Day 69

Hi, just a quick update.

Indy continues to do well.  She gets along with everyone just fine.  She loves Thumper, they play all the time.  Indy plays with Raisin and Ginger when they are all super hyper running around, but they don't have much contact otherwise.  All creatures large and small continue to avoid Puff.

Only one thing left to tackle, and thats nail clipping.  She does NOT like us clipping her nails at all.  She likes to be held, carried around, pet etc - but try to clip those nails and she goes crazy, growls, squirms like she's on fire, almost looks like she's ready to fight back.  So we're continuing to ease into it.

She is so gentle when she plays that she doesn't bother us with the sharp claws, I'm just worried she's going to scratch Thumper when they play.  Indy jumps all over Thumper like she's a stuffed animal.


Raisinette and Indy

Indy says to Thumper, I MISSED YOU SO MUCH GIMME A HUG

Puff and Indy having a stare-down over who's turn it is to play with the track-ball.  Puff didn't really want to play, he was just tired of all the noise!

Thumper, Ginger, Puff and Indy

 Indy

 :)

Day 49

Socialization complete - Indy can no longer be considered feral.  I now refer to her as my ex-feral kitten :)

For the last week she has been free full time, not locked up at all, even while we are at work.  No issues, no problems.

She is still a lap cat.  Unless she is super hyper, any time you sit on the floor she will crawl in your lap.  Also, if you wake her up from sleeping any time or anywhere, she follows you purring until you pick her up or sit down so she can get in your lap.  She loves to be held and carried around, unless she is hyper/playing.

Indy is fully integrated with the rest of the cats too.  She absolutely adores Thumper and loves to rub against her, and play with her.  She even jumps on Thumper like she's a big stuffed animal.  Thumper tolerates it well, rarely any push back.

Ginger does start minor trouble from time to time, but she has always done that to the other cats too (except Puff) - just her way of showing everyone who the queen of the house is.  Surprisingly, of all the cats - Indy stands up to Ginger the most.  I foresee Indy and Ginger competing for queen of the house when Indy's a littler older.

Raisinette stays away from Indy for the most part, except when they are both in hyper-active mode playing and then chase each other around.  Raisin is the only cat fast enough to keep up with Indy. 

Indy, as with the rest of the cats (and most humans) continue to avoid Puff at all costs.

The ONLY thing requiring a bit more work than expected is clipping her nails.  She is scared to death of the clippers and even growled at us while we did it last time.  We will work on that by playing with her paws more when she's in our lap or being held and showing her the nail clippers more often without clipping her nails, etc.


Here's Indy playing with Thumper's tail and about to get a paw upside the head for it.  Thumper's paw is raised in mid-strike

 

 Indy and Ginger playing roley poley

 Thumper and Indy on the cat tree

 My ex-feral kitten :)

Day 36

Indy now has free access to the house except when we are sleeping, or gone.  We lock her up over night and while we're at work.  Probably one more week of that.  But during the evening and all weekend long she has access to the house.

No issues with any of the other cats.  She plays and chases Ginger and Thumper and they play back and chase her and all seem to be having fun.  She doesn't play with Raisinette, but no more hissing/growling it seems between them.  They can be near each other without problem as long as Indy doesn't touch Raisin.

Indy continues to keep her distance from Puff, which is probably a good idea.  Puff doesn't go near her, and he doesn't seem to mind her as long as she doesn't approach him.  She can walk past, just not to close, and no more hissing or growling.


 Raisin and Indy playing with the Friskies iPad app

Indy and Thumper taking a turn on the iPad

 

Thumper, Puff and Ginger on one of the cat trees, Indy waiting for an opening...

Finally got a spot!

Day 32

We continue to let Indy out for small periods of time, supervised. Usually about an hour or two at a time, then we lock her back up to think about her adventures.

The two youngest of my cats, both 4 year old Maine Coons and big kittens themselves rush right in when the door is opened. They have almost fully accepted Indy and play with her and/or ignore her.  But they are not mean to her.  Indy even chases Thumper around a little.  Ginger took some time to come around and was constantly hissing and growling slightly for the first two days but that seems to have passed.

My other two cats are taking a bit longer.  Raisinette, a 5 year old cat we adopted from the shelter 3 years ago will not go near Indy, and when she does she will hiss and growl and run away.  Raisin and Ginger compete for 2nd place in the pecking order.  Thumper is last.

And then there is Puff.  He is old and grumpy.  As long as Indy stays away, they get along just fine.  If she gets close, he will snap at her.  She knows this and keeps her distance.  Indy is infinitely faster then Puff, so she has nothing to worry about if she stays away.


Ginger and Indy playing.

Indy and Thumper playing, with Ginger watching.

Indy learning the hard way to keep her distance from Puff.  She was a quick learner though.  He is old and slow and she knows it, so she stays away and they get along fine. 

Day 29

Today we opened the door again for Indy to come out and explore, except we only locked up 3 of our 4 cats.  We left Thumper out to meet Indy.  In the pecking order of our 4 cats, Thumper would be the bottom of that order.  She's just a big kitten herself, only 4 years old.

Instead of Indy coming out, Thumper surprised us and rushed right in.  Indy was thrilled!  After Indy lost her mother, she tried so hard to be accepted by the other outdoor (feral) cats.  They rejected her and were very mean to her.  So Indy used to stare at Thumper through the window before we trapped her.

Thumper and Indy sniffed noses right away, and then Thumper walked around sniffing the room with Indy following her, chirping happily.

The even played together for about 5 minutes, before Indy starting getting into hyper-active mode so we took Thumper out and closed the door.

Day 28

Not much has been happening in the last week.  Indy has been quietly recovering from her spaying.  No toys, no cat tree, nothing in that room all week.  She's really been bored and really interested in getting out.

So today, Saturday, we locked up the other 4 cats in the bedroom on the other end of the house - and we opened the door to let her explore.

She was not so brave at first with the door wide open.  Just relaxing in her room.  After a while she built up enough confidence to come out, explore the hallway and the kitchen.  When she'd get scared, she'd run back to her room.   We let this go on for about 1.5 hours. Then we had to pet her back and close the door so we cold let the rest of the cats out.

Day 21

Picked up Indy yesterday, she got a perfect bill of health.  Blood tested for everything under the sun, all good.  No worms.  Spay went well, she behaved well.  She got all her shots and stuff.  She was in heat already at 14/15 weeks old!  Glad we got her when we did!

She was very very scared again when she first came home.  I was worried we were going to undo all the progress we made in the last 2 weeks.  She had an e-collar on at first, but wouldn't keep it on without going crazy.  She was going to do more damage to herself fighting that collar then anything else.

Here she with the collar.  She couldn't even lay down or lick her paws.  That's a battery powered lantern for night visits next to her.

We took the e-collar off and she was much better right away.  Even back into our laps and purring.  We monitored her all day and all night to make sure she wasn't licking/messing with her stitches.

This morning when we went in there, looks like she did manage to get one of her stitches out.... but everything looks fine.  I picked up some Bitter Apple Spray for Cats made to stop cats from licking wounds and that stopped her completely from messing with it.

No damage to the relationship - she's back into our laps full time for petting/purring.  

Just need to wait 10-12 days for her to heal up, get the remaining stitches removed and time to introduce her to the rest of the cats and rest of the house.  Can't wait!