Stop! Thief!

I was sitting at home one evening this week, and heard Valkyrie making some subtle noises. I wasn’t sure what she was doing, but I guessed that she shouldn’t have been doing it. I went to investigate.

Valk likes small, flimsy, plastic objects, such as Baggies. She will tip over the bedroom rubbish bin and see what she can find from there. So I imagined it was something like that.

She heard me coming and took off running. She had snatched a five dollar bill from the top of my dresser, and was hastening away with it.

A cat like Valkyrie with purchasing power is not good idea…

So Many Factors

Millie wet on the floor next to one of her litter-boxes yesterday. I don’t know the cause. Since she has gone days without wetting where she shouldn’t, there is likely no physical cause (she will go to the veterinary soon, but previous visits for the same reason revealed nothing amiss). She knows how to use a box and what it is for. Cats who do this obviously have a hidden reason of their own. However, I am not downhearted at this event. I will watch for patterns, locations and times, and see what she is up to in her unfortunate periodic behaviour.

There is reason for optimism. She now has two litter-boxes: one with clay Cat-attract litter and one with corn-based organic litter. (The third, with no litter but with a soaker-pad, has been removed.) While sweeping the floor of the library - Millie makes less mess than any of my others; the term ‘spray’ in their cases refers to how they throw about the litter - I closed and latched the lid of the box with the corn-litter for the convenience of moving it - I had kept the hood pushed back in case Millie preferred that. I left the room for no more than a minute. When I had returned, she had wet inside the hooded box. I decided to leave it like that. This morning, in addition to using the clay litter, she also, once again, wet in the hooded box.

I will continue to see how and when she uses the covered box. It may be a matter not of litter but of receptacle. There are so many factors that could determine whether a cat does or doesn’t wet inappropriately that it’s like devising a mathematical formula for a scientific process: each action, each addition or subtraction of an item, each placement, could influence behaviour. Perhaps I will never arrive at the correct answer. Perhaps the successful formula is just a litter-box away.

Further Up and Further In

It’s rather exciting watching Sable become more and more accustomed to living indoors, with me, and the other beasts.

For three mornings, she has been under the dining table when I woke. She has stayed and eaten breakfast there. This morning, however, I saw that she was in the cat-room. Moxy was present also, and I think he inadvertently trapped her there. He likes to investigate new things by coming close to them, settling down and staring at them. While his amiability is undeniable, and his goal perfectly friendly, I believe the Mixer overestimates the charm of his method. Regardless, he came away when I told him it was time to eat.

While I was preparing everyone’s breakfast, Sable slowly progressed up the corridor and slipped into kitchen, sitting under the dining table, as she had the previous three mornings, and awaited her breakfast. She has apparently decided that this is where she will eat her first meal of each day. I am very pleased at her decision. I didn’t expect it, thinking that I would have to feed her in the cat-room; that would not have been a step back, but Sable choosing to eat in the dining area is even better.

Following on other news, I brought Millie her food this morning and, upon entering the library, saw in the dim light a rumpled soaker pad with a black lump on it. I was disappointed to see tat she had crapped in front of the litter-box, instead of in it. More illumination, however, displayed a black fuzzy mouse that she had obviously been playing with some time during the night… Her aim continues to be true, though she also tested her waters in a second litter-box, the kind with the organic litter that the other cats use. I don’t mind that at all, since I hope to move her onto that litter eventually.

As for Neville, his poop is still very soft but he hasn’t thrown up since I administered Cerenia to him. Before I relax in his case, though, I will want him to remain well after the Cerenia has worn off.

And all this before I left for work in the morning…

Today's News Report

Quite a bit from the Cosy Cabin to discuss today…

The results of the examination of Moxy’s cyst came back, and they comprise good news. It was a benign growth, a trichoblastoma, a basal cell tumour. Its removal was the only treatment needed, and the doctor does not expect it to come back. The Mixer was as apathetic about its excision as he was about its presence: he has not bothered the site since he came back from the hospital. His stitches are not the dissolvable sort, so he will go back to the hospital for their removal Friday.

(Moxy takes the most uncharacteristic pictures. They all make him look sinister, or at least serious, yet he is the most affectionate of cats.)

Our newest resident, Millie, has used the clay-filled litter-box several times in a row. I don’t want to jinx her progress, but she hasn’t wet outside the box since Monday afternoon. Her previous owner said that Millie had always wet outside the box, but as the human’s personal life is undergoing some strong changes - and probably has been suffering some stress for quite a while - the atmosphere may not have been as subconsciously congenial to Millie’s peace of mind as she would have liked. I don’t know that, and Millie may prove me wrong by peeing on the floor today and every day for the rest of her life - but I believe a change may be as good as a rest, as the saying goes, and maybe she needed a rest. Regardless, she is a warm and affectionate cat with people: despite having just met me, she thought I was perfect for lying against for half an hour yesterday; I read, she snoozed and purred.

For the third straight morning, Sable came out of the bedroom and waited under the dining table for her breakfast. Despite all the other cats - Valkyrie kept coming up to her and trying to engage her in conversation - despite the time it took to serve her, despite my coming and going while she ate, Sabe stayed the whole time, cleaned her dish and sat still for a few minutes before going back to the bedroom. I find this a remarkable development.

Indigo seems to be feeling better, though Neville threw up several times last night, and also crapped outside the letterbox; I think he had no control over either action. I gave him some Cerenia and will see how that works on him before consulting a veterinary about him. He may have a bug that requires antibiotics, but I don’t want to subject him to a hospital visit unless my home-treatment doesn’t work.

The news thus is mostly good, with only the Nevsky throwing a spanner into the works.

Adapting to Changes

My newest cat, Millie, has shown that she does indeed wet outside the litter-box. She did it twice yesterday, despite the new Cat-attract litter in the box. She also wet in the box, which suggests that she has no physical problem; she will go to the veterinary soon for a check-up, anyway. Last evening, I set up a choice of options for her, and at some point in the night, she chose box number two, with the clay litter. The good news is that she did not go anywhere else. I will need to see that repeated for at least a week before she moves upstairs, unfortunately.

Otherwise, she is a sweet little creature. She is very friendly, doesn’t mind being picked up, plays with toys and with me, and purrs a great deal. How meeting the other beasts will affect her, of course, remains to be seen.

And on that subject, both Neville and Indigo have diarrhea…

But Sable was under the dining room table again this morning. I find that strange, since yesterday, she ended up there because I inadvertently cut her off in her attempt to regain the bedroom when I woke up. This morning, she was sitting under the table so patiently that I thought she was Imogen. I fed Sabe her breakfast there and she only returned to the bedroom after she had eaten. I don’t know if she will be there every morning, but she now knows that it is safe to eat there, so who knows what will happen next?

A Bonus From Millie's Arrival

Millie passed her first night in the Cosy Cabin in peace. She pooped in the litter-box and wet in it, but too little to justify believing she might not wet outside, too. She may have just put a small amount in the box because she knows that’s what it’s for; where she actually goes habitually may be somewhere else. I suspect I will know more certainly when I come home from work.

The newcomer seems naturally friendly and happy. She had no fear of me and when I spent time with her last night, bumped her head against me numerous times, eventually curling up for a snooze, while continuing to purr.

A rather extraordinary result of Millie’s arrival occurred this morning. Because our new guest is occupying the library, and must be by herself for the time being, the door downstairs is shut. This cuts off the other fosters and the perma-cats from part of their domain. Though this is hardly a big deal for most of them, it affects Sable, since she spends half of her time in the library, and often travelled there to use the litter-boxes, even if she were upstairs. She cannot now do that.

However, soon after Millie came, Sabe used one of the two boxes in the cat-room (I added a second yesterday) without much fuss - unless one counts her yelping at the closed door to the stairs for fifteen minutes. That solved one concern of mine (though, since she had used upstairs boxes before, it wasn’t a major worry.) I knew that Sable would explore more of the upstairs if the lower level were no longer accessible to her. What I didn’t expect was catching her out from under the bed when I rose this morning.

She remained beneath the dining table watching the breakfast preparations, despite me giving her opportunity to run to the bedroom. I didn’t know how she would want her meal, so, upon serving the food, I simply set her dish under the table, about two feet away from her. She ate, despite being almost out in the open, despite my coming and going to attend to the other beasts (except for Sabe and Indigo, meals are never, alas, a simple matter of one dollop of food; most won’t eat much that way), and despite the other cats who, finished their own breakfasts, stopped to watch the novelty of the semi-feral eating in plain sight. Only when she had cleaned her dish did Sable trott back under the bed.

I don’t think she will be out like that every morning; she prefers the security of her safe spots. But that she did eat in the kitchen is another step forward. And I don’t rule out other benefits from Sable having only the main floor for her activities. The arrival of a new cat can disrupt much - and not always detrimentally.

Meet Millie

Millie has arrived.

She is a tortoiseshell, a little under medium size but quite light for that, though she doesn’t feel or look under-weight. She has, in fact, a round, chubby-looking face; a sweet face. Her fur is very soft. She is nine and a half years old, and has been in the same home since she was three.

She was not shy when released from her carrier, and started exploring the library right away; she also came over to me and rubbed up against me. She even started playing with one of her toys.

These are good reactions, though I know that many cats, when they first enter a new environment, react with interest and curiosity, only to become rather disenchanted later that day or the next. That is natural; after all, everything they know has disappeared and been replaced by the unfamiliar.

I also know, however, that this discouraged stage, if a cat suffers it, fades, usually quickly. The initial reaction tends to be representative of who they are, and how they behave. We will see with Millie, but I am optimistic of a pleasant transition.