Meet my handsome new man

[Biomehanika]

New boy and Moose had another session together (there’s a video this time!!) … y’all can let me know how you think it went but really, these two are gonna be besties in no time.


The only bad news is Bitsy is acting a little sad today and it seems she may even be having a little bit of a stress related URI flare up. I highly doubt it’s from New Boy as they haven’t had any real contact, she has a history of calici/chlamydia and has always been a bit of a sickly thing with crusty/goopy eye issues since her initial big infection as a kitten, so right now that is just a bit more intense than usual. Overall she’s OK and it should hopefully pass soon without vet intervention, but I am feeling quite bad for her. She is so so sensitive and the beginning of introductions are always quite hard on her. And she’s had so many changes in the past few months. Anyways, because of this I am keeping the introduction sessions to 1:1 with New Boy and Moose for the time being, and once Bitsy has had some time to regulate her emotions and is feeling a bit better I will start up some sessions with her and him 1:1, at her pace.

 

[Margot Lane]

New boy and Moose had another session together (there’s a video this time!!) … y’all can let me know how you think it went but really, these two are gonna be besties in no time.


The only bad news is Bitsy is acting a little sad today and it seems she may even be having a little bit of a stress related URI flare up. I highly doubt it’s from New Boy as they haven’t had any real contact, she has a history of calici/chlamydia and has always been a bit of a sickly thing with crusty/goopy eye issues since her initial big infection as a kitten, so right now that is just a bit more intense than usual. Overall she’s OK and it should hopefully pass soon without vet intervention, but I am feeling quite bad for her. She is so so sensitive and the beginning of introductions are always quite hard on her. And she’s had so many changes in the past few months. Anyways, because of this I am keeping the introduction sessions to 1:1 with New Boy and Moose for the time being, and once Bitsy has had some time to regulate her emotions and is feeling a bit better I will start up some sessions with her and him 1:1, at her pace.

I wanna be a cat just so I can come over to YOUR place! You’re like the house all the neighborhood kids wanna visit!

 

[Biomehanika]

Since introductions are mostly on pause due to Bitsy not feeling great, I’ve decided to start introducing something else to him— teeth brushing and purrito-ing!!

Purrito-ing was an absolute fail. I used a smaller blankie than usual so maybe that was the issue but he got out of it right away both times I tried so I may need to try a different method (my purritos are generally quite lax with minimal constraint because I only ever purrito moose when I brush his teeth and he likes it lol, so new boy may need to be wrapped more snug lol)

Toothbrushing went pretty good though, I didn’t really actually brush his teeth at all yet minus one or two little swipes on his canines but he ate some treat off the brush and checked it out and let me rub his gums/teeth with the CET toothpaste on my finger without being bothered by it at all. Didn’t try to run away or anything but he sure does move and wiggle around a lot whenever I’m spending time with him which makes these kinds of things hard lol. He is a very easy going lad though and the hardest part of getting him used to this is probably going to be the getting him to stay still/maneuvering him to get to his teeth part, which is where the purrito comes in, so unless I can train him to lay down and not move like a little angel while I brush we will need to work on that more lol

 

[Biomehanika]

Bitsy seems to be doing better today but still isn’t 100% so no introductions for her yet. She did catch a good close up look at New Boy while I was leaving the room though and made sure to give him a bunch of angry hisses. I am going to start feeding her meals at his door to hopefully build some positive associations before we (intentionally) introduce more visual contact.

Put Bitsy in the bathroom and let New Boy and Moose romp around together for 15-ish minutes. They are doing well together, no big concerns, but New Boy is much more interested in exploring the rest of the house than he is in Moose for the time being, which frustrates Moose. Moose just wants to play and interact with him and was following him around a bunch while meowing at him (while New Boy ignored him and explored minus a few sniff and trill exchanges lol). Moose has this habit (which he always does to Bitsy) of just randomly pawing at the other cats head while letting out a loud meow. It is not aggressive but I’m sure it sends mixed signals sometimes, he did it to New Boy and he was unphased by it but then a bit later he meowed at him then chased him a short distance (wanting to play) and did his head paw thing again so New Boy swatted back at him (less gently lol) and he backed off. No sounds were exchanged and New Boy immediately started scratching the scratcher next to him afterwards and wasn’t upset by it or anything, so that’s a good, BUT YEAH, Moose is a very high strung cat who gets frustrated when others don’t reciprocate play or interact with him. And he is VERY PERSISTENT about making friends. He’s a very sweet boy but very impatient (and annoying) at times, and is extremely high energy. He is also quite anxious and gets stressed easily though which means most wand toys (AKA da bird and ones that have feathers/put his prey drive into overdrive) are off limits as they just stress him out, he will go absolutely insane trying to catch them, and not in a playful way… it’s full on stress, and when he does catch them he doesn’t let go and will just growl while death gripping them in his mouth. So we avoid those. Harness walks are not a possibly as he is so so scared of people and would probably be terrified of outside too, so getting his energy out in a way that doesn’t send his anxiety into overdrive is hard. We are limited to fetch with his favourite little toys and the more boring non-feathered wand toys. He’s literally given himself panic attacks trying to catch bugs that are on the other side of the window and stuff before. SO YEAH… New Boy is New Boy and Moose is Moose lol. I am really hoping his calm and collected demeanour will rub off on him while Moose brings out his playful side a bit.

 

[nurseangel]

Aw, poor Bitsy. Your new guy is quite handsome, though. I can see a future photo comp winner in the future.

 

[Biomehanika]

Lunch Date

Bitsy knew he was there and was quite unphased by his scent so it’s definitely just seeing him that upsets her and makes her hiss.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

Here's hoping Bitsy will soon be unfazed by seeing him, too - though the scent not bothering her must be a good start.

Any ideas for a name presenting themselves yet?

 

[Biomehanika]

Yes and no lol.

Currently flirting with a few Game of Thrones themed names. Varys, Aegon/Egg, Podrick… Maybe Viserys. Maybe others I haven’t even thought of yet lol.

Also like Winston and Milton and a couple others. But I don’t know. Am mostly just sitting around twiddling my thumbs hoping something that 100% clicks appears in my brain lol.

 

[Alldara]

Varys would be rather fitting for a neutered male lol

 

[Biomehanika]

Varys would be rather fitting for a neutered male lol

LOL right!! That’s what I was thinking. Plus he looks so wise and full of secrets.