New cat! New cat! :)

We got a new cat!

He's 7 months old, and almost guaranteed to be a maine coon or bobcat of some kind. He has huuuge feet, a very long bushy tail that he carries like a plume above his back, perfect silver silky-soft fur, and very green eyes. He's already almost the size of our other cat. He's also neutered , and is up to date on all his shots. He isn't microchipped, but we will have our vet do that before we let him out, and we'll also get him a collar before he gets to go in the backyard.

We took him home from Petsmart less than an hour ago, and got him settled in the spare bathroom. He has a bed in there, food and water, and of course his own sandbox. He is as of yet nameless, while we're waiting for the right name to appear, and will be confined to the bathroom at least until the weekend. We have taken turns being in there with him and talk to him, and he is extremely friendly.

I said "hi, little guy," and started a conversation, that the big kitten interrupted by laying down comfortably, settling his head into my hand and started to purr loudly. The Guy thinks he's a people cat. LOL

The Divine Imperial Queen of Everything She Touches is furious. Words can't describe it. She crouched by the closed bathroom door for half an hour, glaring, growling, and threatening the intruder. We're going to make a point of spending a lot of time with her the next few days, with play and talk, so she understands that she is not about to be replaced by this hairy upstart.

I'll post pictures in a few days, when things have settled down a bit.

 

Will be watching for the picture updates.
Sounds very handsome.

 

Congratulations on the new addition, Mimsy! I'm sure TDIQOEST and the nube will get the pecking order worked out . . . they always do


We currently have four cats, and one very small dog . . . my wife had two cats when we got married, and my kids had one. We had just the three for a while, but a few years ago my wife wanted to get a kitten - as it had been about a decade since she had one (all our cats are elderly now). So, we got a kitten; AKA Cat #4. rolleyes The dog she brought home last year. I told her she better pray I don't up and die, 'cause then she'll be known as the crazy cat lady on the corner :-D She responded with "I'm ALREADY known as the crazy cat lady on the corner . . . "

Anyway, one of her cats is a maine coon, or at least part. But she's smaller then normal. She's also crazy - will be loving on you one minute, then throwing a hiss fit for no apparent reason the next . . . then lovable again. It's a mental issue - once in a while it seems she "forgets" everything and even gets lost in the house. She will start this mournful crying and shaking, like she's terrified. Someone has to go get her - once she sees one of us she's fine again. Anyway - here is a pic of her. She has maine coon markings, but like I said is very small for that breed. I added the text to the pic a long time ago - seemed to fit. Can't find the original at this time.

Again, congrats on the cat. (I type too much, don't I . . . :-o)

 

I know you are probably very experienced with animals, but just make sure the two cats meet through some wire mesh for the first time so they cannot fight each other.

 

@Spad
Is yours extremely vocal and talkative? The maine coon kitten we brought home talks to us through the bathroom door almost non-stop. Every time someone approaches it's miaows and mwerls and all sorts of twittering sounds, that he stops whenever we go in there.

We think a large part of it is that he's not used to being alone in a room like he is now, and he's trying to get our attention... the cat room they keep them in at Petsmart has ten cages to display cats in, and supposedly he was brought in together with a brother and a sister (another family took them both) so he's probably just never been sleeping alone before.

I'm wondering if he'll keep being this talkative though.

Sadly we have no wire mesh available, which is one of many reasons why the new guy is right now living in the bath room. They can hear and smell each other, and occasionally one of them tries to reach a paw under the door. We will be feeding them in separate rooms for at least the first month. I'm looking into various ways we can keep them separate but able to see each other for the first time.... cats are very territorial and sensitive about intruders.

 

I also have some new kittens wandering around;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/Burning_Monkey/princess.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/Burning_Monkey/butch.jpg

 

Now that is a great idea as I would never buy a cat or dog at any petstore!

 

if I remember right, Petsmart isn't actually selling you the new member of your family, they are selling you various items for the pet and giving you the animal.

The local Petsmart gets shelter animals and helps find them homes.

 

Hey BM.
7 to go.

 

Congrats on the new addition, Mimsy! I can't wait to see the pix. I love kitty pictures LOL

I have a friend who paid to adopt two cats from a local Petsmart. It took about a week because they took things mad serious and even called references! (I was one of them). I thought it was a bit ridiculous especially the "rules" they gave you to follow and if you didn't follow them they would come take the cats back. Are you serious? rolleyes

Did you have to do this, Mimsy? If not, maybe she got them from another chain store.

I was considering adopting one but that whole process alone made me change my mind. If I wish to adopt, I go to the SPCA instead.

 

come pick them up in a couple weeks and they are all yours.

I am trying to humanize them a little bit so that they aren't completely feral, just outlaws :-D

EDIT: and the standard offer always applies, a good home and I pay for shots and to get one of them fixed.

 

Was referring til you hit Major status.
Now 6.

 

fair enough :-D

I never pay attention to post counts or any of that. Figured it would just make me talk more and no one wants that

 

Nono, I meant the stores that get them from puppy mills etc., which I totally abhor! I'm totally for the shelter animal approach!

I prescribe watching 10 episodes of 'The Dog Whisperer' before one gets a dog. Gives one an idea of what might happen.

 

No, but we did have to sign a contract where we accepted their adoption terms and had to promise to all sorts of things (regular vet care, no declawing, feed proper cat food, et cetera), including a promise that a representative from the agency can come visit and see the cat at any time, as long as they call t make sure we're home. If the representative feels at the visit that the cat is mistreated, he/she can pick the animal up and take him on the spot.

Needless to say, I'm not the least bit worried about that.

The way it works with pet adoptions at the Petsmart here is just the way BM said, the store provides a space for the local agencies to display cats and have them adopted. One of the store employees is "official representative" for the agencies and helps out with the paperwork, but she made it very clear that we're not paying her the adoption fee, she is only holding the check for the agency to pick up. So the adoption process is probably different from store to store, since the agency that uses the space gets to set their own terms and rules. There are actually two agencies sharing the store space in this particular Petsmart.

Oh, the agency we got him from did give us coupons for one free bag of cat food and one free bag of cat litter. Much appreciated .

 

Congrats. I hope the new friend brings you lots of joy.

 

Okay, I have pictures now. I tried to upload them, but I got the error "Your submission could not be processed because a security token was missing." so I put them in my Photobucket account.

Here you go.

(Please let me know if it asks for a password. It shouldn't, so if it does that means I messed up again and needs to fix the account settings.)

 

Hehehe, likes to keep it's claws out eh?

 

I was right.
Very handsome cat.

 

I think he likes showing them off... they're HUGE! :eek

I only have one single scratch after several hours of wrestling-play with him though, so somewhere in his past he learned how to play without hurting the ones he's playing with and how to be careful. He's an extremely sweet and affectionate little guy.

He knows it too. And takes full advantage of it.

 

She is very verbal; more so then the other cats. She makes sounds whenever she is approached or she approaches someone . . . and mwerl is a good discription of the sound she makes most of the time, though she has several. The only other cat I've ever seen that is as talkative as sissy was our burmese we had for years.

Nice pics! Good looking cat.

 

I had a Norwegian Forest cat before I left Sweden, and he was one of the most talkative animals I've ever known. I've found out from research I did during the day today that Maine Coon are as talkative, so now I'm looking forward to long conversations with my new cat.

And yes, he is gorgeous. There should be six images, if you only saw four, I have added two more.

 

Congrats on your new addition to the family, Mimsy. Nice pics, too. Yeah. he's got a nice fur coat, all right Maine Coons are pretty cool, from what I know about them.

 

The new "little" guy has officially been named: Loke. You Americans/Britons are probably more used to spelling it "Loki", but it's the same guy. The Norse god of mischief and unpredictable chaos. Also known as a very charming and snuggly guy, so it fits the new cat.

We will be spending the next few days over-using the name so he learns it.

 

LOL @ Loke.
~ As it happens, Loki was the, (very appropriate) nickname for our son when he was little and we were living in Mariestad. He lived up to the name at times.:-o

 

We let them look at each other through a sliding glass door, and across a large room. Her divine majesty tolerated the newcomer until he moved, then she hissed at him. We're going to give them a few more days, then try introducing them again.

I have a large wide-tooth comb I use on Loke. It gets rid of a ton of loose hairs.

 

Update on introducing Loke to Her Divine Majesty:

Whenever The Divine Queen sleeps in a room, we close the door and allow Loke to go out of his room to explore the house, so he won't be nervous from being in completely unfamiliar territory when he finally is allowed to meet Her Divine Majesty... naturally he loves this. He tries to hide and get away when we move to pick him up and carry him back to his room, though once picked up he settles down immediately. He wasn't used to being held when we first got him, but he adjusted very well to it once he realized it means undivided attention and neck rubs. LOL

The two cats have in the past few days been allowed to watch each other through a sliding glass door. The Guy sits with The Divine Queen on one side and I sit with Loke on the other, and we lavish affection and praise on them whenever they are relaxed and just watch each other.

When they were completely relaxed and comfortable with the sight of each other we finally allowed them to meet face to face, with the two of us very close by to grab them and pull them back if necessary. They cautiously approached each other and then carefully went through the ritual of sniffing lightly around each others' noses, which basically is cat-speak for a polite greeting and introduction.

We separated them fairly soon after the first meeting, while they were still comfortable and relaxed, and have allowed them to meet a few more times after that. Her Divine Majesty is regally aloof and though no longer feeling threatened by the young one's presence she isn't exactly thrilled either. She is not sure what to make of this unexpected feline addition to the house hold. I'm sure the fact that he smells and acts like a kitten, while being slightly bigger than her, is adding to her confusion.

Loke on the other hand was around his litter-siblings for the first part of his life and around the other cats at Petsmart once he got there, so he is more used to having other cats around him than Her Majesty is, and he's more curious than anything else. To his credit, given how eager he is for company and a playmate, he is doing everything right. He's avoiding eye contact, keeps his tail straight up and his ears up, and keeps his belly against the ground, while turning his back towards the other cat. He's in other words acting as submissive as possible and doing his best to show he's not looking for a fight, as a kitten should in front of an adult.

In other words, everything is so far going well... and I'm now going to go knock on a wood table and cross my fingers, hoping it will continue to go well.

 

Last update, then I'll stop pestering you with photos, I promise.

This picture was taken when the two had lived under the same roof for all of eight days. Her Divine Majesty is the black one, 6 years old. The big gray one is our 7-month kitten, Loke.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/ChiliCat/Baby%20Cat/relaxed-1.jpg

 

Cute pic!

And does Her Majesty always take the upper berth?

 

Of course. Mo one sits higher than the queen. Loke learned that the one time he tried to sleep in that spot. LOL

 

He might be bigger, but in the feline world, the female is usually the meaner of the two. A lioness comes to mind as they do the hunting. They just let the lion "king" think he is getting his way.

 

But the lion "king", does get his way, with the lionesses! And, they do all the work, and FEED him!

Hmmm? Now, who's the smart one? :-D:-D

 

Funny you should mention that... several of our friends told us we should just put them together right away and let them work things out on their own. Interestingly, these people either have no other pets than dogs, or they have cats that all hate each other.

Me being me, I merely smiled and asked, "so, how affectionate towards each other did that make your cats?" I emailed that photo to all of the above mentioned friends just to make a point. LOL

Yes, I'm a bit smug. This evening, Her Divine Majesty went and searched out the kitten to instigate a bit of playful wrestling with him. They both purred after they were done playing.

 

I'll bet he did, indeed . . . ! Our kitten learned PDQ to avoid Queen Tig's chosen spots :-D

Nice pic

 

Both look great! Have to say she's the up town girl

 

Cool pics, Mimsy. Good to see her Divine majesty and Loke have settled down. Even if the older cat is the boss, (for now, anyway, lol!).
I admit my cat doesn't take kindly to feline strangers, either. People - yep, other puddy cats are definitely out.LOL

 

That's very likely to continue... as hrlow pointed out, the females tend to be more vicious. Add to that, that she's several years older, she was here first, and he doesn't seem to care as long as no one touches his food, and I think they'll be fine.

I know very little about how dogs think, but it makes perfect sense that they'd dislike an intruder, regardless of that intruder's species.

That's a very accurate summary of the differences between the two. Overall, neutered male cats tend to be very laid back creatures. Feed them, love them, entertain them, and they're happy. Kind of like any other guy.

 

Great pic Laura. Congratulations with your new cat. From what I read you certainly do know how to introduce one cat to another.

I had a cat who looked a lot like your queen! I still miss her 4 years later.

Here's adorable pics about cats. One can see what the cats are thinking in the 2nd pic eh? Probably not about sharing...LOL

 

Oma, that is a GREAT picture! :-D

My guess, what they are thinking is along the lines of "so, anyone know how to open this?" "You know I don't have thumbs either!" "Guys, guys... let's work together here, we can fight over it later" "If the humans really loved us they'd have left the cage open!"

LOL

We took Loke in to the vet to get him a mirochip in the neck today, since we plan to let him out as often as we do with Her Divine Majesty. We were also planning to buy a collar, as a visible sign to others that this cat has a home already. We ended up spending a lot more than just the microchip... The vet recognized him and pulled his medical records from before he was put up for adoption, and it turned out that not only was Loke severely over-due for renewing his flea and tick protection (vital for a cat that goes outside), at the age of 7-8 months, Loke still had not had a single feline leukemia shot!! :eek

According to the vet there is no risk to Her Majesty at all, even though they have spent a lot of time together, since we have made sure that she is current on all her vaccinations.

For feline leukemia a kitten apparently gets one shot, then a second, and a booster after that. They then get regular "update shots" throughout their lives to keep the protection current and effective. The vet strongly recommended that we give Loke the first one right away, and scheduled the follow-up appointments for his second and for the booster on our way out. So we got him the first feline leukemia shot, which was not received well by the poor kitten, and also got the anti-flea/tick treatment.

It irritates me when people don't take good care of their pets. The first people that adopted him returned him to the store because "he talked too much". He's a kitten! Of course he talks. rolleyes

 

Apologies for bumping an old thread... but Halo said pictures of cute cats is okay, so I'm daring to risk the wrath of mods and admins to post this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v82/ChiliCat/Baby%20Cat/IMG_0744.jpg

We keep that blanket on the couch for weekend mornings and late evenings when it's a bit chilly, and the cats love to "nest" in it. Considering there were growled death threats between these two when Loke first moved in five months ago, I would say the "keep them apart and introduce them gradually"-method officially has been proven to work.