Warren and Miss Tia, keeping warm

From Warren’s foster-mom:

 

Vader update

This just in, from Vader’s foster-mom:

He continues to progress in his adjustment to home life. Here are a few photos of him, with his best buddy, my Chihuahua Sheldon. We were watching True Blood, and he seemed to find it as thrilling and suspenseful as I did, in the other photo, him just giving me the look of what is that flashing thing. Prior to this him and Sheldon were having a play match. More recently he and Sheldon have begun to play together. Vader will leap, and jump around him, and chase his tail.

As well Vader will come join me in bed with the rest of the clan. He usually wakes me up when he attacks the bumps where my feet are, but will settle in somewhere mid way down the bed.

What a change since the little 1.2kg Kitten I met cowering in the corner almost 3 months ago. At Christmas he weighed in at 2.5kg bigger and heavier then Sassy my other SNKI foster. I suspect I am going to have a mini Jaguar on my hands in the next little while.

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Warren and his Mini-Me

From Warren’s foster-mom. This is directly connected to the previous post, about integrating Warren into her household with her other cats and her dog.

Warren and his mini-me, Miss Tia

Warren, over the holidays

From Warren’s foster-mom:

Over the past few days I have been integrating Warren into my little family of pets, 2 cats and 1 small crazy dog and it has gone amazingly well. Following the guidelines provided by SNKI to make integration easier for everyone involved we started out with opening the door to Warren’s room just a crack so that they could all sniff each other. Warren was an absolute dream! He casually sniffed all the noses that came to his door and behaved like the perfect Gentleman. Even when my rather large male cat hissed at him once through the door Warren just sat there politely on his side of the door.

On day two I brought the dog in and held him on my lap while Warren sat beside us on the desk. He was only mildly interested and had nothing to say at all until the dog tried to lick him. He took small offense to that and gave one hiss and stepped away. It looks to me as if he may be used to dogs but not a small hyperactive dog.

Day three saw everyone getting along well through a wider crack in the doorway so I decided to open it completely and see what happened. My tiny cat, Miss Tia took to Warren immediately. She follows him around from room to room and they can often be found sleeping just a few feet from each other on the floor. They haven’t quite gotten to the point of cuddling up to each other yet but it is early days. If I close a door between them she cries until I open it. What’s really funny is though she is quite small and he’s a very large muscular kitty they look nearly identical. Both black kitties with a white spot on their chest and white fur between their hind legs. My big male kitty took a bit longer to warm up to Warren preferring to just avoid him but earlier this evening I caught them touching noses in greeting. He’s even allowing the dog to get closer to him before he backs away.

What’s really incredible about this whole thing is that I really expected with two male cats that one of them might spray to mark his territory but neither has. Warren is a very good little boy. He hasn’t hissed at either cat or growled. It really is a pleasure to have him here until he finds his forever home. We sat in the reclining chair last night after they had all been out together for awhile. He sat on my lap as usual getting his head and big furry cheeks scratched, at one point I thought he was going to head bonk me but at the last minute he decided instead to just crawl up further onto my chest to lie there for pets. He gave me a look of pure joy and he looked grateful. I never thought I’d be able to see it in a cat’s eyes. It definitely brought on a few tears! We’re not quite at head bonks yet but we’re getting closer every day!

Holiday “Girl meets Boy” updates

21 Dec

Not a great shot of Tilly, who hasn’t sat still since I arrived [home from a short trip]. Awesome to see Hamish out in the same room as me, though, and that he’s eating with me here is huge.

Now they’re behind the stove again, but this time they’re playing together, with full bellies. Tilly is the wonder cat when it comes to encouraging others. So lucky to be sharing my accommodations with these two.

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23 Dec

Hamish is now out of hiding: they are together dismantling my apartment tonight. It feels not unlike the regret of teaching a child to walk [demolish].

25 Dec

Hamish is so much bolder this morning. He’s been nabbed and nuzzled by both my children this week, on two separate occasions. Then, the kittens agreed to meet me on the bed to share midnight snacks over some classic Christmas movies.

This morning, my herb plants are totalled and Hamish has eaten both his and Tilly’s breakfast. Our foster work here is done.

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Look at you all stripe-y and festive on the bed. Merry first Christmas, Miss Tilly cat. (Hamish is dozing behind the stove again–the warmest place in the house right now!)

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27 Dec

Yay! Success with my foster boy cat, Hamish. Tonight, he appeared from behind the oven to have dinner with us. Then, he spent about half an hour casually watching Tilly get petted and cuddled and feted (with bits of meat off my plate, post-dinner). Slowly, slowly, he approached my chair. Five feet away, he leaned in to sniff the offered meat, but declined. Instead, he watched, mesmerized, as my hand stroked Tilly’s back. Slowly, slowly, he leaned in for some attention.

I petted him a couple of times, and then assured that I wasn’t going to eat him for dessert, he climbed into my lap and purred. Better than anything Santa could have brought me is success in building a kind relationship.

Tilly and Hamish both have strong purrs and very affectionate personalities.

Fahoo Fores, Dahoo Dores. Welcome Christmas.

Blue/Tilly and Nimbus/Hamish, 27 Dec