Thanks for asking.
We all wound down last night before heading to bed...
We had the bedroom door closed up to that point, so he had to explore. We put his pad on the foot of the bed, and he went right to it. That's a good start.
I am sure Joan was like me: I slept "lightly" - looking up frequently to see how he was doing. Most of the time, he was on his pad. A couple excursions to the head of the bed to check on us. One wander under the bed (shoe holders under there), and one exploration behind the dresser to play with a cord shortly.
When I got up, he followed me out to the kitchen to find out what our morning routine might be... turn the calendar page, then start the cat feeding process. He is a good eater... and while he chowed down I did the rest of my routine.
For him, everything is new. He will get used to where everything is. He will learn to trust that food will always be there, and cuddles are consistent, not just a first day thing. We understand that as a one year old, there is still plenty of kitten in this boy, so playtime and exploration are important.
He has found his voice. We didn't hear a peep out of him in the car ride home. During the evening last night, a couple muted meows. This morning after his breakfast, he was more vocal - I'm going with those were "thank you."
We're still discussing what his name will be. We've tried out a few possibilities to see if he reacted to any of them... when we talk to him, he looks. He'll learn a name when we figure it out.
On the agenda for today: a bath for the new boy. He seems to keep himself very clean. Wish us luck.
--------
Cat bathing is not something we do frequently. They have each reacted differently to a bath. Smoke turned into a whirling buzzsaw of fury - all 6 1/2 pounds of her. Molly and Rufus enjoyed getting bathed. Izzy tolerated it. This new boy was scared, but not furious - he struggled, but Joan held him firmly and talked soothingly while she cleaned him up.
No photos of the process - it took both of us (I was just the assistant). He was not a happy boy, but he didn't strike out in anger.
Right after...
And then, after drying off a bit...
And then some grooming - first him on his own, then with a brush. Then playtime...
A cornucopia of toys. There will be some new ones, but these are all hand-me-downs, and he is fine with that. Joan said, "He is being raised by old people - we'll wear out before he does with this playing stuff." Fear not, we will do what he needs.
Chilling, once he was all dried off...
I do believe I see a bit of a mane and ruff now.
--------
I made a late breakfast out on the griddle. The local weather weasels were calling for "mostly sunny, high in the low 60s" for today. A fog rolled through the area, completely obscuring the mountains to the south of us. In time, it lifted to this...
Even when it isn't "clear and a million" (aviator term), the view is still pretty (I enjoy the layers and silhouettes of the foothills and mountain). Steph and Dan took a hike this morning, up the mountain a ways, leaving from the house. They said those trees you see on the other side of our wall are another layer of privacy from up on the mountain, looking down to our house.
While clearing stuff out of my wallet, I came across this fortune from our outing on Friday (we stopped for a bite to eat at Panda Express after seeing one cat from a private rescue, then two others at the AZ Humane Society)...
The decisions we had made that day were: we hadn't met the cat that would be the right fit for us. After that meal, we decided to make that long trip across town to Old Town Scottsdale the next morning to meet the boy we brought home. He was the only one we went there to see. It was a good decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment