TrubsI have Trubs on the kidney disease approved kibble. It is unfortunately not Trubs approved. She will often sniff at it, growl at Abby and then try to take Abby's kibble. I pick Trubs up, put her back at her own food dish and she glares at me before settling down to eat it.
We had a hot spell recently so I got out of the habit of warming her heat pad before leaving for work (the object was to keep the house cool during the day - not heat it further) but lately its been cool at nights again so Trubs is getting grumpy again at nights. I've also taken to feeding her on my desk, so I can keep an eye on her food so it doesn't get eaten by anyone else. Trubs has taken this to mean that my desk is now hers, and she gets very nasty if any other cat comes up on the desk.
To be honest, she's been quite possessive about the whole house, which has Abby quite confused...
Abby
Abby has unfortunately been relegated to the bottom of the pack by the other cats. Even Keifer seems to dominate her. So I've broken my own rule about not interfering in cat hierarchies and I've gone out of my way to cuddle her and pet her and bring her into the house and make her feel welcome. She's on 4 pills a week to keep mozzie bites from becoming open sores (we've discovered she's allergic to them) but apart from that, she is joy to be around.
She's taken on the mantle of "mouser" and has been keeping the barns and outbuildings free of mice. The girls next door have been quite appreciative as they buy food and hay for the horses in bulk and that is usually mouse-infested by this time of year. Abby does eat the mice she catches, so she often isn't that interested in her kibble.
She's also completely uninterested in any of her toys or human-bought playthings. None of them are as interesting as catching and eating your own breakfast, lunch and dinner!
KeiferKeifer is the ginger cat the girls next door adopted. He showed up one day as a half-grown cat wearing a large dog's shock collar. Needless to say it was immediately removed and no-one has tried to find his original owner. Monique loves him but she is a dog person, so Keifer gets left outside most of the time and fed when she remembers him. He also hates the guy that has moved in with them, which is another reason Keifer is outside when the guy is home :( He's also found out I'm a much softer touch, have nicer cat food and no nasty people hanging around.
When I drive in of an afternoon, Keifer is the first to meet me at the car. When I call the cats for dinner, Keifer is at my feet (even though he doesn't get fed at the same time as the girls). Keifer is very small and seems always hungry so I feed him the girls' leftovers each day. Mostly its stale kibble but occasionally there is the remains of stale canned food and very rarely I'll top it up with fresh kibble or some fresh canned food.
I am quite happy that over the last months he's stopped being scared of his own shadow and is actually walking around the yards as if he belongs, rather than fleeing at the slightest sound :) I'm also happy that he looks disappointed when he's given stale kibble because it means that he's getting enough food from the his owners' now. Also I think he's finally understanding that he will be fed everyday; he doesn't have to beg for it and scoff everything in sight within 2 seconds of seeing it.
He is however, with this new-found confidence, lording it over Abby. When they meet on the path, they touch noses and its Abby that will crouch low and present her belly. i don't like that in our yard, and especially not in our house. So I've been locking Keifer out while feeding the girls, and making a definite display of ignoring him and picking up Abby when I get home. I don't know if this interference is helping or hindering to be honest.
Bandit
Bandit is Alison's cat. Alison is the friend I stayed with in Canberra for the week I was there. She hates that Bandit always sleeps with me when I'm there instead of with her. The furry ball of contrariness has quixotially settled down in the new house and hates being forced outdoors. She's developed a much nicer attitude to life and is much more snuggly and ready for pats. She used to be much more aloof before Lothario joined the house.
Lothario
I hadn't posted this before because I don't want to believe it. Lothario was taken from Alison's place a week before the move. One minute he was there and the next he was gone. She had turned her back to prepare dinners for the cats and dogs and we thought there would be no force on earth that would get between that cat and his dinner. We were wrong.
George
For the past few months I've had a lanky tabby intact male hanging around. He's got a great temperament and is such a loving cat, but he is intact and he sprays. If I open the doors for the girls to go out and then I go back to bed, I will wake up to find him curled up on the bed. When I get home of an afternoon he will be asleep in the sleep-out area. He thinks he belongs here. Unfortunately, every time he manages to sneak into the house he will spray in every room. He took to stealing Abby's food and then spraying over her entire feeding area. The day I flew to Canberra he sprayed the wash basket of freshly cleaned clothes as I was getting them off the clothesline. He would fight with Keifer in my ceiling at 3am. In short he was a pest.
When I got back from Canberra, he sprayed the next morning all through the kitchen and my wardrobe. I put him in Trubs cat carrier and took him to Cat Haven (a we-try-hard-not-to-kill shelter).
Two weeks later he was back. Now Cat Haven is nearly an hour's drive from here over the other side of Perth. If he's back its because he is owned by someone here. Someone who cared enough to bring him back, but doesn't care enough to have him neutered, micro-chipped, collared or even fed.
I've been very pointedly keeping him out of the house. To the stage that I've felt under-siege and can't leave the doors open for the girls to go in and out for themselves. Then he stopped coming around a few days ago. On Friday I received a leaflet in my mailbox. Have you seen George? My son's one year old male cat is missing. If you see him please ring, my son loves him very much. Underneath in pen was written: He is now micro-chipped and scheduled to be neutered soon.
So basically people that are simply clueless as to how male intact cats behave and just how far male cats consider their territory, I haven't seen him this week so I wonder if he's found a new family to terrorise or if he's finally at the vets getting The Snip ...
So that's all of the cats. I don't think Trubs will ever get along with Abby but I love them both and they are both on the bed with me when I wake up each morning and that's enough for me :)
17 comments:
Too many cats to deal with for me I'm afraid.
I don't have pictures of the dogs - sorry :) And I've already talked about Gordon the sheep :)
Somtimes and uneasy truce is the best you can wish for, especially with a Grand Dame like Trubs. Danny was so lucky when he took the kittens home that Moo quickly started to mother them (after the initial hierarchy struggle) so isn't always negative. As for Keifer, he is tabby and for some reason, they are a lot shyer than other cats - I had one who was scared of his own shadow and fled in terror at guests. It takes patience and understanding to be a successful cat wrangler!
You went from 2 to 5 cats in a flash? You're as bad as I am! (4 cats + 2 dogs but everyone gets along and they're indoors)
You remember my old stories about Tips & Pi (In his younger days). Tips was SO dominant that poor Pi had a very confusing & bullied young life. But Loki & he get on fine in his later years. Ian was adamant that it wasn't Tips' fault, but I'm afraid if cat A + cat B = disaster, & cat B + cat C = domestic bliss...then the problem is cat A. But I have no solutions. As for the rest of the menangerie.....I dub you "Mel...crazy cat lady of Perth" (it's always a title I wanted)
It's a bloody zoo!
There's also the chooks, the ducks, the rabbits and the ferrets ..... anf that's just the pets .. I could mention the horses and the wildlife ....
Only two of them are actually mine :) Keifer may or may not end up with me when I move home, but bandit definitely belongs to Alison and George hopefully will no longer "visit".
I'd say that you need to get out more, but how would you find the time?
You think that has something to do with being a tabby? 'Cause my Minou is a tabby and he's scared of just about everything, even me sometimes. Whenever I have guests you see nothing of this cat anymore, it's as if I had no cats at all! Outside he rarely lets me pick him up, inside he's all cuddly and wants to be close to me - just as long as no one else is there!
Mel, Keifer reminds me of my neighbour's cat, who looks almost the same and has about the same size (he's over a year old now). Don't even know what they call that cat, because I never see them, but I sure see a lot of the little red one! He tries to sneak in to eat what my two leave in their food dishes and I try to get him out again without chasing him, because he's otherwise a very nice little boy. At least they got him sterilised, so no spraying on his part.
I think I have a long way to go before being a crazy cat lady :) Two and a half regulars don't quite cut it.
Apologies to all - these are cats I have had regular contact with recently - these are not cats currently living with me (except trubs and Abby - and sometimes Keifer).
Oh and I agree with you regarding cats A, B & C. I've always known Trubs was an anti-social cat, she hasn't gotten on with any other cat. I hope that when she passes, Abby & I will find a good friendly cat for Abby to play with.
If you look closely, Keifer is a ginger. The smallest ginger cat I have ever seen - usally gingers are huge!
The grey/black banded tabby is "George" who has no problems with befriending new people and houses and spraying everywhere ..... still haven't seen him this week - yay!
Lothario...gone???
I can't seem to focus on anything else.
Mel, it's often a bit difficult to bring in another cat when you already have one - they're peculiar, especially if they've already been your only cat for a long while. Abby is used to having a bit of a dragon around now, so she could probably be much easier to be paired once your Trubs is causing trouble in the kitty heaven. They do well when they're not alone, our pet cats most often prefer company, at least the ones who are used to having another one close.
Neither Alison or I can talk about it without crying. Or think about it ....
When cats go feral, the offspring revert to the tabby coloration within a couple generations. Which in a cats life is a year or 2. They blend in better and can sneak up on prey better, it is natural selection. So often a domestic tabby may have wildcat in their blood line only one or 2 generations removed. I think that is why tabbies and torties seem to be shyer. There is a bit more 'wild' in them.
Mel, glad to hear Trubs will eat her approved kibble, even if reluctantly.
And as far as Abby being submissive to Keifer, it may not be an all dominance thing. Even neutered cats will 'flirt' with the opposite sex, and in the wild, the pose most often struck by a flirtacious female cat is on their side or back. So she could jusy have a 'thing' for him. :) She will be the under-cat to Trubs for as long as they are together, but when Trubs is no longer around (hopefully a long way off yet), I think Abby will assume the alpha cat mantle and not let anyone push her around. But maybe not. Some cats are just softies at heart. Before my allergies got as severe as they are, I had a cat with markings very similar to Abby, and he was the worlds biggest coward. Loveable as could be, but no backbone. My Torti and the tabby I was watching for my brother would both lord it over poor Simon. But, when I had to find him a new home, and he went from 1 of 3 to lord of his own home, he blossomed. The lady who adopted him got another cat 2 years later and Simon remained alpha-cat. He just needed to be by himself for a while to gain confidence. He was still the sweetest 'people cat' I have ever known though.
Thansk for the info Sisu - looked at in this light, yes Aby could well be flirting with Kiefer ...
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