We started off the morning with walks, as usual. My pal KABOODLE was talky, as usual, but quiets down when he gets interested in something. He enjoyed exploring the cat-stands at the far end of the store but wanted v. much to try out the scratching posts beside them and was baffled by my preventing him from putting them to their rightful use. He loves to climb up and (if not prevented) behind things. Once back in the room he went high and stayed there, lazing happily atop in one of the comfy beds up in cagetop land.
Health concern: think we need to clean his ears, and that it'll be a two-person job. They must be bothering him, or he wdn't have those self-inflicted scratches on both temples. Hard to see anything in his ears, given how black his fur is, but think he's going to keep trying to scratch that itch until we can swab them out.
Mr. SCRUFFS was also vocal on his walk, and didn't seem to enjoy himself at all. Afraid he didn't have a v. good day all round; stayed in his cage for the most part, and was v. reluctant even to let me clean it, though he didn't mind when Ramses came in and used his dirt-box, not even when Mr. R. accidently tipped it over and made quite a mess. Have to figure out some way to get him some one-on-one attention before he withdraws too much, but I'm not having much luck so far.
As for the newcomers, all three are friendly cats. BONFILIA, our third solid black cat, is a momma cat found under a deck whose kittens have all been adopted and is now awaiting her own turn. She's quite roly-poly, but think that's probably from recent motherhood. 'Bonfilia' sounds to me like a medicine for osteoporosis, so I've decided to call her BOUILLABAISSE (boo-lee-base). She had what must have been her first walk ever, to judge from her reaction to it (may even have been her first time with a collar on). So we took it slow, practicing in the room first before going out the door, and didn't stay out long. She purred when we came back in, and hugged the pillar supporting one of the cat-stands, like an uneasy flyer kissing the ground after a storm-tossed flight. She then proceeded to show the rest of the cats who's boss.
It turns out Bouillabaisse loves the laser-pointer. She and Ramses had quite a game of pursuing that evil little red dot, with Scruffs monitoring the situation from inside his cage and occasionally contributing a swipe. Mostly she likes to hang out near the door.
Eating: her food dish was completely empty; she may still be eating to feed kittens she no longer has. She loves wet food (as do the other two newer cats, Ramses and Faye; the two older cats don't).
Mr. RAM (RAMSES) looks something like a Maine Coon, but think that's more a case of Maine Cools being descended from fluffy brown cats like him. He's not nearly as big as he looks, under all that fur. He attracted a lot of attention, and no wonder: he's a flat-out beautiful cat. He was very scared but well-behaved on his walk, and keep pretty good track of where he was and how to get back to the room.
He loves the laser pointer, but his favorite game is the ping-pong ball. He'll crouch down behind the cat-stand near the door and swat at them as they roll by, sometimes emerging to chase one down the room. He'll keep this up as long as he can keep me playing along on my end.
Health concern: His dirt box was tipped over, making a huge mess in his cage. His water dish was all gummed up with wet litter. Pretty sure this was an accident; he's heavy enough that when he perches on the side it tips the whole thing half-over. I know because I saw him do it: while I was cleaning up his cube he went into Mr. Scruff's cage and used his box, and it tipped over too. Can we get back the high-sided litter box we've used from time to time? Think that's heavy enough that it wdn't be a problem.
Our third new cat, FAYE, did best of all concerning walks. Think she's a calm cat and nothing much throws her, yet she's also quite shy and wants a nice safe spot, away from the other cats (the top of a cat-stand worked just fine). She looks like she's had a hard life; helped her clean the sleep out of her eyes and also got most of the chin-acne off. Her ears need attention, but I didn't get to that yet -- as with Kaboodle, may be a two-person job (though think she'll take it better than he will). She didn't play any games but enjoyed being out of her cage and also the occasional attention (petting, &c).
We had lots of visitors, some of whom wanted to come in and pet the cats, other who wanted to know more about them.
N.B.: the older batch of cats (Kaboodle & Scruffy) don't like wet catfood, but the newer cats (Bouillabaisse, Ramses, and Faye) certainly do.
health concerns:
Kaboodle's ichy ears
Faye needs help cleaning her eyes and chin. also ears.
Ram needs the high-walled dirt box. knocked his over, and later in the morning tipped over Scruff's as well.
--John R
*thanks to Cher for posting pictures of "Angelo" (Denali) and "Angelina" (Sequoia) in their new homes today; glad to see them relaxed and happy in their new surroundings. Hope Sequoia finds the towel cupboard in short order.
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