Mr. Burns has come home

In a surprising twist, the cantankerous cat I met at the shelter completely vanished when I got home with our new baby, and was replaced with a total sweetheart who throws around headbutts and purrs like they were going out of style.

He really just hates being in a cage.

Mr. Burns is settling in slowly, and he is being a very good boy so far. He is very calm and gentle around the other cats - we now have a wall of baby gates between him and the rest of the crew, and so far he isn't hissy or aggressive. Just a curious gentleman who is happy to touch noses.

He did not enjoy his bath two nights ago, but he did jump in the shower with me this morning to bite at the water stream and play. This little guy keeps surprising me.

Incoming Foster!

Well, the Rex I mentioned in my previous post is going to come stay with us as a foster, and we'll see how things go. He needs a lot of TLC, but I just know that once we have him in a good mental/emotional place, he could blossom into something spectacular.

Fingers crossed that all goes well!

The Latest Cat Conundrum

Ok, I have oft said that if I were to actually spend money on a purebred cat, I would get a Devon Rex. They're such delightful little things. Their odd features and sweet dispositions have always charmed me. When I see a Rex at a cat show, I get all gaspy and excited like a child in awe of something sparkly.

As it turns out, a cat rescue group that I have ties to has recently taken in a Rex... and offered it to me with a waived adoption fee. He is adorable and sweet and I suspect he needs the comfort of a home ASAP. I don't think he likes being in the adoption system very much - like many cats that have been rescued, he could probably use some stability, STAT.

I have plenty of kitties already. There is no way I could argue that I need another cat. I don't want to upset my husband or my creatures by forcing a new addition to the family. At the same time, I will probably never have another chance like this, and cat rescue is something that I feel really passionate about. Being able to give this guy a forever home and a life where he would be fawned over and adored would add another level of joy and fulfillment to my already happy life.

It's hard to think of taking him, hard to think of not taking him.

Calendar time!

I *heart* calendars. I mean it!

While I've had my 2009 calendars since September (no, I'm not joking) I'm so excited that now it's really time to start putting dates in them and customizing them and making plans for the year ahead. I love New Year's Day. I love the sense of renewal and hope, that feeling of having a fresh start. I think it's fantastic. While I don't encourage anyone to wait until a more or less arbitrary date like a holiday to make positive changes in their lives (change can happen any day of the year - any day you say so!), I do encourage people to take advantage of a new year to really focus on what they want to get out of the next 12 months. Think in specifics, not generalities. Make action plans that are quantifiable and solid rather than nebulous. Instead of "I will get in shape!" it's more realistic to say "I will exercise 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week."

Just food for thought.

But more importantly: Squeeee! Calendars! Stickers! Markers and metallic pens! I love to plan!

People who bitch alot piss me off.

Ok, nothing remotely cat related today, just venting.

So, I am currently working on a huge project at work. I am just one tiny cog in the machine. And I HATE one of the other cogs.

Actually, I should amend that. As a person, I am ok with this other cog, though he's not someone I'd go out of my way to spend time with. But as a coworker... ugh. He is toxic. He fights with our bosses, he complains to everyone about how unfair everything is, he acts like he is the only one who is working their tail off to get this thing launched. It's irritating as hell. The irony is that compared to other members of the team, he has it easier than most. While all of the programmers and technical crew were here all weekend working, he had that time off and was just on call.

We are all working through the holidays, and this has been told to us over and over for the past year, yet he claims that no one ever told him this. Ugh. I have been in meetings with this person where the topic was discussed at length, so I KNOW he was told about it.

Grrrr. Arrrrrr.

Intellectually, I know it's foolish to let this one negative person drive me crazy, but my childish side is being totally reactive right now.

Blar.

Falling in love again

Sometimes, I just find myself freshly enamored of one or all of the kitties. Lately, they have all been really darling, and I am just so delighted that we have these four bundles of beautiful, hilarious joy in our lives.

Everyone should know such cat bliss.

Hitting home...

It's been quite a while since I posted a blog entry!

Here's the comedy - our normally relaxed and groovy cat household recently erupted with the problem I last posted about - fear aggression. Blar. It's no fun to deal with.

Veers, our normally buddha-esque big boy, suddenly became terrified of our eldest, Jiji (aka The Sultan, aka Mr. Pants), and was showing his fear by aggressively hissing and starting fights. Delight! To make matters worse, Veers was also reacting negatively anytime my husband Brian (who is normally Veersy's true love ) spoke.

So, Jiji+Brian's voice = angsty trouble

To make matters worse, when Veers would display these behaviors, little Ozzel would attack him, either out of his own fearfulness at the odd behavior or out of solidarity with Jiji.

We ended up separating Veers from the other cats for a couple of days. Then, we jacked up the apartment with Feliway, which is a synthetic pheromone that makes cats feel relaxed. Then, we slowly reintroduced Veers and Jiji, using treats and mealtimes as incentive to be cool around each other.

It's working. I won't say the problem has completely passed, as we still have episodes of mild hissing a week later. But day by day things seem to be normalizing, and our household is slowly returning to a feline hippie love situation. Phew!

How we got a Zissou.

I've already talked a bit about how Jiji came into our lives, so I thought it might be good to give some background on where our other kitties came from.

So, here's Zissou's story:

When Jiji showed some medical problems as a kitten, I was terrified for two reasons.
One, I was so deeply attached to him from the first moment I held him that I knew it would be rough if something really bad happened.
Two, as rough as it would be for me, I knew Brian would really struggle with such a loss.
So, I nagged Brian into agreeing to a second kitten, largely under the guise that it would be good for Jiji socially. But in some ways, I wanted us to have a buffer animal in case the worst came to pass with the Ji-Bear.

So, the hunt began.
I took days off work. I went to nearly every shelter in the greater Atlanta area. I met a great many wonderful cats, but none of them were OUR cat.
I had a list of requirements, aimed at making a good match for Jiji. Our new kitty had to be within a month of Jiji's age, and had to be unlikely to challenge Jiji for the Alpha position in the cat hierarchy. And I had to connect with it.
So, kitty after kitty after kitty was met, but nothing clicked.
Until New Year's Day, when we walked into Petsmart. (Yes, I am lame enough to be doing pet supply shopping on January 1st.)
There was a pet adoption day going on, and I had barely gotten in the front door of the store when I experienced my "click." There she was: a little gray, black and white whorled tabby, all gangly and awkward looking and beautiful at the same time. She was three months old, but she didn't look so much like a kitten as she did a shrinkulated cat, with adult proportions.
I just stopped in my tracks and said, "That's our cat."
We had already decided on the name, so I walked up to her cage and said, "Zissou?"
When she meowed back and looked at me as though to say, "Yes?" Brian knew to go get the crate from the car.
I filled out the adoption application as quickly as I could and had my interview with the rescue group, all the while holding my little girl, not wanting to let go of her for even a second. Once all the hurdles had been cleared, we scooped her into her carrier, and whisked her away to settle into her new home.
She squalled throughout the car ride, and I sat next to her in the backseat, talking to her and smiling ear to ear.

Introductions between Zissou and Jiji were a little tricky, but before long, they formed a tentative friendship. Nowadays, they're fine together - not exactly best buds, but able to peacefully cohabitate and sometimes even snuggle or play together.

Little Zissou has become my sewing cat, sleeping next to the sewing machine while I work, sometimes reaching out a paw to touch me, occasionally batting at fabric as it passes through the machine. She is the smartest of our brood, and learns tricks faster than the boys. She sometimes can be a loner, but when she wants attention, she'll march right up and ask for it with a polite little "mrow."

I am so thankful every single day that we found out little girl. She is my total opposite as far as personality goes - quiet whereas I am loud, submissive whereas I am dominating, gentle whereas I can be a bit of a brute at times.
She teaches me everyday what true grace is in her gentle way. It's a lesson I hope to be learning from her for a long, long time.

Cat Aggression and Fearfulness

This entry is a response to our friend Jaime’s query about cat aggression. She has a three cat household, with one of the cats seeming to display fear-related aggression.

Well, Jaime, here are a few ideas to start with:

First, if you haven’t already, you’ll want to get Sugar evaluated with a thorough veterinary workup to rule out any medical causes for the behavior. Hyperthyroidism, hyperesthesia (extreme sensitivity to touch), and epilepsy can all exhibit as aggression and fearfulness.

I don’t mention these things to sound alarmist, but it’s best to approach a problem like this with all the information you can gather. Once Sugar has gotten a true clean bill of health, you can proceed with the behavioral approach.

A big no-no when dealing with a fearful cat is accidentally reinforcing the fearful behavior with coddling. If your tendency when Sugar gets scared is to pick her up and cuddle her and tell her everything is ok, you’re actually rewarding her for hissing and striking out defensively. If this has happened, don’t beat yourself up over it. We’ve all been there. It’s normal for someone who loves their animals to want to take care of them and soothe them when they’re upset.

Just know moving forward that you’ll have to fight this nurturing instinct. It’s difficult, and sometimes you’ll feel like you’re turning your back on your kitty, but it will be better for her in the long run.

Ok, now, for a vast number of things worth trying. You may have attempted some of these before, so I apologize for rehashing old info.

• Try feeding the cats in the same room, but separate, on opposite sides of the room if possible. Then, with each successful meal with no negative interaction, you can move the bowls slightly (I’m talking inches) closer. Continue moving the bowls progressively closer until you can confidently let them eat in fairly close proximity. This will help create positive associations among the cats to foster a better situation for additional behavioral therapies.
• Make sure you have plenty of space for the cats, especially vertical space. This might mean additional cat furniture, like trees or condos, so everyone has plenty of options for good nesting spots. Ideally, you want to provide a situation where there’s at least one primo spot for every cat, and more is even better
• Ensure that you have a glorious bounty of litter boxes. The rule of thumb is one per cat plus one additional box. Sometimes, aggression can stem from box territory issues that are so subtle, humans might not perceive them. It may not be the source of the problem at all, but everything you can do to ensure a harmonious environment for your multi-cat household is worth the trouble.
• It may be worth starting the introduction process from scratch. Be willing to take a couple of months to do this.
• All of the introduction techniques are fair game to re-build cat-to-cat associations in a more positive way. Scent mingling is a great trick. Rub a sock or towel on each member of the cat household, and keep cycling it around the crew so everyone gets rubbed with everyone else’s scent. You can do this for several days in a row, while the cats are separate, so when they do encounter each other, they all smell familiar and less foreign or threatening.
• Let Sugar encounter the other two cats in a situation where her safety is assured. Put the other two in their carriers and let her sniff around them as long as she likes. If she can control the approach, she is less likely to act defensive.
• It is also a good idea to let Sugar interact with just one of the other cats at a time. If she’s more comfortable with one of the other two cats than another, start with the one she’s most confident around. If you can encourage them to have a friendly relationship, it will encourage three-way harmony when all three cats are together.

If you’d like to once again try treats as part of your rehab process, remember, you want to give treats to reward good behavior, rather than using them as a lure. In situations where there is tension, cats may grow even more resentful of one another if they feel they have to go hungry or miss out if they want to maintain their safe distance from one another.

You may find that the three cats never really get to be friends, but there are additional things you can do to at least encourage a peaceful cohabitation

• -In additional to Feliway (which I know you mentioned wasn’t really helping), you can add a few drops of Rescue Remedy to their water dish.
• -Bell the other two cats so Sugar always knows their whereabouts. Normally, I’m not a fan of bells, but if it helps keep the peace, it’s worth it.
• -If you’re comfortable altering the doors in your house, you can install an electronic or magnetic door to one of your rooms and only give Sugar a compatible collar for entry. This doesn’t even have to be a full room – even a sizeable closet with a comfy space works great. (The idea is not to make her into a recluse, but to give her a safe haven when she’s spooked.)
• -If nothing else works, it's worth a trip to the vet to discuss drug therapies. Some vets are huge proponents of Prozac for cats, others prefer a naturalistic approach, but if you’ve really exhausted all your options, most will be willing to at least discuss the option. The generic equivalent to Prozac only costs pennies a day, and it is often very successful in treating a variety of anxieties.

Lastly, my favorite: trick training.

Seriously.

Cats respond extremely well to clicker training, and it is a great, non-stressful way to build confidence in a fearful cat. Felines can easily learn to sit, speak, and almost any other command one can think of, and it only requires 5-10 minutes a day.

You might be surprised how much a little confidence affects your kitty!

Two books I recommend on the subject are:

Cat Training in 10 Minutes by Miriam Fields-Babineau


Getting Started: Clicker Training for Cats (Karen Pryor Clicker Books) by Karen Pryor

Phew! I know that’s a lot of information, but fear aggression can really cause a lot of upset (as you know), and if you are indeed thinking of adding children to the mix, you’ll want to have your feline children squared away first. Please please PLEASE keep me posted on Sugar’s progress – I hope with all my heart you can help her overcome her fear, and that you can have a relaxed, peaceful household!