misc cat stuff (sorta long)

Some of you may remember that I posted quite a while ago about one of
my kitties, Buck, who has occasionally displayed heat-like behaviour
in spite of having been spayed. Well, after some examination and
discussion, the vet suggested it could simply be a symptom of anxiety,
and when I thought about that, it did occur to me that she's always
been a fairly anxious cat. Apparently the fact that she's "in heat"
during the winter is kind of a giveaway, since I'm told that's not
supposed to happen. So the vet prescribed amitriptyline (aka Elavil)
and recommended a Feliway diffuser. After a month of daily
amitriptyline (10mg), she's down to every other day. She was pretty
whacked out on the daily, not really ever playing or interacting with
the other cats, though she seemed to be adjusting toward the end of
the daily doses and at least wanted attention from me. I'm very happy
with the every-other-day schedule--now she's back to chasing paper
balls and washing Jimmer's face, even if only every other day. If she
doesn't have any more problems on this schedule, she could get cut
back to a couple times per week. Hard to say how things will go
long-term, but if I can keep her reasonably playful and not acting
goofy with a minimum of pilling, I'll be happy enough.

Other stuff at the forefront of things is the integration of the new
guy, Jungle Jack, whom I posted about early last month. His big day
was a week before US Thanksgiving: snip, chip, baseline workup,
FIV/FeLV test, and 2nd PCRP. He got to come home the same day, so he
was very groggy and wobbly, kept falling over when he tried to walk.
But he was pretty much as good as new within three days or so.

Since a couple weeks after the snip, he's been acting better towards
the other cats, no more of the not backing down when hissed at or
taking an unnecessary interest in one of the cats going out of his
sight. It probably helps, too, that the others aren't quite so
growly/hissy any more, though they still do if Jack gets too close.
I'm his only playmate, so I feel bad for him. And when he's not in
his room, which is whenever I'm home and awake, he "can't" come cuddle
because the other cats are usually already with me, and he's very
cautious about getting too near them. Jimmer usually just hisses and
growls; Grizzly will sometimes cautiously exchange a nose-sniff with
Jack, but then she either backs away suddenly or hisses/growls; and if
Buck is lying just off Jack's path as he chases after the Kitty Kong I
throw for him, she'll sometimes jump out and swat at him. Still, he
wants to make friends--he keeps trying to entice Jimmer into chasing
him. Until things become more harmonious, I just have to make sure he
gets some "daddy" time and good playtime away from the other cats
every day. Ah, well, it hasn't been that long, really, only a couple
weeks since I've been letting him out a lot. And I'm probably spoiled
by the 3-4 weeks it took Jimmer to completely accept Grizzly and Buck
when they came along. But things are basically good and seem to be
improving little by little, so I'm not too concerned overall.

Just four new pics of the jungle kitty since the last time I posted
about him:

http://web.mr-happy.com/~jfb/randompics/couchcats.jpg (not in an album yet)
http://web.mr-happy.com/~jfb/ablum/pets/jack07.jpg
http://web.mr-happy.com/~jfb/ablum/pets/jack08.jpg
http://web.mr-happy.com/~jfb/ablum/p...er-jack-01.jpg

The last two were also posted to abpa recently. The first one I
basically took out of surprise at seeing a sleeping cat so close to
Jack. (All three were zonked when I came upon them.)

Pictures of all my cats can be found at
http://web.mr-happy.com/~jfb/ablum/pets/ , should anyone be so
inclined.

Jeff