Spicey's downstairs jaunts

Since that day Spicey managed to get past the gate to play downstairs,
she's been demanding more time downstairs with me and the other cats. I've
obliged by letting her out for a while twice a day.

The first few times out, Spicey mostly explored, excitedly trotting from
room to room, taking in all the sights, and playing with any toys that
interested her, particularly catnip toys. Gradually, she's started to focus
on me more, and she'll follow me from place to place, and come immediately
when called.

This recent hoomin focus is at once gratifying and inconvenient. I like
that she's willing to come to me, and even smother me at times, because
that'll help me get her more tame. But at the same time, she *isn't*
entirely tame, so it means that I need to move carefully whenever she's
out, because she will and she does attack if I make sudden movements or
touch her without her initiating it.

Her interactions with Dot and Buster continue to be positive, especially
with Dot. Dot seems to consider Spicey to be a harmless but wayward
sibling, and will sometimes walk along or past her, or meatloaf peacefully
as Spicey putters around her. This surprised me very much - Dot absolutely
*hated* Buster when they first met. But she'd immediately assessed Spicey's
threat level as zero.

Buster will require just a bit more work. If I only had Dot, I probably
would have taken down the screen by now. Buster's always been more
territorial and slower to come around to change. He doesn't hiss at Spicey
anymore, or even fluff his tail at her. But the way he occasionally freezes
or crouches low when he sees her, tells me that he still feels uncertain
about his new sisfur. On the other hand, I've also seen them bump into each
other or walk side-by-side many times as they followed me around the house.
I always at least casually supervise them though.

The reason I'm so careful with them is because I want to establish an
initial benign relationship between these cats. In contrast, if I'd put
Buster and Spicey together a month ago, with her still cowering in a
corner, and Buster's last interaction with a stranger cat being his brutal
victory beating up the neighborhood cat outside the screen door, they'd
definitely have gotten into a scrap. Probably several big scraps. Scraps
they would have remembered. Spicey would then know Buster as the muscular
bully who rules the hostile hell she dropped into after her meowmie
disappeared. Buster would know Spicey as intruder cat Mark II, who can be
driven easily out of sight, but needs to be ambushed from behind and
dispatched quickly due to her dangerous claws and fangs. They'd probably
have ended up dysfunctional for months.

But things have already fallen into place. There's no place in the house
where Spicey isn't comfortable. Buster doesn't consider her to be an
intruder - just someone new and slightly concerning. Dot seems to enjoy
having a small girlcat around. The hoomin is someone to follow, not avoid.
So Spicey is already predisposed not to run or hide or attack. And Buster
is already predisposed not to chase.

So far so good! But I still keep Spicey separated most of the time. When
Spicey stops hissing at Dot's butt, and Buster stops peeking anxiously
around corners when Spicey is downstairs, that's when I'll consider keeping
them all together. Spicey is not as healthy as the other cats, or as big,
or as socially experienced. I want to minimize any chance of her ending up
in a ball of fighting claws and fangs with either of the others.

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
Since that day Spicey managed to get past the gate to play downstairs,
she's been demanding more time downstairs with me and the other cats. I've
obliged by letting her out for a while twice a day.

The first few times out, Spicey mostly explored, excitedly trotting from
room to room, taking in all the sights, and playing with any toys that
interested her, particularly catnip toys. Gradually, she's started to
focus
on me more, and she'll follow me from place to place, and come immediately
when called.

This recent hoomin focus is at once gratifying and inconvenient. I like
that she's willing to come to me, and even smother me at times, because
that'll help me get her more tame. But at the same time, she *isn't*
entirely tame, so it means that I need to move carefully whenever she's
out, because she will and she does attack if I make sudden movements or
touch her without her initiating it.

Her interactions with Dot and Buster continue to be positive, especially
with Dot. Dot seems to consider Spicey to be a harmless but wayward
sibling, and will sometimes walk along or past her, or meatloaf peacefully
as Spicey putters around her. This surprised me very much - Dot absolutely
*hated* Buster when they first met. But she'd immediately assessed
Spicey's
threat level as zero.

Buster will require just a bit more work. If I only had Dot, I probably
would have taken down the screen by now. Buster's always been more
territorial and slower to come around to change. He doesn't hiss at Spicey
anymore, or even fluff his tail at her. But the way he occasionally
freezes
or crouches low when he sees her, tells me that he still feels uncertain
about his new sisfur. On the other hand, I've also seen them bump into
each
other or walk side-by-side many times as they followed me around the
house.
I always at least casually supervise them though.

The reason I'm so careful with them is because I want to establish an
initial benign relationship between these cats. In contrast, if I'd put
Buster and Spicey together a month ago, with her still cowering in a
corner, and Buster's last interaction with a stranger cat being his brutal
victory beating up the neighborhood cat outside the screen door, they'd
definitely have gotten into a scrap. Probably several big scraps. Scraps
they would have remembered. Spicey would then know Buster as the muscular
bully who rules the hostile hell she dropped into after her meowmie
disappeared. Buster would know Spicey as intruder cat Mark II, who can be
driven easily out of sight, but needs to be ambushed from behind and
dispatched quickly due to her dangerous claws and fangs. They'd probably
have ended up dysfunctional for months.

But things have already fallen into place. There's no place in the house
where Spicey isn't comfortable. Buster doesn't consider her to be an
intruder - just someone new and slightly concerning. Dot seems to enjoy
having a small girlcat around. The hoomin is someone to follow, not avoid.
So Spicey is already predisposed not to run or hide or attack. And Buster
is already predisposed not to chase.

So far so good! But I still keep Spicey separated most of the time. When
Spicey stops hissing at Dot's butt, and Buster stops peeking anxiously
around corners when Spicey is downstairs, that's when I'll consider
keeping
them all together. Spicey is not as healthy as the other cats, or as big,
or as socially experienced. I want to minimize any chance of her ending up
in a ball of fighting claws and fangs with either of the others.


You've really done very well with your patience and perseverance. Good for
you (and Spicey) !

Jay

Good job....

On Sat, 3 Nov 2012 17:55:13 -0400, "JJ" wrote:
You've really done very well with your patience and perseverance. Good for
you (and Spicey) !

I don't have much of a choice. This is Spicey's home, and Dot and Buster
are her family.

On Sat, 3 Nov 2012 18:57:51 -0500, (pat
Chlebowski) wrote:
Good job....

So far. Spicey just tried to take a swipe at Buster for sniffing at her
while she was lying down.

On Sat, 03 Nov 2012 17:29:11 -0400, Takayuki
wrote:

Since that day Spicey managed to get past the gate to play downstairs,
she's been demanding more time downstairs with me and the other cats. I've
obliged by letting her out for a while twice a day.

....

Really amazing progress. It's fun to read about a new cat being
integrated into the household, particularly one as touchy as Spicey.

On Sat, 03 Nov 2012 23:40:40 -0400, dgk
wrote:
Really amazing progress. It's fun to read about a new cat being
integrated into the household, particularly one as touchy as Spicey.

My favorite stories here too have been about new acquisitions. It's always
so exciting reading about a ham at the shelter, a kitten caught under the
house, a friendly stray frequenting a porch, someone deciding to keep a
foster, or adopting a cat from another household.

On Sun, 04 Nov 2012 20:34:59 +0000 (GMT), Judith Latham
wrote:
In article , Takayuki
wrote:
On Sat, 3 Nov 2012 17:55:13 -0400, "JJ" wrote:
You've really done very well with your patience and perseverance. Good
for you (and Spicey) !

I don't have much of a choice. This is Spicey's home, and Dot and
Buster are her family.

I think she's already cottoned that she's got a human and a family and I
think she loves it. I know you're still wary of her attacking but she's
changed so much towards you and now follows you about, I don't think
you'll have this worry for much longer, Seems to me that she adores you.

Spicey *adores* me? I haven't heard that before, but I love the sound of
that.

She does seems to like me now, which is really fortunate, because with this
feisty girl, you *don't* want to get on her bad side.

On 11/3/2012 5:29 PM, Takayuki wrote:
Since that day Spicey managed to get past the gate to play downstairs,
she's been demanding more time downstairs with me and the other cats. I've
obliged by letting her out for a while twice a day.

The first few times out, Spicey mostly explored, excitedly trotting from
room to room, taking in all the sights, and playing with any toys that
interested her, particularly catnip toys. Gradually, she's started to focus
on me more, and she'll follow me from place to place, and come immediately
when called.

This recent hoomin focus is at once gratifying and inconvenient. I like
that she's willing to come to me, and even smother me at times, because
that'll help me get her more tame. But at the same time, she *isn't*
entirely tame, so it means that I need to move carefully whenever she's
out, because she will and she does attack if I make sudden movements or
touch her without her initiating it.

Her interactions with Dot and Buster continue to be positive, especially
with Dot. Dot seems to consider Spicey to be a harmless but wayward
sibling, and will sometimes walk along or past her, or meatloaf peacefully
as Spicey putters around her. This surprised me very much - Dot absolutely
*hated* Buster when they first met. But she'd immediately assessed Spicey's
threat level as zero.

Buster will require just a bit more work. If I only had Dot, I probably
would have taken down the screen by now. Buster's always been more
territorial and slower to come around to change. He doesn't hiss at Spicey
anymore, or even fluff his tail at her. But the way he occasionally freezes
or crouches low when he sees her, tells me that he still feels uncertain
about his new sisfur. On the other hand, I've also seen them bump into each
other or walk side-by-side many times as they followed me around the house.
I always at least casually supervise them though.

The reason I'm so careful with them is because I want to establish an
initial benign relationship between these cats. In contrast, if I'd put
Buster and Spicey together a month ago, with her still cowering in a
corner, and Buster's last interaction with a stranger cat being his brutal
victory beating up the neighborhood cat outside the screen door, they'd
definitely have gotten into a scrap. Probably several big scraps. Scraps
they would have remembered. Spicey would then know Buster as the muscular
bully who rules the hostile hell she dropped into after her meowmie
disappeared. Buster would know Spicey as intruder cat Mark II, who can be
driven easily out of sight, but needs to be ambushed from behind and
dispatched quickly due to her dangerous claws and fangs. They'd probably
have ended up dysfunctional for months.

But things have already fallen into place. There's no place in the house
where Spicey isn't comfortable. Buster doesn't consider her to be an
intruder - just someone new and slightly concerning. Dot seems to enjoy
having a small girlcat around. The hoomin is someone to follow, not avoid.
So Spicey is already predisposed not to run or hide or attack. And Buster
is already predisposed not to chase.

So far so good! But I still keep Spicey separated most of the time. When
Spicey stops hissing at Dot's butt, and Buster stops peeking anxiously
around corners when Spicey is downstairs, that's when I'll consider keeping
them all together. Spicey is not as healthy as the other cats, or as big,
or as socially experienced. I want to minimize any chance of her ending up
in a ball of fighting claws and fangs with either of the others.

I think you are doing such an amazing job! All three owners are lucky
to have you as their slave. I'm enjoying reading everything. Sometimes
late, but then I have to look for them.