#cat swap

[sucrepudding]

Have my cat buddy,,, He's a big dummie and will love on you for more food but he's also a big ol sweetheart,,,

Have a couple of my babies 2!

[fbwzoo]

So I was considering waiting to post until we see how it goes, but I have 0 patience, so.

My partners and I are going to try a cat swap this weekend. Ditto is gonna go stay at their house, their cat Jesse is going to come to my apartment.

Reasoning for Jesse: she's never lived without other cats, and she's been acting a little off since her kitty girlfriend died a couple months ago. She's showing more behaviours that we worry are anxiety-induced from being alone in the house a lot. She's going to be living with Ebony next year anyway once we all move in together, so we thought we'd see how they do together now and if it helps Jesse. They're both fairly chill and non-confrontational, so we're hopeful for at least peaceful coexistence.

Potential pros: gets more company from Ebony during daytime, at least has a person around more often (once my roommate stays put for a bit anyway 😂)

Potential challenges: Ebony and Jesse don't get along, change is too stressful for Jesse, she has some history of stress peeing out of box

Reasoning for Ditto: she's going to a new home at the end of September, so her new situation will only be for a couple months if it works out. She'll have much more room to move around as she'll have most of their house to herself (with their small animal rooms closed off). We're also hoping this will be a test run to show her that new houses don't always have scary dogs in them, so she may handle her big move better. Likewise, gives her a chance to befriend new people that she's already slightly familiar with. She's gotten pretty spooky about strangers since it's usually just me and roomie around.

Potential pros: she has more room to live in, gets some new experiences as practice before big move, in a setting where we can bring her back if she gets too stressed.

Potential challenges: she breaks everything on their shelves & drives partners nuts, they will have to be extra careful with ratty time and the animal rooms to keep everyone safe, they'll have to be more careful coming/going from house so Ditto doesn't get outside.

Preparations and precautions we're taking: we're going to have Feliway pheromone plug ins at each household. I'm getting Cat Attract litter to add to Jesse's litter box as they've had good results using it with her in the past. Ditto has a tree going with her in addition to one they already have. Wheel will get taken out if she seems to need it. Both cats have their old litter boxes going with for familiar smells. Also exchanging blankets/towels with each cat's smells to help have more of their scent around new place. Ideally Jesse will stay in my bedroom for a couple days and we'll do intros with Ebony slowly.

So... we'll see how this goes! Hopefully it'll be a good outcome for both cats.

[fbwzoo]

We had our first session with Jesse out of my room! 

They both had a moment of “what the fuck who the fuck” when they first saw each other, but I was in between them to help break up the staring before it got too intense. As soon as Ebony realized Jesse wasn’t going to chase & try to attack her, she immediately went “okay well, there’s tasty kitten kibble here, so I’m paying attention to that” & ate that as I doled it out in small amounts.

Jesse’s even less food-motivated than Ebony, so she didn’t pay any attention to the kitten kibble & only took a couple duck liver treats. She was also a little more on edge about seeing Ebony, I think, but still not too bad. She checked out the hallway area and went back & forth to my room a couple times. Ebony got tired of the kibble and moved back behind one of the dining room chairs, by the crab tank & loafed there. With her more out of sight, Jesse came further out & explored the living room a bit, and started rubbing on some of the furniture. She also accepted pets just fine from both me & roomie, so I take that as a better sign of her comfort level than her not taking treats, since she’s more into petting/affection than food anyway.

After a few minutes of that, she seemed to be fairly calm and relaxing some, so we decided to end on a good note & I put her back in my room for now. Ebony went up on the cat tree afterwards & loafed on one of the platforms.

So far, so good! It went about as my boyfriend expected it would (I was hoping it would, but also anxiety). Hopefully as they both realize that neither of them wants to fuck with the other, they’ll relax more around each other and figure things out calmly. I may do another session with Jesse out later today, but we’ll see. I don’t want to risk too much while I’m by myself, it’ll be easier to avoid issues with two of us to help distract cats if needed. My roomie is home from work tomorrow too, so we’ll have another chance to work with them then anyway.

[fbwzoo]

Tumblr still has the pets video from last night in jail. But these are from this morning!!! I'm so happy I might cry. 😭💜💙

[fbwzoo]

Okay, so it's still somewhat early, since we still have to see how Ebony and Jesse do. But honestly, this cat swap thing has already so been worth it - we've confirmed how much more confident Jesse has gotten since she moved in with my partners (where she hid & stress peed at first). She's been so casual about this whole move, and my bf is thrilled!

Meanwhile, I'm SO very relieved about Ditto. She's still easily startled when the humans move around too much or too fast. But she's greeting both of my partners, asking for pets, and playing. My partner got her playing earlier and she decided she LOVED him for it and was following him around, flopping on his feet, etc. All it took was a few days of hiding and having some space to chill. I know this was to help her see that a new place & people wouldn't be the end of the world, but it's helping me as much as it is her. I've been so anxious that we've screwed her up with no socialization & that she would freak out badly about a new house. But she's okay! We'll be okay. I'm gonna miss her a lot and probably cry half the drive home next month. But I won't feel like I just abandoned my babycat completely. (Or at least I have arguments now to throw at anxiety if it does start on that train of thought.)

[fbwzoo]

Cat Swap Update! (I’m probably going to talk incessantly about this for at least this week XD posts will be tagged with ‘cat swap’ if anyone gets tired of text blocks!)

Ditto is working on exploring - she hid under the side coffee table when bf got up this morning & stayed put there for a bit. Then since all was quiet & still, she slunk out and down the hall, watching bf very carefully the whole time in case he tried to eat her. She found the bed & that made a GREAT hiding spot, so last check in, she was as far under that as possible. She might have done some more exploring while everyone was at work too, though. Not bad for the first full day! Bf is hoping that by the end of the week, she’ll be friendlier to him - the weekend will be quiet in the house, with one partner gone. I may also go down for a quick visit to see if she’ll come out & say hi to me.

Jesse is very happy to have human back in the room with her & gave me many snuggles. We have discovered she likes the brush I have, with short metal teeth, similar to the brush gloves bf got for her. So that will help with managing all her fluff! And she definitely likes sisal rope scratchers best - we noticed her nails had been getting long at the house, when they’ve previously not been much of an issue. Their new tree is carpet only, which is apparently not Jesse-approved. She literally laid flat next to the little tree in my bedroom so she could scratch the sisal rope under where Ditto’s torn it up. XD So I’m gonna switch the poles around for her later so she has a fresh one to scratch on. My big tree in the living room also has rope sections on it, so she’ll be happy about that too.

We’re all still really happy Jesse has been handling this so calmly! This bodes well for the move to a new house next year. This cat has come so far in her confidence over the past couple years, and it’s been really wonderful to see. ♥ Now here’s just hoping her & Ebony will at least tolerate each other!

[fbwzoo]

Ditto is a little more upset about the change than Jesse, so she’s hiding behind one of their couches for now, right next to the pheromone plug-in. I’ll keep you all updated on how she does over the next couple days - hopefully as nothing bad happens, she’ll calm down & maybe do some exploring tonight when partners go to bed. She’s been worse at handling change & new people over the last year or so, which is part of what we’re hoping this whole thing will help with...fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, Jesse has discovered she likes Ebony’s wet food (planning to use that to help with intros) and is Very Interested in my bedroom door because doors are supposed to open. She may also hear Ebony on the other side, though Ebony’s mostly ignoring my door/room for now. So far so good! My bf is super happy that Jesse is handling it all so well, she’s gotten so much more confident & calm over the past couple years!

[fbwzoo]

Brief cat swap update!

Ebony and Jesse still think each other should not exist.

But!!! Bf went fishing with wand toy last night and caught a Ditto!! Once she calms down enough to consider the idea, if you're willing to play with her, she thinks you must not be too bad. He got pets!!!! I'm very very happy, and very relieved it only took a couple days. Hopefully this will help next month!!