We’re a few days into the “kitten experience”. We’re following the advice that the Meow Foundation gave us about gently introducing new cat(s) into a home that has a resident cat. It involves keeping them separate and slowly increasing the amount of contact (smell, sight) before completely integrating them. At first the plan was to have both new cats in the master bedroom. We figured they already knew each other (a mother and daughter) and we’d treat them as a unit. But it turned out differently: Hashbrown/Lizzie seemed a bit insecure in the new environment and it was manifesting as bullying Mash/Pip.
So we adjusted our plan. Miranda has been camping in the basement with Lizzie while Pip has stayed in the master bedroom. Tammy has been working in the basement during the day, so if anything it’s Mr. Murphy who’s getting the short end of the stick for “people time”.
The first day of having Pip in the bedroom with me while working was an adventure. The first hint was my first call with Neha. It was an “internal” call without clients so it was okay, but Pip really was interested in everything going on and was up on the desk and trying to touch the screens and stepping on the keyboard. Later on, I had another internal call with more people on it, and she was much more distracting, even climbing up my chair back and perching on my shoulders. I downloaded “Mouse for Cats”, an iPad app that has an animated toy mouse running around the screen. That helped a lot and is now my go-to solution if Pip is interfering.
But all that just is a preamble to: Pip is a lap cat. She’s been on my lap a number of times in the last two days. I’m super happy about that.
It’s been fun, but disruptive. I am looking forward to the cats being integrated and being able to roam where they like. Then we can figure out where to put this new cat gym that I built.
NICE AND CALM !!!!! SO FAR.