OK dawnofsierra- tell me how kitty is doing this morning?

[katspixiedust]

I've just caught up with this thread and I have to say Stephanie, your new little one is just so precious. It's wonderful to hear that Sierra is adjusting and I can't wait to hear stories as the years pass about their ever growing sisterhood. Welcome home, all of you!

 

[sunnicat]

Awww....now I see how Serenity came into the picture! What a beautiful, lucky little girl!

 

[dawnofsierra]

Thursday was an incredible day of progress, yet a great deal of that behavior has been forgotten today, it seems. Mealtimes have been quite a situation. Must keep Serenity for eating Sierra's food while doing the same with Sierra. To solve this,Sierra has been dining on the table with her elevated dish, while Serenity dines on the placemat on the floor. Sierra has been refusing to eat her own food and then hops down to eat Serenity's. We all know that Sierra requires her special food, as well as a growing kitten requires the nutrients in kitten food! Yesterday, I put a special treat on top of Sierra's food and placed their meals side by side on the placemat in the floor. I rejoiced as they ate their own meals with no quarreling at all!

I even took a picture which I'll try to download tomorrow.

Today, they would have nothing of it and neither would eat their own meals. Thought I would try a new solution feed them in different rooms. Bad idea...

Serenity screamed up a storm with her little birdie voice. If she had continued, I know my neighbors would have reported me for cruelty to my kitties!

Back to the drawing board for mealtimes!
They have been exhibiting a bit of play fighting. This is the very first time Sierra has ever interacted with another cat!

They are chasing eachother all over the house, then batting at eachother around some stationary object such as the cat condo or a chair. I would feel much better about this if Sierra wasn't growling and even occassionally hissing the entire time, but have been advised that this is perfectly normal behavior as Sierra teaches Serenity her boundaries. That comes as a relief!

Serenity suffers from quite a case of separation anxiety. As I said earlier, simply closing her in the bedroom, even with her own food and lots of toys, she begins to squal mournfully as loudly as possible! If I close the door to the BR when I get out of the shower so as not to freeze, she does the same. This is difficult because Sierra prefers she not join us for our shower. If I so much as go outside to check the mail, I return to her screaming at the door. We're gradually working on increasing time spent apart, but with little success thus far. This situation is most difficult because Sierra and I are having trouble getting our special one on one time together because to shut the door sends Serenity into a frenzy, and if Serenity is in the room with us, she wants to play with the toy, eat the treat, cuddle, etc...
At bedtime has been great progress! Sierra sleeps on my legs or under the covers cuddled by by legs and Serenity is still sleeping draped around my neck or on my head. I will be happy if Sierra will return to my neck and head, though, since they have always been her spots.

For now, I'm all excited they are sleeping so close together!

I've read so many behavior books and so many articles on this very issue, and it sure is a good thing or I'd be even more lost now!

If you've made it this far in to our update, we sure do thank you for you are surely our friend! Thank you so much for your continued support and encouragement for my babies!

 

[wellingtoncats]

Aw so happy to read this latest update, Stephanie!

 

[ilovecats]

Steph, I love your updates.

Sorry to hear you're having trouble in some areas, babies don't give much slack.

Thank you for letting us know what's going on.

 

[laceydf]

yay! i'm so glad that things are getting so much better!!!

Great job, Stephanie!!!

 

[jcat]

Stephanie, my sister (3 dogs, originally 2 cats, and numerous other creatures) is going through the same thing. One daughter and one son have managed to bring home two abandoned kittens in the past four weeks. The dogs and iguanas have no problems with the extra cats, but the two established cats haven't been very cooperative. Having experienced Jamie's antipathy (read hatred) for other cats, I think Sierra is doing very well.

 

[rapunzel47]

Stephanie, thanks for the update! Mealtime upsets notwithstanding, I think you're doing splendidly. If it's any comfort, Cindy and Fawn, who are littermates and have never been apart, play fight quite vigorously, and with lots of growling. And sleeping that close together is excellent!

Congratulations on wonderful progress, and scritches for those two little lovelies who are doing so well at working out the ground rules.

 

[sunnicat]

I am so happy that they are getting along! We only have one cat in the house, two outside. While growing up at home, we always had at least two, sometimes three indoor cats. I remember the oldest cat teaching the new kitten the boundaries the same way Sierra is with Serenity. Isn't it fun to watch them play? Eventually, they will bond and be buddies for life! Good luck and thanks for the updates!!

 

[xocats]

Stephanie...We love reading about Sierra & Serenity.

You have a unique way of describing their adventures, that speaks to the child & kitten in all of us. We are right there with you.

Dexter, Sadie & Lei
xo xo xo

 

[captiva]

This is difficult because Sierra prefers she not join us for our shower.

Does Sierra clean between her claws?

 

[sashacat421]

Originally Posted by captiva

Does Sierra clean between her claws?

LOL Chris!


It's really heartwarming to read about Sierra's progress wit her new baby sister. She will develop into a great big sister and be just wonderful with little S.

 

[dawnofsierra]

Thank you, Sam!

Thank you for your concern, Jenny. These aren't exactly troubles as much as a few natural issues that are just taking longer to work out than others.

Thank you, Lacey, we're sure working on it!

Thank you for relating this, Tricia. It's great to hear others are having the same issues right now! Yes, Sierra certainly shares Jamie's strong disliking of other cats!

This is so encouraging, Fran! Thank you so much for sharing this about your precious Cindy and Fawn!

Thank you, Ronda and Sophie Grace! Yes, I just can hardly wait until they are bonded and learn to love eachother!

Thank you dearly, Lei, Sadie, and Dexter! Your support just means so much to us!

Chris...

My baby girl has come so far, Eddie, and you're right, she'll be a wonderful big sister to Serenity!

 

[hissy]

Steph I would look into getting a snugglekittie for serenity. She is quite young and being alone is scary for a kitten. You know you are coming back, but she doesn't. If you get a snugglekittie, simply slip a smelly sock into the pouch in the belly and your smell will be around and that should comfort serenity. I would also feed them from the same plate at meal times, I would get an oversized cookie sheet and feed them on that- and see how they do-

 

[dawnofsierra]

Thank you for these suggestions, MA. I will definitely look into a SnuggleKitty for little Serenity! Thus far, she hasn't been away from me for more than a few minutes, and these are just trial runs as I am gradually attempting to lengthen the time to get her more used to it. As much as I would love to be, I will not be able to be right here with her to hold and comfort her ever waking moment forever. It is also imperative that Sierra and I have our special one on one time together. This SnuggleKitty may be our very solution!
As far as feeding them the same food from a large tray or cookie sheet, Sierra is on her Innova Lite diet for her kidneys, and Serenity needs a special formula just for kittens that is higher in protein, kcals, etc... Would you still advise that they eat from the same dish? Thank you so much for your priceless advice!

 

[huggles]

Steph, sorry I havent been actively keeping up with this thread. but you know that you, Sierra & Serenity are in my thoughts all the time

 

[pinkdaisy226]

Hey Stephanie. Such cuties you have there! And I completely know what you're going through with Serenity - whenever Jordan is in a different room from us and can hear us, he cries for AGES! So sad and breaks my heart... whenever we got Max and we was isolated from Baylee he would never cry so much. But Sierra and Serenity are making SUCH amazing progress... I have to admit I'm jealous and hope my gang gets that close quickly!

 

[dawnofsierra]

Dan, I feel the same towards you, and you know I'm there in my heart just as you are here with us!

Ari, thank you for sharing your similar experience! I don't feel like quite such a bad Mommy to hear others have experienced the same issue with their baby. It's just so difficult to hear them cry, isn't it! Your little ones will be getting along perfectly in no time!

 

[dawnofsierra]

Serenity has had quite a busy day today. We went to the Vet this morning for her routine vaccinations which she tolerated just wonderfully! She wasn't very pleased with the fecal exam though (can't really say that I blame her there!) We're happy to report that she is now officially worm and earmite free!

I absolutely coudn't believe her weight! The last time we were there, she weighed 7 ounces. Today, she weighed 3.1lbs! I'm convinced a good bit of that was due to her big breakfast, but still, what a weight gain!

We saw the Vet we visited second when Serenity first found us, the one I felt was quite competent (as opposed to the one we saw our first visit who didn't even recognize her uri) The Dr. just went on and on and on about how beautiful Serenity is! She remembered the sick little baby who had been on her exam table just a few weeks ago and was awed at how perfectly healthy and beautiful she is now! Really, I'm not just being a super proud Mommy, she really went on and on!

She said Serenity is in the best of health and she gets "an A+ for today". I thought that was a cute thing to say. She approved of my means of treating her little bout with feline acne and agrees it is healing nicely.
We will not go to the Vet again on a Saturday, though, because we were there from about 9:15-12:45. During the wait, though, we met a new friend and ran into an old one, so all in all, I'm happy we were there for that time.
Tonight Serenity is feeling so poorly, though.

She's quite lethargic~just wants to sleep, won't even eat~now that's super odd, as she usually eats all her food, what Sierra leaves and then wants more! When she opens her eyes, they just look so sleepy and just to say "I don't feel well, Mommy. She feels as if she's running a bit of a fever as well and is likely sore because she won't even attempt to jump up even a very short distance and is uncomfortable being rubbed all the way down to her injection site. I know all of this is perfectly normal, but it's so sad to see my little bitty girl feeling bad!

As I type this, she is in my pj top snuggling. The vast majority of my day has been right here with her. Sierra knows she isn't feeling well, and has a couple of times been a concerned sister and come over to check on her. (happy shock!) She's also being more lenient with her and when I left the room, allowed Serenity to sleep much closer to her than usual (within a foot!).

Also, a lot of times when Serenity is getting special attention, Sierra will come over to huff and puff at her, but today there's been none of that. I'm so proud of my sweet baby girl for being such a patient, wonderful big sister!

I'm sure Serenity will be feeling so much better tomorrow. All in all, I'm just so thrilled how well her exam went and know you guys would be thrilled with us as well!

 

[pat]

I hope Serenity is back to norm tomorrow..how sweet Sierra is being!