Meet my handsome new man

[Biomehanika]

New boy and Moose had another session together (there’s a video this time!!) … y’all can let me know how you think it went but really, these two are gonna be besties in no time.


The only bad news is Bitsy is acting a little sad today and it seems she may even be having a little bit of a stress related URI flare up. I highly doubt it’s from New Boy as they haven’t had any real contact, she has a history of calici/chlamydia and has always been a bit of a sickly thing with crusty/goopy eye issues since her initial big infection as a kitten, so right now that is just a bit more intense than usual. Overall she’s OK and it should hopefully pass soon without vet intervention, but I am feeling quite bad for her. She is so so sensitive and the beginning of introductions are always quite hard on her. And she’s had so many changes in the past few months. Anyways, because of this I am keeping the introduction sessions to 1:1 with New Boy and Moose for the time being, and once Bitsy has had some time to regulate her emotions and is feeling a bit better I will start up some sessions with her and him 1:1, at her pace.

 

[Margot Lane]

New boy and Moose had another session together (there’s a video this time!!) … y’all can let me know how you think it went but really, these two are gonna be besties in no time.


The only bad news is Bitsy is acting a little sad today and it seems she may even be having a little bit of a stress related URI flare up. I highly doubt it’s from New Boy as they haven’t had any real contact, she has a history of calici/chlamydia and has always been a bit of a sickly thing with crusty/goopy eye issues since her initial big infection as a kitten, so right now that is just a bit more intense than usual. Overall she’s OK and it should hopefully pass soon without vet intervention, but I am feeling quite bad for her. She is so so sensitive and the beginning of introductions are always quite hard on her. And she’s had so many changes in the past few months. Anyways, because of this I am keeping the introduction sessions to 1:1 with New Boy and Moose for the time being, and once Bitsy has had some time to regulate her emotions and is feeling a bit better I will start up some sessions with her and him 1:1, at her pace.

I wanna be a cat just so I can come over to YOUR place! You’re like the house all the neighborhood kids wanna visit!

 

[Biomehanika]

Since introductions are mostly on pause due to Bitsy not feeling great, I’ve decided to start introducing something else to him— teeth brushing and purrito-ing!!

Purrito-ing was an absolute fail. I used a smaller blankie than usual so maybe that was the issue but he got out of it right away both times I tried so I may need to try a different method (my purritos are generally quite lax with minimal constraint because I only ever purrito moose when I brush his teeth and he likes it lol, so new boy may need to be wrapped more snug lol)

Toothbrushing went pretty good though, I didn’t really actually brush his teeth at all yet minus one or two little swipes on his canines but he ate some treat off the brush and checked it out and let me rub his gums/teeth with the CET toothpaste on my finger without being bothered by it at all. Didn’t try to run away or anything but he sure does move and wiggle around a lot whenever I’m spending time with him which makes these kinds of things hard lol. He is a very easy going lad though and the hardest part of getting him used to this is probably going to be the getting him to stay still/maneuvering him to get to his teeth part, which is where the purrito comes in, so unless I can train him to lay down and not move like a little angel while I brush we will need to work on that more lol

 

[Biomehanika]

Bitsy seems to be doing better today but still isn’t 100% so no introductions for her yet. She did catch a good close up look at New Boy while I was leaving the room though and made sure to give him a bunch of angry hisses. I am going to start feeding her meals at his door to hopefully build some positive associations before we (intentionally) introduce more visual contact.

Put Bitsy in the bathroom and let New Boy and Moose romp around together for 15-ish minutes. They are doing well together, no big concerns, but New Boy is much more interested in exploring the rest of the house than he is in Moose for the time being, which frustrates Moose. Moose just wants to play and interact with him and was following him around a bunch while meowing at him (while New Boy ignored him and explored minus a few sniff and trill exchanges lol). Moose has this habit (which he always does to Bitsy) of just randomly pawing at the other cats head while letting out a loud meow. It is not aggressive but I’m sure it sends mixed signals sometimes, he did it to New Boy and he was unphased by it but then a bit later he meowed at him then chased him a short distance (wanting to play) and did his head paw thing again so New Boy swatted back at him (less gently lol) and he backed off. No sounds were exchanged and New Boy immediately started scratching the scratcher next to him afterwards and wasn’t upset by it or anything, so that’s a good, BUT YEAH, Moose is a very high strung cat who gets frustrated when others don’t reciprocate play or interact with him. And he is VERY PERSISTENT about making friends. He’s a very sweet boy but very impatient (and annoying) at times, and is extremely high energy. He is also quite anxious and gets stressed easily though which means most wand toys (AKA da bird and ones that have feathers/put his prey drive into overdrive) are off limits as they just stress him out, he will go absolutely insane trying to catch them, and not in a playful way… it’s full on stress, and when he does catch them he doesn’t let go and will just growl while death gripping them in his mouth. So we avoid those. Harness walks are not a possibly as he is so so scared of people and would probably be terrified of outside too, so getting his energy out in a way that doesn’t send his anxiety into overdrive is hard. We are limited to fetch with his favourite little toys and the more boring non-feathered wand toys. He’s literally given himself panic attacks trying to catch bugs that are on the other side of the window and stuff before. SO YEAH… New Boy is New Boy and Moose is Moose lol. I am really hoping his calm and collected demeanour will rub off on him while Moose brings out his playful side a bit.

 

[nurseangel]

Aw, poor Bitsy. Your new guy is quite handsome, though. I can see a future photo comp winner in the future.

 

[Biomehanika]

Lunch Date

Bitsy knew he was there and was quite unphased by his scent so it’s definitely just seeing him that upsets her and makes her hiss.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Here's hoping Bitsy will soon be unfazed by seeing him, too - though the scent not bothering her must be a good start.

Any ideas for a name presenting themselves yet?

 

[Biomehanika]

Yes and no lol.

Currently flirting with a few Game of Thrones themed names. Varys, Aegon/Egg, Podrick… Maybe Viserys. Maybe others I haven’t even thought of yet lol.

Also like Winston and Milton and a couple others. But I don’t know. Am mostly just sitting around twiddling my thumbs hoping something that 100% clicks appears in my brain lol.

 

[Alldara]

Varys would be rather fitting for a neutered male lol

 

[Biomehanika]

Varys would be rather fitting for a neutered male lol

LOL right!! That’s what I was thinking. Plus he looks so wise and full of secrets.

 

[Biomehanika]

Progress update
Just over three weeks with him now

Still no name lol

He has become REALLY interested in playing and loves to play now! His favourite toy is Da Bird, so it’s great that’s getting some use as I can’t use it with Moose (it stresses him out too much) and Bitsy doesn’t like it.

His poops went back to normal after adding occasional S.Boulardii and more dry back into his diet. He is currently getting wet 2x per day and dry 2x per day with no issue, will slowly try to get him up to 3x per day wet in the not so far future but he did do a semi soft one after 2.5x wet yesterday so clearly still too soon for that.

He is really starting to enjoy different kinds of wet food (pates at least)! He doesn’t refuse any of them anymore, almost fully cleans his plate everytime, and even tried some freeze dried last night. His overall appetite is much better than it used to be.

He sleeps with me all through the night now and he also trills and talks a lot now too! He was so quiet the first two weeks-ish but has started becoming a very chatty boy.

He’s an absolute angel with the RC’s and is so so respectful and chill around them. The big challenge now re:introductions is getting them both desensitized to his presence. Bitsy in regards to not hissing/getting upset at the sight of him, and Moose in regards to not getting so excited/pushy/annoying when he sees him.

 

[rubysmama]

Just seeing this thread now. I had read about those cats being rescued, so it is cool to see one is now a TCS cat. What a sweetie!

 

[Biomehanika]

A story in three pictures…

Finally, I’ve gotten my hands on a second baby gate! Now I can work on acclimating Bitsy to New Boy without worrying about him or Moose constantly jumping the barrier! This thing is well over four feet tall, surely they can’t get over it…

 

[fionasmom]

Pretty darn fine work with those baby gates even if New Boy was able to work his way around them. You need to think of a name or he will be New Boy. My Daddy Cat was named that when he was a street cat because he fathered so many kittens. His polydactyl gene was passed on to a number of them, so we knew that he was the father. When I took him in and neutered him and made him a house pet, the name had long since stuck.

 

[DeesCats]

I didn't have luck with baby gates so we just made a 2 x 2 lumber wood frame to fit in the door opening, a swinging gate made from 2 x 2 lumber and stapled green plastic garden netting to it, attached some hinges and wedged it in the door opening.

I see New Boy had discovered he can overcome the double high baby gate plan.

 

[Biomehanika]

Ahahaha, I swear his name won’t be New Boy, that’s just what I refer to him here on the forum (for now) … as of right now Aegon/Egg is sticking the most but I still don’t know if I’ll go with that lol

The double baby gate is working quite well for the most part, under supervision… but he is very desperate to get out into the rest of the place so he will attempt a climb after awhile of being imprisoned on the other side lol. Honestly a couple more days of this maybe and I think I’ll be comfortable letting him out and seeing how all three do together. I know he won’t attack the RC’s and I know they won’t attack him, the worst Moose will do is run up to him, meow loudly, and give him a single swat (it’s out of a desperate excited want to play, not aggression) and Bitsy will just hiss/growl at him lol, MAYBE try to stalk him a bit if she’s super upset, but that’s easy for me to interfere on. I would love to wait till Bitsy isn’t hissy at all but she’s a very hissy girl in general and will hiss at Moose to show displeasure often, ect, despite them being friends who sleep together and groom eachother, so that may never happen lol.

 

[Kwik]

New boy and Moose had another session together (there’s a video this time!!) … y’all can let me know how you think it went but really, these two are gonna be besties in no time.


The only bad news is Bitsy is acting a little sad today and it seems she may even be having a little bit of a stress related URI flare up. I highly doubt it’s from New Boy as they haven’t had any real contact, she has a history of calici/chlamydia and has always been a bit of a sickly thing with crusty/goopy eye issues since her initial big infection as a kitten, so right now that is just a bit more intense than usual. Overall she’s OK and it should hopefully pass soon without vet intervention, but I am feeling quite bad for her. She is so so sensitive and the beginning of introductions are always quite hard on her. And she’s had so many changes in the past few months. Anyways, because of this I am keeping the introduction sessions to 1:1 with New Boy and Moose for the time being, and once Bitsy has had some time to regulate her emotions and is feeling a bit better I will start up some sessions with her and him 1:1, at her pace.

Excellent session!Could not get any better- your Moose is focused on "scent" and that's what we hope for while distracting the new kitty - well done ( those two are going to be great pals) They both have wonderful personalities...... your new man is absolutely gorgeous!

Delightful video- you have a great " kitty" tone too- cat comforter

 

[Kwik]

A story in three pictures…

View attachment 476910

Finally, I’ve gotten my hands on a second baby gate! Now I can work on acclimating Bitsy to New Boy without worrying about him or Moose constantly jumping the barrier! This thing is well over four feet tall, surely they can’t get over it…

View attachment 476912View attachment 476911

A sheet of PVC privacy lattice makes a great temporary "door" - simple hook & eye on door frame and can even swing open enough to get in and out yourself without much fuss

But honestly,observing these kitties temperament and behavior and reading your descriptive posts I think they'll do just fine without barriers- your supervision seems enoughGood work!

 

[Biomehanika]

Thank you, Kwik !! That is very encouraging feedback.

I totally agree that the barriers can probably come down at least for short-ish visits at this point. The boys will be fine and Moose has been less hyper/excited at gate visits as of late. It’s just my own nerves holding me back at this point, and not wanting to upset Bitsy (she is slowly becoming more comfortable with his presence but is way behind the boys in terms of acceptance/excitement) but I’ll probably give them all a good play and let then let them properly hang with eachother tonight or tomorrow.

Here is another short video from a Tuesday barrier visit… volume up to hear Bitsy growling in the background lol (she didn’t growl at later visits though)

 

[Kwik]

Thank you, Kwik !! That is very encouraging feedback.

I totally agree that the barriers can probably come down at least for short-ish visits at this point. The boys will be fine and Moose has been less hyper/excited at gate visits as of late. It’s just my own nerves holding me back at this point, and not wanting to upset Bitsy (she is slowly becoming more comfortable with his presence but is way behind the boys in terms of acceptance/excitement) but I’ll probably give them all a good play and let then let them properly hang with eachother tonight or tomorrow.

Here is another short video from a Tuesday barrier visit… volume up to hear Bitsy growling in the background lol (she didn’t growl at later visits though)

Excellent - can Moose go in there with NB so they can play and get to the next step of rubbing scents etc? They are very ready....

You know females- bossy little ladies ,looks like she's just letting everyone know " Er hmm fellas,this here is my territory.... just sayin!"

You mentioned Bitsys under the weather so I wouldn't be wanting her to get stressed myself- might be good to put the boys together and when she's feeling better the barrier can come down.....

Have you let NB explore the other side and swap kitty sides?I've not read the entire thread so forgive me if you've already mentioned it - I find the females always have more attitude but with bigger bark than bite ,is she typically confrontational or speaks her mind and retreats?

Also- they are all really beautiful kitties