WE HAVE A NEW KITTEN!
So, as you know, our older boy – Jackson (aka Jack) walked into my kitchen February 7th last year, and I loved him from the very first few minutes. He was honestly my salvation during my final months in uni. He made my day after spending 12 hours + of revising, 7 days a week. And I love him more everyday. He’s the most nice natured, well mannered, beautiful gentle cat I’ve ever known.
But, as such happens when you’ve had one pet for a while… you crave another.
Tom really wasn’t a cat person before Jack. In fact, he was actually pretty annoyed with me for taking Jack in without consulting him, as he knows we’d face issues finding a pet friendly flat together and struggle to find people to look after him whenever we travel. But after not very long, he fell in love with Jack too.
But Jack is a mummy’s boy. I’m not even exaggerating, he is obsessed with me. He doesn’t like to leave my side. So Tom was getting a bit jealous and decided one day to announce that he wants another cat – This is our version of the “Honey, I want to have another baby” conversation.
I wasn’t sure if it was financially possible or how it would work out with me going into work soon and already owning a cat.
But we did the sums and for a good several months, she will only cost a few pounds more a month. Specifically £10-15 more a month. Which, with me working in the next couple weeks is easily doable.
We always wanted to adopt and not buy. We don’t believe you should buy cats. Because of their independence and many peoples inability to get them neutered, so many kittens are born without homes. So we wanted to help reduce that. Even though it is only by one.
We found a wonderful rescue centre called Rescue Me Animal Sanctuary, based nearby. They were getting dozens of kittens. And we knew we wanted a black female kitten. With Jack being a boy, we wanted the opposite, and it’s seems to be a thing that black kittens get left till last – I’m really not sure why, look at the fluffy little things!
The whole process was pretty easy, well – there was a tiny hiccup because we live in a flat and don’t have a garden, so she would have to become an indoor cat like Jack (who by the way is perfectly happy staying inside, in fact he chooses to stay inside over going out whenever the opportunity arises) and the rescue centre said no initially, to giving us a young kitten under these circumstances in case she wants to be outdoors. Which is completely fair, as some people would not know how to handle a kitten desperate to go outside that is unable to. I’ve had plenty of experience from high school age with kittens who are so desperate to go outside, they jump out of first floor windows, so I believed I would be able to deal with the challenge if it came.
Now, since I began watching Cat From Hell, with Jackson Galaxy (No, I didn’t name my cat after him! Though it is a funny cowinkydink that the cat expert has the same name as my cat) he actually states many times, he believes cats should be indoor animals. They just need to get all the same stimulus they get from being outdoors. Cat trees, scratching posts, play, hunting, climbing. He says that there are so many dangers coming with being outdoors. Fights with other cats, dog attacks, car accidents, being stolen for dog fights, worms, fleas and several extremely dangerous and sometimes deadly illnesses and diseases. I agree. I’ve had many cats who have passed due to many reasons mentioned above. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take anymore, and I’m more than prepared to put in the time to give them everything they get from outdoors.
Anyway, after a lengthy discussion on the phone with the founder of the Sanctuary, she agreed that she would send someone round to assess our home and the compatibility to adopt. This was done within 48 hours and only a few hours after our very simple and straightforward assessment, we signed the papers, brought her home and now she is a member of our family. In 8 weeks she will be neutered and micro-chipped and she will officially be ours for good.
As for how Jack is taking it…well he had NO IDEA what the hell to do at first. His nose was going mad sniffing everything. The first couple of hours he spent fairly scared of her. Jack doesn’t act aggressively when he is scared. He doesn’t puff up or hiss or anything. He backs away. He’s a very curious cat so after a little while he began to approach Pepper. Now, she’s hissing him away when he goes into playful mode, but she rolls onto her side and becomes submissive. Which is exactly what you want. You want your previous cat to be dominant but not aggressive and the female to assert that she will not be bullied but will also go into submissive low stance.
A few hours later, they’re both running around, eating together and sleeping near by. It’s still a bit touch and go and they wont play together as such or sleep together, that will come in due course. For now, this is exactly the progress we expected.
Please bare in mind, Jack is an extremely mild mannered cat, with a very docile and kind nature. So we expected his progress with her to be a lot quicker than most cats. We were also very lucky in that she seems to be playful but very friendly, so they seem to work well together.
If you are introducing cats, you must take cues from them very seriously. Take your time and never rush things. We kept them separated by keeping her in her cat carrier to let him sniff her for ten minutes to see what his body language was upon discovering her.
After all of that, I will now grace you with some picture from the first day! Enjoy!
Eat. Drink. Laugh. Love
C xx
Coral and Tom | The Wandering Foodaholics 