I am very excited.
Due to some less than fortunate reasons, we’re taking in my roommate’s elderly cat from her dad’s house. The cat has lived there her whole life and has been mostly outdoor for several years, so we were initially worried about how she’ll transition into being an apartment cat.
She’s been with my roommate for a few hours and has already abandoned the safety of under the bed to sit on top of the bed with our roommate, and has been tempted to leave the bedroom (though not very far).
We’re taking our time with introducing her and Winnie, and are making sure that she is comfortable and has a space she “owns” before we introduce them to reduce the possibility of aggression.
However, from what I’ve seen, Winnie is anxiously anticipating meeting “Granny Cat”–she has enthusiastically rubbed all over our roommate after her past visits to her dad’s house to see Granny and only took to her carrier after Granny used it once before. I’m hoping that her positive reaction to the scent of another cat means she’ll be more likely to accept a new cat in her environment.
But if all goes well, we’ll have a happy little feline family unit in our home!
Update:
They’re doing really well so far!
They have sniffed each other’s things. Winnie is shy and cautious about Granny’s blanket and the carrier (previously it was washed before our roommate gave it back, so her smell wasn’t as strong). But she did thoroughly sniff both, and was able to go into the carrier. She is very interested in my roommate’s door.
We fed them on opposite sides of my roommate’s door to start building a positive association between them. Winnie was a little shy but still able to eat more or less comfortably knowing Granny was on the other side of the door. Granny is hesitant to leave the area by my roommate’s bed, so getting her near to the door to eat was a little bit of a challenge, but she still did it successfully and ate her dinner.
Granny cat is a lot calmer and more confident than she was in her old environment, and is happy to leave the underbed area for pets when called. Her retreating under the bed seems to be more about exploring her environment than anxiety or fear. She absolutely LOVES the two toys of Winnie’s I gave her so she could learn Winnie’s scent and rubs all over them whenever possible (note: this cat has a notable disinterest in toys usually).
*slides in* just so everybody knows Granny’s name is Knucklehead. I know Avalon doesn’t want to acknowledge it because she doesn’t appreciate good names but… It’s very important
Ugh, yes, her name is Knucklehead but I’m going to call her Granny and if you don’t like it you can meet me in the CORNFIELD WITH YOUR WEAPON OF CHOICE AT THE READY, JANIE.
Oh no. I'm happy to call her Granny too. I just wanted you to acknowledge it publicly so all your wonderful followers know my cat's glorious name. otherwise I'd have had to meet you behind an Arby's and give you a South Louisiana Snowman
