into my lap, and there was some more hissing as Sinbad realized I was "cheating" on him.

Then she made a beeline for his food. I shooed her away several times, but she is a bottomless stomach so once she realized there was yummy food she kept trying to eat it. That's when I put her back in the bathroom, and spent a while playing and reassuring Sinbad.

I think it went well? We still haven't gotten to this stage with Tempest and Sinbad, so I've never seen it before. I'm not really sure how long to keep their meetings, and if I should continue intervening or not.

Also going through this with Oatmeal seems to be helping Sinbad with Tempest to some degree. She is now occasionally willing to remain on the gate shelf while he's on the landing, which is a definite improvement. But I didn't see any hostility or signs of interest in fighting from either of them. I shooed her away from the dining room out of caution more than any worry they'd fight.

 

[mservant]

   Sorry, but I can't help but laugh at that cheeky little madam!  What a little wind-up merchant.  

      Sinbad was very good for just hissing at her.  He deserved his nice snuggle reward.

Keep up the meetings when you can and hopefully they will start to tolerate each other and relax a bit.

I hope that food isn't going to be an issue between them and that you can keep your feline stomach (I now have a horrible vision of a round, furry critter that almost looks like a cat but just hoovers up food 

 ) .   I assume from what you say above that Oatmeal is a fan of Sinbad's junk food and not Tempest's real stuff.  

 

 

[losna]

 
I hope that food isn't going to be an issue between them and that you can keep your feline stomach (I now have a horrible vision of a round, furry critter that almost looks like a cat but just hoovers up food 

 ) .   I assume from what you say above that Oatmeal is a fan of Sinbad's junk food and not Tempest's real stuff.  

 

Sinbad eats the same thing Tempest does; ground whole prey with a little sprinkle of tasty treats on top. Currently that's the canned Bravo, as the moment I open it for Oatmeal both Sinbad and Tempest go on excited alert since they love it too, so I have to put a little spoonful on their meat to keep the peace. I think they'd stage a rebellion if they smelled and heard it pop open and then didn't get any.  

 He is a super messy eater though, so there are always bits and smears of his food in his dish even when he's done. 

Oatmeal spent most of today roaming the house while Sinbad napped. When she was exploring the office, he just watched her from his napping place, but never came out for a greeting. She went into every room of the house (except Tempest's room). Purrs abounded, her tail was high in the air the entire time. She's a happy little explorer just like Sinbad. I wish there was a female equivalent to Sinbad, it'd be an easy name. 

 

Tonight we have plans, and tomorrow night hubby spends with his grandmother. So we are thinking Friday we'll let her have free wander and just let them interact as they will.

 

[mservant]

That wander sounds brilliant!       Sinbad not budging when he was her padding about is a really good sign.

 I don't know why I was thinking Sinbad didn't always eat the raw.  I think maybe because he doesn't always realize different things are food.  ​

Now I'm thinking female pirates and sailors in history.  

    How about Bonny after Mary Bonny, or Mrs Ching / Ching Shih a Chinese pirate, or  Rusila from Norway?      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_piracy

 

[losna]

Your pirate suggestion has born fruit. She is now Bêlit    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bêlit_(Robert_E._Howard)