Fun with the kitty settling-in period...

[missroserose]

The shelter said we could take Mr. Jerry Brown home with us yesterday, since we'd adopted Dexter less than six months ago. So we did, and spent the evening keeping a wary eye on the two cats and their interactions. While they haven't been very friendly - there's been some hissing involved; understandable, I guess, considering how territorial cats are - they haven't been fighting, so I'm going to hope that things will be okay in a few days while they get to know each other again and get used to the situation. Adjusting to a new member of the family isn't easy even for humans, after all.

The only major-ish problem we've had so far are a couple of rather smelly presents left behind on the couch. Fortunately we had a cover on the couch both times (in anticipation of something very similar to this), so there hasn't been any permanent damage...though it's an old enough couch that it probably wouldn't be that much of an issue anyway. We don't know which one is responsible, though I'd have to guess that it's Dexter - the fact that it's right in the open and not hidden in a corner somewhere makes me think it's probably more of a statement of unhappiness with the situation than a problem with not having a place to go; however, there's always the possibility that he hasn't been letting Mr. Jerry Brown use the litterbox. Either way, I figured it couldn't hurt to have an extra place for them to go, so I got our spare litter box out of the closet and set it up in the second bedroom. I also covered the couch with tinfoil; hopefully that'll keep them off of it since both covers are now in the wash.

On a slightly lighter note, Brian and I have one of those alarm clocks that does nice nature sounds for about 15 minutes before it's set to start beeping. There are supposed to be about six different options, but since I lost the manual I haven't been able to figure out how to get it to do anything aside from the default, which is called, appropriately enough, "Song Birds". Anyway, this morning the clock went off and I rolled over to hit "Snooze" - only to see Mr. Jerry Brown sitting on the floor beside the nightstand, staring up at the clock, tail twitching, trying desperately to see where the birds were...

Comments

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Just a note: from my understanding, burying feces is a cat display of submission. My bet would be that putting the doody out in the open and on a high place is Dexter saying 'I am the boss kitty here--smell me'.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

I always heard that cats buried their feces in order to hide the smell - not wanting to scare prey off, since they were solitary hunters. I suppose you might be right too, though.

I accidentally pissed off the landlady by sticking the peed-on towel next to the door (meant to take it out to the garbage) and making the whole entryway smell like cat pee. Apparently she wasn't too happy about that, but considering that more than once the entryway's smelled like her garbage, I'm not going to feel too bad about it...

[errant-variable.livejournal.com]

Yes... but cat urine CLINGS...

[jamesd.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on the new resident. :) That clock tale reminds me why I like cats... but I also know things aren't stable enough for me to have one and that I don't like cat food or cat litter. :)

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

Yeah, cats are nifty, but a fair amount of work. They're a good compromise for Brian and me though, since we don't want (and can't afford) kids.

Here's hoping you'll be able to work out having your own some day...:)