Conference misery::feline

	We added another kittie to the 2 we had. Rascal was 8 wks, now he's 12
wks. the 2 we already have are 5 and 6 mos. But Rascal was hissing and curling
his back, when they were first introduced, and the other 2 just backed off. We
thought that rascal would dominate over the 2 older kitties. But we left it
alone and let them deal with it. The vet said that if you don't see blood, don't
worry about it. Afew times we did try to get them close with out anyone hissing.
 
The oldest kittie, Oreo, would ignore the hissing and grab Rascal and start
cleaning him. Rascal did not like this at first, he would scream and try to kick
Oreo off of him. But Oreo is so much bigger, with just 1 paw, he swatted Rascal
down and cleans him some more. Well, it's been 4 wks since we got Rascal and
they all get alone great. They clean and groom each other and share the food
dish and litter box. The only problem we have is that Orea and Tiger are
teaching Rascal all the wrong things :-) like getting into the trash can,
jumping up the counters while we are making dinner and drinking out of the
kitchen sink. But with a squirt of water Rascal takes off like a lightning bolt.
The other 2 kitties are affraid of the squirt bottle, but doesn't take off like
Rascal, it's funny. 

    Andrea...congrats on your new kitty!!!   
    
    I'm sure the new one is just nervous and he is acting that way
    because he feels a need to pretend he is more aggresive then he is.
    I do believe with time he will learn that your other two cats are 
    not there to hurt him and he will calm down.   I wouldn't squirt 
    him or get involved when he is hissing/spitting. I would try to 
    find times where you can get them closer..maybe at food time or 
    play time or catnip time!!!
    
    As far as naming.....I'll have to think on that one!!  I have three
    orange/white kitties named Rio, Dewey, and Briggs and none of those
    names have anything to do with being orange.  
    Sandy 

    Deja vu!  This is just something you have to relax about and live
    through.  Give resident kitties lots of love and hugs and when they
    aren't around, the new kitty as well.  Don't scold residents, they
    are only defending their turf from an invader, which would be their
    job in the wild after all.  Your anxiety about the situation could
    be making them even more aggressive.  Also, if possible feed them
    apart, our Charlie only attacks Nikko when Charlie's hungry.
    
    Best of luck and hang in there.
    
    

Congrats... in the new kitty stakes it's just got to be sit
down with them and play, distract newbie from his macho 
posturing by giving him something else to do... 

I must confess to cheating and getting all three 
wrecked on catnip when Knuffs was added, but you do 
run the risk they'll get mad and excited instead of 
stoned and doped up and chase each other more. 

Orange related names?

Satsuma

Tangerine

Clementine

a suggestion from the N's again... 
Neroli (orange blossom - which I believe is white 
so it may suit - white and  orange in one name)

In fact if someone doesn't use it soon I'm just going
to have to find myself an orange cat :-)

I try to let my guys chose their own names, 
just saying ones I like or variants on them and seeing 
what seems to suit their behaviour best or which           
they respond to. 

Jo. 

    
    It's always taken about a week for everyone to calm down after a new 
    resident joins my household.  I've had both fighting and hiding and
    what have you.  Congratulations on your new boy!
    
    I'd call him Mikan.  That's some sort of Japanese tangerine type fruit.
    

    you can confuse everyone's sence of smell by combing themwith a lanolin
    grooming spray sprayed on the comb. ALdo, it might be good to bring the
    new cat over to all the other cats and let them get a good sniff of the
    new cat's hind quarters. Then bring each current cat to the new guy and
    let him sniff everyone's hind quarters. (usually the fighing starts
    when someone is trying to sniff the other one).
    
    Deb

    I named one of my feral orange and white cats "Bobcat" (Bob for short)
    because the entire time he's following me to the food bowl he's hissing
    at me.  Must be a redhead thing.
    
    Jan

       <<< Note 1068.7 by JULIET::CORDES_JA "Eight Tigers on My Couch" >>>

    >>>  Must be a redhead thing.
    
    Jan

	 Excuse me ... ;-)


	Red - Snoozer's humanoid

         Thanks for all the suggestions and congratulations!
    
         I'm happy to say that Patches (hubby named him ;^) ) is doing just
    fine 8-) .  He's adjusted to the house and the other two kitties, and
    they are adjusting to him.  He is no longer using the h* and g* words
    ;^) , although Midnight hissed at him when he got too close, and Loki
    growled at him for the same reason :^) .  Overall the adjustment is
    going very smoothly.
    
         I've never seen such a laid-back, loving kitty.  This kitty craves
    affection, but he isn't too pushy about it.  He's already learned to
    sleep on the bed (we chose a spot for him, which he's sticking to, so
    that there is plenty of room for the others.  He wore himself out
    yesterday playing by himself, and it was so much fun to watch.
    
         Midnight is still a little jealous, but Loki seems to be perking
    up a bit.  Such progress in only 5 days!
    
         I think we're going to have a happy family again very soon!
    
    					- Andrea
    					  Loki, Midnight and Patches
    					  (it feels nice to have 3 names!)

    I'd call him Stymie.
    I don't know why but I think this is a hillarious cat name.
    
    we recently introduced buster to the other 2 cats.  Lots of hissing and
    running away from each other, the 2 originals even seem to turn against
    each other during that time.  Ah well, the way they all sleep
    together now you'd swear they all grew up together.
    
    
    keith

    .9
    
    Ohhh! This sounds bad.  New kitty not pushy...how long will that last.
    As soon as he finds his feet that will probably change and he will
    be elbowing in with the rest, getting you up, nagging you to getting 
    their food, not allowing you to reading the newspaper.
    
    So glad Patches is making it into the group so well.
    
    

         Boy, what a scare this morning!
    
         None of my cats have ever shown a desire to be outside, and
    neither did Patches.  Ha!
    
         This morning as I came back inside from the barn, I opened the
    slider (there were no kitties in sight), put the buckets in the house
    and started to enter.  Out flies Patches onto the deck!
    
         Heart stops.  I have this desire to yell or bang something (but I
    know that's only going to make it worse).  In slow motion (it felt to
    me, but I know I did it pretty quick), I slid closed the slider (so no
    one else decided to go out), crouch-walked to Patches who was on the
    edge of the deck, got his attention and grabbed him!  Then I tossed him
    (gently) back into the house and gave him a stern lecture.
    
         Wow, was this kitty fast!  I think he was chasing a toy and just
    bolted out the slider.  The only good thing is the 33" (okay, so it's
    probably closer to 18" now with the melt ;^) ) of snow; he stopped at
    the edge of the deck.  If there had been no snow, I'm sure he would
    have rocketted off the deck.  He doesn't really know his name yet, and
    doesn't always come when he's called.  I could see disaster!
    
         It took about a half an hour before I stopped shaking.   He does
    have a collar/tag, and is pretty good about not taking it off, but boy
    I sure didn't want to chance it (all my kitties are indoor only).  I
    guess I've been too complacent with my older, well-trained kitties ;^)
    .
    
         I'm going to have to carry a squirt bottle with me when I go
    outside, now.  He reacts really well to the squirt bottle ;^) - a few
    shots and the message should get through .... I hope!
    
    					- Andrea
    					  Loki ("Huh, where'd he go?"),
    					  Midnight ("Little whippersnapper!")
    					  & Patches ("What's this white stuff?")

Funny,  my cats are indoor cats too, although they used to go out.  We let
Buki out onto the front porch with us (not enclosed) Monday.  He couldn't wait 
to get back in.  I just love the little dance they do when their paws touch the
cold snow, wicked funny!!

Laura

    I guess that all that useless snow was actually good for something!
    
    Deb (who was having a heart attack for you while reading this)

    It must be the time of year or something :-)  Blackie almost
    did this to me a day or two ago.  I've "trained" (yeah, right :-)
    the cats to back off from the door when I'm coming in by making
    a fearsome racket (dunno what the neighbors think) of door rattling
    and thumping and I got complacent.
    

         The speed of this little Patches is what amazes me, as well as his
    energy level.  Yes, I should expect this, since he's only 9 months old,
    he's still a kitten.  I guess I've just been too spoiled with "mature"
    kitties.
    
         If Bigfoot (RIP), Loki or Midnight had gotten out, I know I could
    catch them.  They generally come when they're called, and even if they
    don't, they're not that speedy.  But this little guy can run circles
    around me - that's what I was scared of, that I couldn't catch the
    little bugger, especially on snow.  That was proven to me on Tuesday
    when I let the ducks out after the snow, then tried to get them to
    "bed" back in their barn.  There I was, sludging and trudging and
    sinking through the snow, and there they were, on *top* of it, dancing
    circles around me!
    
         				- Andrea
    					  Loki, Midnight & Patches

    When we lived in an appartment building, we (my wife) used to take
    Tigger for walks down to the laundry room.
    
    One day I'm in the living room and hear this noise outside the
    appartment door. Open the door and Tigger walks in. Neither of us know
    when or how he got out, but when he was done with his adventure, he
    came back and scratched on the door to get in.
    
    Then one summer day my wife comes around the side of the house from the
    garden and into the garage. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a
    big black cat laying in the driveway. Then you have that quick
    succession of thoughts the first one being...gee, that looks just like
    Orphie. The next being THAT IS ORPHIE. He had gotten out the door
    between the cellar and the garage and was just laying out there
    catching rays.
    
    He got out at night one time too and we thought he was gone for good.
    He took off after the neighbors cat into the woods behind the house.
    After about a half hour of combing the neighbor hood with flashlights
    and making stupid human cat calling sounds, we found him AND the
    neighbor cat laying in the middle of the rock garden watching us loose
    our minds.

    Been there done that too..my cat is declawed, usually strictly indoors. 
    When we lived in a mobile home, she used to sit in all the windows,
    race from window to window when a cat would walk through the yard..you
    know the typical feline thing. Well, one day, one fine summer day, the
    little girl down the street decided that the cat meowing was too much
    and she must want to come out, so she jimmied the window open and let
    the cat out, good thing my neighbor was close by and put the screen
    back on and scolded the girl for doing that but Harley got the fever.
    about a week later, I'm driving up the street and I see this cat, with
    a look of horror looking at my truck, just sunning herself in the yard
    thinking...gee, that looks like harley...I get in the house, the cat
    walks up to me in the kitchen I think nothing of this..well, it
    happened again the next day then the weekend came. We were bbq'ing and
    I thought, gee, there's that cat again, my husband says..."what's the
    cat doing outside..", I thought it is harley, so I figured, we're
    bbq'ing she snuck out...so I put her back in the house...20 minutes
    later, there she is again, by now we've had a couple of glasses of wine
    so I'm thinking, we need to be more careful, good thing we don't have
    small children around...so i through her back indoors, this time I
    followed her.........................she tore the screen out of one of
    the windows I left open constantly and was coming and going at will. So
    when I though I was losing my mind...it was the pesky feline up to her
    old tricks...                                    

    My lot are outdoor/indoor cats.  The ladies don't go outside of the
    grassy area inside the trees, except Cho Cho--biker cat.  Cho Cho
    has a social life of her own that I know nothing of.  The boys don't go
    outside of the yard much, except across the road to the lake.
    
    However, sometimes Lady Elizabeth decides to yank my chain and
    threatens to go across the road.  She sits beside the road and says
    "I'm going to go across, you'd better try and stop me.  I'm going now."
    After a whole summer of going crazy trying to stop her and catch her I
    started walking away.  When Lady didn't have an audience she gave up,
    turned around and walked back to safety. 
    
    I swear they love to scare me.