The Boys Are Back In Town....

Noah

Guess whose back? Guess who is that much closer to Crazy Cat Lady status? Guess who is going to say, if asked, how many cats she has, that its just a 'multiple cat household? Yes, I think you guessed it.

Gabe and Noah's new home didn't work out. Their silly kitty ways were too much to handle I guess, so the decision was made that it would be better for them to come home. They came home about a week and half ago. They've been gone for about six weeks.

Birdwatching

They weren't too happy at first, but are doing fine now. Noah seemed okay and still eats like a horse. After the ride home, he thought "if you'd feed me just a tiny bit, I will be fine, since I feel a little faint'... Noah is a eater and food is near and dear to his heart. He is also a chub. So far he doesn't look too over weight, but you better lift him with the bended knees!

Noah

Gabe took it a little harder and initially hissed at every cat he saw...which is allot in this 'multiple cat household'. The other kitten sibs hissed back. They all were freaked out! (Cat drama). I kept the boys in a dog kennel for a few days. Then over the weekend I closed them in the bathroom and let them out to stretch their legs for a few hours. They did allot of birdwatching and playing. The bathroom looked a little worse for wear but the boys were more relaxed. By Friday night Gabe was poking at Sage through the top of the cage and Sage was poking back and no hisses were issued.

Of course their sisters and brother act like they never saw those cats before, so everyone was hissing or being ultra cautious about going near those things.

By Saturday late afternoon, I opened the bathroom door and let them out amongst the masses. It went pretty smooth. There was more hissing and skulking from room to room. It's now Thursday and mostly the kittens are back to where they were in their social order. Both Noah and Gabe (with Gabe being the more pushy) sometimes don't know when to quit with the wrestling, so that will have to be watched. I try not to interfere too much, because you can wear yourself out with kitty politics. For instance, Chaco and Gabe were in the bathroom thumping around, having a furious little tussle. Chaco came dashing out and so I stopped Gabe from running after him, thinking he was being way too rough. About two seconds later Chaco comes dashing back into the bathroom acting like, 'hey! I thought you were right behind me'! Then they resumed the tussle and I walked away.

The big boys were like, seriously?, they're back? There are more of them? Poor boys.

Anyway, so far so good, but it will take some work to keep everyone content and compatible. The most important thing is not to stress the big boys out too much. For the time being the little kittles have to stay up during the day, so I can monitor their interaction with Sage and Meshach. Last night was Gabe and Noah's first full night out. I tried the night before but they were just too giddy with nighttime freedom and couldn't stop wildly playing. Either I was too worn out last night to hear or they calmed down a bit, as they managed to make it through and were curled up on the end of the bed this morning.

Gabe was very grateful for the distraction of this peacock feather.

I have a plan. I do, I do...if we all make it to that point! ha.. I have a long breezeway alongside the house. Open on both ends, and it's the length of the house by about 10 or 12 ft. I've been thinking for years about enclosing it to add room to my 900 ft square house. Hopefully if I can scratch up the money and some serious energy, I'd like to have that done sometime early summer. If possible I'd like to hire someone to do the framing, windows and doors and I can do the finish work. I'd leave about 10 foot on the front end to act as a partially enclosed porch where Boone and Ariel and the outside cats could have sleeping/feeding areas. This would be nicer in the long run, as in the winter I could make it much more cozy for them. I plan to install windows on the north end and on the south end of the enclosed part, so there will still be a good breeze throughout in the summer. The biggest job will be cleaning all the junk out of the breezeway....

Gabe and his feather

The kittens could then be confined on occasion during the day in one of the 'new rooms' and I would have an attached outdoor run for them in pleasant weather. Anyway. That's what I'm thinking. In the meantime we all are coexisting, but there sure are allot of little furries running around in this 'multiple cat household'!