Hello all - haven't been around here much lately, though have followed a few stories (JTbo, you should write a book!) on the site.
There's not been a huge amount of things happen with my two, but thought I'd drop a little update:
"Combined" - both LC and Rudi seem to be eating a fair bit less at the moment. I'm guessing that this is because it's summertime and the weather, whilst a bit changeable, is generally up above 20 C/ 70 F most of the time. I'm surprised they aren't eating more wet food, but with the weather as it is I think part of the issie is that the wet food becomes very attractive for bugs and flies. On the whole, the two cats seem to be coping with one another: most times Rudi will see LC in the distance and ignore, occasional times he'll run and scare her off
"Rudi" - continues to be a very loving, healthy, vocal and friendly boy. He continues to sleep under the hedge more often than not, much to my exasperation ('you've got a kennel, a barn and a Happy Hutch, Rudi, you daft thing!'). He's becoming ever friendlier with more and more people: when guests drop by, he used to hightail it to the other end of the farm but he now makes the occasional appearance and has accepted petting from a couple of other people. He's basically a wonderful farm cat and is now an essential part of life on the farm; even the neighbours have warmed to him (mainly because their young daughter, 11, thinks he's lovely) and let him rub around their legs.
"Little Cow" is still called Little Cow but also goes by the nickname of Sweetheart. She's absolutely definitely coming out of her shell with me. Two weeks ago I had to do a double-take as I saw her sunning herself in the middle of the farm driveway one afternoon: I got to about 25 feet away and had a nice chat with her. And yesterday I had a huge breakthrough: I was walking round the back of the farm and saw her sitting on a pallet in the back barn, in the shade. She was no more than 20ft away and so I sat down on the path (thankfully it was dry) and had a good natter with her for a few minutes. Following all the tips I've read on here, I avoided eye contact as much as possible, and generally spoke to the wall about 10ft to her right! She didn't seem stressed at all and made no move to leave, which was lovely.
In a couple of weeks time, the neighbours go on holiday and will be taking their caravan, currently parked in the lean-to, pretty much in front of her barn door (the lean-to is almost like a portal to the barns - it has 4 doors off it). I'm hoping that, with a combination of nice weather, fun toys, good food and a lot of patience, I might be able to win her over a little more. I'll let you know!
There's not been a huge amount of things happen with my two, but thought I'd drop a little update:
"Combined" - both LC and Rudi seem to be eating a fair bit less at the moment. I'm guessing that this is because it's summertime and the weather, whilst a bit changeable, is generally up above 20 C/ 70 F most of the time. I'm surprised they aren't eating more wet food, but with the weather as it is I think part of the issie is that the wet food becomes very attractive for bugs and flies. On the whole, the two cats seem to be coping with one another: most times Rudi will see LC in the distance and ignore, occasional times he'll run and scare her off
"Rudi" - continues to be a very loving, healthy, vocal and friendly boy. He continues to sleep under the hedge more often than not, much to my exasperation ('you've got a kennel, a barn and a Happy Hutch, Rudi, you daft thing!'). He's becoming ever friendlier with more and more people: when guests drop by, he used to hightail it to the other end of the farm but he now makes the occasional appearance and has accepted petting from a couple of other people. He's basically a wonderful farm cat and is now an essential part of life on the farm; even the neighbours have warmed to him (mainly because their young daughter, 11, thinks he's lovely) and let him rub around their legs.
"Little Cow" is still called Little Cow but also goes by the nickname of Sweetheart. She's absolutely definitely coming out of her shell with me. Two weeks ago I had to do a double-take as I saw her sunning herself in the middle of the farm driveway one afternoon: I got to about 25 feet away and had a nice chat with her. And yesterday I had a huge breakthrough: I was walking round the back of the farm and saw her sitting on a pallet in the back barn, in the shade. She was no more than 20ft away and so I sat down on the path (thankfully it was dry) and had a good natter with her for a few minutes. Following all the tips I've read on here, I avoided eye contact as much as possible, and generally spoke to the wall about 10ft to her right! She didn't seem stressed at all and made no move to leave, which was lovely.
In a couple of weeks time, the neighbours go on holiday and will be taking their caravan, currently parked in the lean-to, pretty much in front of her barn door (the lean-to is almost like a portal to the barns - it has 4 doors off it). I'm hoping that, with a combination of nice weather, fun toys, good food and a lot of patience, I might be able to win her over a little more. I'll let you know!
