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Sep. 7th, 2025 06:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spryngWhat I neglected to mention last post (because wow, I got overtaken by the Sad Cloud real bad), is that on Friday we adopted a 4 month old kitten.
So this all started because Lady got us a new cat tree, a much bigger cat tree, with many perches and hidey holes, and CG remarked that it could fit so many cats. And Lady joked that obviously we now needed more cats. And I, not so jokingly, went... "well... what if..."
Because I have really wanted a kitten ever since our old cats died, and while Maurice and Trixie are fine, and I'm glad we saved them from probably a lengthy shelter stay as older cats, they were already pre-set in their ways when we got them. And some of their behavior seems to stem from being in a small space with a toddler and unable to escape. They've slowly come out of their shells over the past four years and are much more willing to interact, but Maurice will still murder you if you look at her wrong and Trixie will hide if you try to pet her.
In the back of my head I kinda wished we'd gotten younger cats/kittens (even though we also had a baby and that would have been a bad idea) because at least we could help them learn trust. So when the whole family expressed an interest in another cat and wife and I looked at our home and space and whether it was even feasible and realized, yes, well...
I have to admit, I almost backed out, but by then CG and Lady were both on board. We tried to go to the shelter a few times over the last few weeks, finally made it on Friday, and fell in love with at least five kittens, hah. Although I'd told them both it would be best if we got an older kitten, already spayed, the 1-2 month olds really pulled us in. Thankfully, I stayed strong (even though one kitten went straight for my shoulder) and after much back and forth, we eventually settled on a black and white cat (tuxedo?) called Hectate. A sweet 4mo who let us pick her up and almost immediately started purring.
30min and some paperwork later, we had a kitten. Also, apparently, the adoption fees were waived that day, so we had a free kitten, with all of her shots and a major surgery already paid for.
We set up the back room for her and let her out. She let us hold her for a few moments, but then she ran off and hid. We checked in on her every few hours and she'd find a new spot to hide. Then I went in and just sat near her and she started purring. I dangled my hand so she could smell me and after about 5min, she slowly came out. I played with her and gave her all the pets and the kids even came in and got to pet her.
When we finally left, she followed us to the door and then stared at us through the glass, meowing. I felt like a jerk, but she needs time to get used to the space and the other cats need to get used to her smell. They stare at each other through the door but there hasn't been any hissing or other territorial signs... yet. Today I'll let them sniff each other through the door. The hope is tomorrow I can introduce them. Supervised, of course.
That's the nice thing about working from home; I'll be able to work on that all week.
We've cycled through about 20 names and we're currently testing out Nova. 4yo called her Milk (probably because she looks like a cow with her colors) and then CG called her Milky Way and we just went off on space-themed names after that. We'll see what sticks.
So this all started because Lady got us a new cat tree, a much bigger cat tree, with many perches and hidey holes, and CG remarked that it could fit so many cats. And Lady joked that obviously we now needed more cats. And I, not so jokingly, went... "well... what if..."
Because I have really wanted a kitten ever since our old cats died, and while Maurice and Trixie are fine, and I'm glad we saved them from probably a lengthy shelter stay as older cats, they were already pre-set in their ways when we got them. And some of their behavior seems to stem from being in a small space with a toddler and unable to escape. They've slowly come out of their shells over the past four years and are much more willing to interact, but Maurice will still murder you if you look at her wrong and Trixie will hide if you try to pet her.
In the back of my head I kinda wished we'd gotten younger cats/kittens (even though we also had a baby and that would have been a bad idea) because at least we could help them learn trust. So when the whole family expressed an interest in another cat and wife and I looked at our home and space and whether it was even feasible and realized, yes, well...
I have to admit, I almost backed out, but by then CG and Lady were both on board. We tried to go to the shelter a few times over the last few weeks, finally made it on Friday, and fell in love with at least five kittens, hah. Although I'd told them both it would be best if we got an older kitten, already spayed, the 1-2 month olds really pulled us in. Thankfully, I stayed strong (even though one kitten went straight for my shoulder) and after much back and forth, we eventually settled on a black and white cat (tuxedo?) called Hectate. A sweet 4mo who let us pick her up and almost immediately started purring.
30min and some paperwork later, we had a kitten. Also, apparently, the adoption fees were waived that day, so we had a free kitten, with all of her shots and a major surgery already paid for.
We set up the back room for her and let her out. She let us hold her for a few moments, but then she ran off and hid. We checked in on her every few hours and she'd find a new spot to hide. Then I went in and just sat near her and she started purring. I dangled my hand so she could smell me and after about 5min, she slowly came out. I played with her and gave her all the pets and the kids even came in and got to pet her.
When we finally left, she followed us to the door and then stared at us through the glass, meowing. I felt like a jerk, but she needs time to get used to the space and the other cats need to get used to her smell. They stare at each other through the door but there hasn't been any hissing or other territorial signs... yet. Today I'll let them sniff each other through the door. The hope is tomorrow I can introduce them. Supervised, of course.
That's the nice thing about working from home; I'll be able to work on that all week.
We've cycled through about 20 names and we're currently testing out Nova. 4yo called her Milk (probably because she looks like a cow with her colors) and then CG called her Milky Way and we just went off on space-themed names after that. We'll see what sticks.
