Casper’s new “Little Brother.”

[Caspers Human]

Haven't ever found silvervine in any of the pet stores around here. Occasionally, I can find it mixed with catnip but not by itself.
I've been wanting to see how Casper likes silvervine, since he's such a big fiend for catnip. I think Elliot's a bit young to be getting into the 'heavy stuff' just yet. I'll probably have to order some from the Internet.

Elliot spent the whole day, yesterday, out of his room. Casper hasn't hissed or put up a fuss but he still seems to be in 'grouchy old man' mode. Elliot went back to his room at bedtime. No incidents of any kind, the whole time.

At this point, we're allowing Elliot out during the day when we are home.

At night, when we go to bed or when we leave the house or go to work, Elliot will go back into his room.

 

[Alldara]

That sounds like lovely progress.

Haha yeah we actually got in to silvervine because Magnus is a chewer. I recommend the thicker peices if you purchase because the thin ones can splinter

 

[Caspers Human]

Once in a while, I can find ground silvervine but have never seen it sold as sticks.

I live in Pennsyltucky. (Any place in PA that's not Philly, Pittsburgh or Harrisburg.) There's still a fair amount of people with redneck attitudes who don't know what silvervine is. Not a lot of market for it, I guess.

If I want some, I'll probably have to order it in.

 

[fionasmom]

Jamie thanks Casper and Elliot for the bowl of catnip. He looked at me like "I wondered when you were going to figure that out."

 

[Caspers Human]

Casper, being the catnip connoisseur, is happy to know that his other cat buddies on the Internet are sharing the wealth!

 

[Caspers Human]

Elliot and Casper are getting along, so far, but Casper's getting jealous.

Elliot has been allowed out when somebody is around to supervise. When we go to bed or leave the house for work, etc., he goes in his room with the door closed. He and Casper have had only a couple of brushes. Just Casper hissing and swatting. He bopped Elliot with his paw, once.

Casper was in the living room while Elliot was elsewhere. I got out one of Casper's favorite toys, a fishing pole, and started playing. Elliot came into the room and laid down, nearby. I cast the fishing pole for Casper but Elliot attacked it. Casper hissed at Elliot and bopped him one then they both ran away. I know Elliot didn't mean any harm but I also think Casper was justified in bopping Elliot.

A while later, Casper and Elliot were in the same room and laid down, near each other. Casper's Girl-Human was there. She petted and payed attention to Casper and mostly ignored Elliot. They laid in the same spot for a while. Casper groomed and did the "I'm ignoring you, on purpose" act. After a while, they each got up and went about their business.



Yes, I know that things are progressing well, at a faster than average pace. I don't expect any problems but I'm still concerned about Casper being jealous.

The only real concern we have is feeding. They both eat the same foods, in the same amounts. We feed them at the same time but in different places. However, they each get a different medicine in their foods.

Elliot takes antibiotics while his abscess heals. He's got a few days left then he'll be finished.

Casper takes Cisapride every day because of his perineal hernia. That's long-term.

Consequently, neither cat should eat the other's food.

I suppose there isn't a lot of risk if Casper takes a bite or two of Elliot's antibiotics but I don't think it would be good if Elliot got more than a small amount of Cisapride. Besides, it's supposed to be for Casper, anyway.

Both cats have microchips. I suppose we could get electronic feeders but those things are expensive. At $150-$200 apiece, two of them wouldn't be possible. Since Casper is the one that'll be on meds for the long term, I guess we only really need one. Still, it's not cheap.

Does anybody have any ideas? Or, maybe, know of a decent electronic feeder, at a good price, that isn't cheap crap from Amazon?

 

[fionasmom]

I would not jump into the timed feeders yet. Can you separate them for meals or do they eat in more of a grazing fashion? If you can separate them, that is the easiest thing to do. Do they actively seek out each other's food? I have one cat, the sister of my avatar, who firmly believes that what is in someone else's dish is better, even if it is exactly the same food.

 

[Caspers Human]

Elliot has had to scrounge for his food for most of his life so he'll eat whatever food he sees.

Casper tries to eat Elliot's food as a way to assert dominance.
He pees in Elliot's litter box and doesn't cover it for the same reason. He even tries to chase Elliot out of his litter box.
Maybe these things will go away on their own, once Casper gets used to Elliot. IDK...

Regardless, Casper gets medicine in his food and Elliot doesn't. I think a microchip feeder is going to be necessary to keep Elliot from accidentally eating Casper's medicine. Both cats have chips. I think one feeder that only opens when Casper comes to eat would be a good idea but the expense of it would be prohibitive.

 

[Caspers Human]

Casper and Elliot played together, today, and tonight, they had a romp around the house!

We let Elliot out of his room shortly after we got up and he stayed out all day. Elliot played with his toy mouse and chased the wand. Casper came and watched from across the room. Shortly, thereafter, he played with his mouse toy and played with the Elliot's wand. I played with each of them, making sure that they each got a turn. Maybe ten or fifteen minutes later, they went their separate ways.

I went to work and Casper's Girl-Human stayed home with the cats. She says that they behaved themselves all day. I came home and both cats greeted me at the door. I took my coat and shoes off, changed clothes and settled on the sofa. Elliot was on my lap in seconds while Casper hung out on the other side of the room.

A while later, Elliot got up and pounced on his mouse. He tossed the mouse and it went in Casper's direction. Casper pounced on it just a second or two before Elliot. Casper got up, made a lap around the room and headed down the hall, tagging the mouse with his paw as he passed. Elliot came up from behind then the two of them romped up the stairs. They came back down a few minutes later and chilled in the living room for a while. As of now, Casper is upstairs in the bedroom, snoozing on the bed. Elliot's stretched out on the living room sofa. All's quiet.

We are super pleased at both cats' behavior! We've been keeping Elliot in his room at night but we're going to give him a trial run at staying out all night while we sleep. We'll only put him in when we leave the house. If they can go the whole weekend, together,
we'll start thinking about letting them out full-time.

Not only are we happy about Elliot's progress from being an abandoned or feral cat to living indoors in only two weeks time, we're also happy to see Casper getting more stimulation and exercise around the house.

Casper still shows some signs of jealousy but it's been a red letter day to see him romping around the house with Elliot.

 

[Alldara]

Casper still shows some signs of jealousy but it's been a red letter day to see him romping around the house with Elliot.

Awww. So cute.

Hopefully Casper's jealousy will wane as he starts getting attention from Elliot too!

 

[fionasmom]

This is really all excellent news and it can all work out in the end. I have seen that over the years with my own cats, some of whom were brought into the house in spur of the moment emergencies, as I said before. After the intro period, everyone was friends.

 

[Caspers Human]

Casper's Girl-Human and I just had a talk and we have decided that Elliot has earned his stripes, so to speak.
(Well, he IS a striped cat, after all! )

He hasn't missed the litter box in two weeks. He doesn't tear things up and he's behaved well. He and Casper seem to be getting along. Elliot stayed out all night while we slept and all was quiet.

Both cats are using two litter boxes, interchangeably. In fact, one cat will watch the other go to the box.
As I understand, cats that consider themselves as part of a clan will watch each other's backs when they go.

Casper still shows some signs of jealousy, mostly when he's having snuggle time with his Girl-Human. Last night, when she was lying in bed, having a catnap with Casper, Elliot tried to come up and snuggle in. Casper spat at Elliot and shooed him away. The way we see things, that was a space violation on Elliot's part and Casper's reaction was justifiable.

As of today, Elliot's been with us for exactly two weeks, to the day. There have been some stressful moments but, overall, things have gone well... better than we expected.

Even though we consider Elliot a full-fledged member of our family, now, we know that there are still lots of "cat politics" issues that have to be worked out between Elliot and Casper. We're going to leave it up to Casper to be the judge in that venue.

After all, we did tell Casper that he is Elliot's teacher! It's time to let Casper do his job teaching Elliot how to be a cat and obey House Rules. Right?

Thanks to everybody for all their advice!

This is the third time I have introduced cats like this but it's the first time I've done it with a feral/stray and it's the only time I have done it under emergency conditions where the cat was hurt and needed to see a vet. It was tough, at first. I was "this far" from putting Elliot out again when he peed in the house but he made up for it by being such a snuggle buddy. He hasn't missed since the first day. We're chalking it up to the fact that he had just come back from the vet, getting neutered, and was probably still a bit groggy.

Thanks again!

Y'all helped make the difference!

 

[fionasmom]

If he has not continued to pee in the house, he probably does not intend to. My cats interchange litter box use and I have never seen any big dominance problem with it, but rather it seems like they all assimilate into the house.

Elliot knows that he has had a huge lucky break in life!

 

[Alldara]

On a slightly humourous note, Nobel once thought a cat box was longer than it once and peed outside the door of it. Three humans sat, watched him pee out the door on to the floor and then slowly turn to realize his mistake.

He was quite horrified with himself. Poor guy was a bit embarrassed but humans had a good laugh.

 

[Caspers Human]

Elliot passed his "Final Exams" this weekend!

Both cats are out all the time, now. We were putting Elliot in when we left the house but, this weekend, we decided to give the cats a trial at being alone together.

We went shopping on Saturday and to the grocery store on Sunday. Each time, we were only gone for an hour or two. When we got back there were no problems, no flying fur, no cowering cats, the house didn't get torn up and nobody got hurt. Success!

Yesterday, (Monday) we went to work, all day, with both cats having run of the house. Again, no problems at all!

At this point, we're keeping Elliot's room open. His litter box is there. We bought him a large dog crate and put blankets over it so he could have a safe hideout. (The door is always open except in case of emergency.) It'll be Elliot's safe place if he needs it but he doesn't seem to need it, anymore.

Elliot aced his exams so we're letting both cats out 24/7 without problems.

Casper still hisses and swats a little bit. It's usually only when Elliot tries to horn in on his snuggle time with his Girl-Human. I'd say Casper is justified when Elliot does that.

There were a couple of times when Elliot did something that Casper didn't like and he gave Elliot "the look."
Do you know "that look" your Dad gives when you misbehave during a long car trip. You know... the kids are acting up in the back seat then Dad looks up, in the rear view mirror and the kids instantly know to quiet down? Yeah! That look! Casper does it just like Dad used to!

Elliot will go near Casper's scratching post. Casper will give Elliot "the look" and Elliot will back off.

So, it seems like both cats are getting along and Casper is teaching Elliot the House Rules.

All's well that ends well!

 

[fionasmom]

Yes it is! I have had male cats become very good friends, even affectionate over time.

 

[Caspers Human]

Next weekend, when we have a chance to go to the pet store, we're going to buy Elliot his own scratching post and his own cat tree.

Elliot needs to have some things in the house that he can call his own.

Besides, he's earned it.

 

[fionasmom]

Elliot is certainly finding out how the other half lives!

 

[Alldara]

Next weekend, when we have a chance to go to the pet store, we're going to buy Elliot his own scratching post and his own cat tree.

Elliot needs to have some things in the house that he can call his own.

Besides, he's earned it.

I'm sure that will help his happiness

 

[Caspers Human]

Casper tried to initiate play with Elliot, this morning!

He ran over to Elliot while he was lounging near the patio door. The two of them tussled for a moment before Casper scampered off.

A while later, I dangled the fishing pole for Elliot to play with and Casper came to watch. I alternated dangling the toy between cats, making sure each had his fair turn to catch the feathers. They played together for a few minutes before I ran the feather up the side of the cat tree. Casper climbed the tree to get it, followed by Elliot.

We all played in the living room, in and around the cat tree for ten or fifteen minutes before they were both done playing.

Just about every night, around 3 a.m. we hear the thundering hoof beats of cats chasing each other around the house while we sleep. We’re so happy to know that the two cats are having fun together!

As long as we don’t hear any scrapping or yowling, we leave them alone. Once in a while, we might hear one cat or the other meow or cry a little. I just say, “Play nice!” and they quiet right down.

Casper has always been a “low energy” kind of cat. He’ll occasionally get the zoomies or attack his mouse but it’s always hard to get him to play for more than a minute or two. We are super duper happy to see that Elliot is inspiring Casper to play more!

It’s one of the main reasons why we decided to adopt Elliot!