A Very Great Quantity Of Excellent Cats

[TheShellBeach]

New thread.
Continuing the adventures of all our cats, the well-behaved and the less well-behaved.

He's saving your place in case someone else tries to nip in their first.

Does that mean Tobias is now happy to go anywhere in the house and is not bothered if you are there too, Allergic?

Sort of Nettie. He follows me to the feeding station at meal times, he watches me from the kitchen door (especially if he things there's sliced meat on the go). He will mostly stay wherever he's sitting in the living room if I enter, as long as I don't come close. He will walk past to get to the feeding station or the tray, and happily uses the downstairs tray, as long as I don't get up. He will sit on the 3rd stair as I walk past the bottom.

He will NOT stay in the study if he thinks I'm coming in. He bounces up (or down) the stairs to keep at least 3 ahead of me, or if he wants to go past he dashes past me like a mad thing. Still not happy if he thinks I'm going to touch him. Unless I'm actually putting the food bowl down, or hand feeding him sliced meat, he won't let me into about a 1m radius.

But we're getting there!

On the subject of cats taking seats...this is my corner (yes I am Sheldon Cooper) and there is a tiny pile of orange stripey fur very deeply asleep there!

I didn't realise he'd opened his eyes when I took the photo!

Loving hearing about Benny's antics and delighted that Tobias is still settling in.

I'm clearly operating under the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon at the moment. Having posted about cats and seats a few days ago, this card leapt out at me in a shop today.

That card is brilliant.

I could do with a bit of advice please, o wise cat people!

Benny has been here for just over 48 hours. He's comfortable and confident. Eats, drinks, plays, uses the litter tray, snuggles. For the first 24 hours, Walter looked horrified and spent a lot of time outside. Today has seen an improvement. Walter has crept up to Benny to sniff him on a few occasions when Benny was asleep. When they've been awake, Walt has hissed a couple of times but nothing major. Tonight though, it's pouring down so Walter is in. He's tried to bop Benny with his paw a couple of times along with a hiss. Benny has cowered, bless him. I'm inclined to let them sort it out themselves because I'm pretty damn sure Walter wouldn't go any further. I don't like seeing Benny cower though. Any thoughts?

Walter has accepted (and absolutely loved) newcomers twice before and I really think he will do again. He's such a lovely boy. They both are! It would be extremely difficult to keep them apart in this house, and I'm not sure it would be the right thing to do. Just wondering what you all think?

@coastergirl they're just establishing their hierarchy. I wouldn't worry. It's horrible when you see them cower, but I think that's us anthropomorphising the cats. Whenever I have had new kittens to introduce to the tribe there has been an element of hissing, raised paws, and cowering. I am crazy so I do tend to say things like "we don't hit family" or "Raven, be nice" but generally don't intervene. None of them seem to have been negatively affected by the hissing etc

That sounds pretty good. Walter is just letting Benny know that he's the boss. If Benny flops when Walter bops him, that's also good, Benny isn't challenging him.

Potential high conflict areas are feeding times and feeding bowls. I feed my grumpy boy on the shelf above any kittens. It gives him a safe place to eat without having to shove a kitten out of his bowl.

Another conflict area could be access to you or to the best seating area. Again, I try to make sure that the older cat has the first choice, it's easy to move a cheeky kitten than to placate a grumpy adult cat.

As long as Walter has his own special places that the kitten can't get into, he'll be fine, grumpy but fine. It usually takes about a week for everything to settle down provided neither cat gets really arsey.

Took a while before Girlcat would accept Tobias. No hissing (she isn't a hissy cat) but plenty of swipes if she felt he was in HER territory - which at the start was anywhere outside his bedroom! There was one, single incident where she scratched him on his face, but I genuinely think that was an accident as she fled away from him the moment it happened.

She can still be a bit territorial nearly 5 months down the line, but that is more telling him when he's allowed in the living room (i.e. NOT at her special cuddle times) and what places he can lie on (not the sofa). She's definitely the boss, as it should be, but in general they rub along pretty well sharing resources and even eating out of the same bowl (they have options, they just choose to).

Shady wanted to show his size next to Paws

Great, thanks all. You've reassured me. I do think it's going pretty well really. I think I'll find them snuggled up together before too long.

Shady such a fine figure of a gent!

Coaster, Benny is heaven.

And Leroy wanted to show his matching pineapple to Shady 😁

Leroy! Lush.

@YesItsMeIDontCare he says he wants THAT one now as paws had made his stinky

Leaps and bounds of progress here, more nose touches and bump sniffs, and Lasagna has been allowed to wash Toni once. Here he is, actually sleeping in the cat bed I bought for him. Strange boy.

Argh, photo fail.

He's willing to share if Shady would like to come to play , he has a strawberry too 😁

Lasagne looks more like Chicken Tikka Masala on a bed of Basmati Rice in that picture!

Shady would LOVE to play. He tries to pounce on Paws, Paws thinks he's being violent and smacks him and poor Shady is "but I wanted to play, don't run off!"

That would be so cute. Leroy runs up to other cats, all chirrups and tail up to make friends... and they run away 😭

Prince springs and bounces at Havelock, singing with happiness at thought of a game.

Havelock stands there with a face like a slapped arse.

Breakthrough!

Wow Coastergirl! That was quick. Amazing! I did think lovely Walter would come good in the end as he has lived with another cat before but obviously it's not guaranteed.

I love Shady and Leroy sharing their poses and toy (?catnip) stashes.

So good to read about Tobias's progress, Allergic. You are a cat whisperer! He's clearly good for Girlcat too.

I don't think we're quite there yet, he'd bopped Benny over the head five minutes prior to this 😂 But I'm confident we'll get there. Walter is such a sweetheart. Benny's arrival has just taken him by surprise I think. I reckon part of the feeding truce was down to them being hungry. I was late feeding them due to pesky human kids. 4yo bit his 8yo brother 😡