Maybe tempting fate here...

[telophase]

We have been trialling a new cat.

We weren't going to get another cat, assuming that Sora really, really wanted to be an only cat, but his behavior of late has led us to believe that he's actually bored and lonely. And given that we're going to be on a long vacation later this year, we wanted to give him and any other cat we might try a good long time to sort things out before we left them with the petsitter. I contacted my coworker who does cat rescue, tentatively saying "We think we might want to try another cat.." and she immediately went I HAVE A CAT FOR YOU WHY DON'T YOU COME CHECK HER OUT THIS WEEKEND.

So we did, and we ended up taking her home to try out.



She has no name yet, because we're still not 100% sure that the situation going to be okay with Sora, although we are, at this stage, cautiously optimistic.

The Cat With No Name...well, ok, my coworker called her Volt because TCWNN secretly hitched a ride in the engine compartment of their Chevy Volt, and then made herself known that evening in their garage by crawling out and YELLING HER HEAD OFF. Of all possible people to hitch a ride with she picked the best, given that said coworker rescues cats and knows lots of foster people. Anyway, so she was checked out by a vet and fostered with someone else, and was just put up for adoption when we showed up.

TCWNN is a torbie--her coat is half-tortoiseshell/half-tabby. Her attitude is all tortie. Tortie-tude, they call it. She is opinionated and is not shy about letting you know.

We have sequestered her in the spare room and bathroom for the time being, going in there several times a day to play with her for the last week, and have just started letting her out into the larger house for supervised visits. We're also trying to get her bonded more to myrialux than to me, on the theory that Sora will feel less threatened since he's bonded so closely to me, so he feeds her and gives her treats and plays more with her.

Here she is, sitting next to myrialux. Her purr is six times her size and sounds like an off-balance fan.


Here's a good image that's pretty close to her actual coat color. The stick with a string in the foreground is her favorite toy. It's got feathers on the end...fewer feathers now than a week ago, as she's already managed to pull the longer ones off. She also loves playing on that specific rug. If you put the feather bit up on the couch, or on the blue tub in the picture (it holds up a camera we use to keep an eye on her), or on the floor, she will come get it and carry it over to the rug, then sit down and stare at you, clearly saying "No, we play with it over HERE." What was that about tortie-tude?



This is a cam shot showing where she likes to sleep, up on the cat furniture next to a window where she can sunbathe or watch the outside world. (Not that she can see much beside the neighbor's house, but I'm sure birds occasionally perch on the scrubby foliage that we mostly neglect out there.)



This shows (a) the baby gates we have piled in front of the door to the spare bedroom and (b) Sora's opinion.



Another shot of her.



Sora was showing nervous curiosity towards her the times we opened the door but kept the room closed off with the gates. (This is before she realized she could climb them.) At this point, no hissing, no growling.



One of her first visits outside. Sora either stays in our bedroom on the bed, huddled up, or comes out into the house and stays on the other side of the room from her. They have exchanged sniffs a few times, and he hisses at her, but no growling and no actual fighting so we remain Cautiously Optimistic. We're still not letting her out overnight or while we're not there, so we can separate them if things get out of hand.



She's alert in this one because the dishwasher made a noise.



And a final couple pictures of Sora, who I am making sure to give extra love and scritching to, in these dark days of trial and tribulation for him.



Yes, he holds my hand like that. He loves having his chest scratched, but he's also nervous about hands near his belly, so he likes to be in control of where your hand is.

Comments

[telophase]

They put a birth date estimate of May in her paperwork, so 8-9 months. She's still got kitten energy, but some adult gravitas coming through every so often, so a teenager pretty much. She's also about half Sora's size (he's 13 pounds and change). We haven't weighed her yet, but she's obviously got some more growing to do.

Nice to know about the rug! Sora hates shag rugs and most bathmats, so there should hopefully be no argument over it. Sora's office--what we call the closet he likes to hide in when stressed or ill--is in the spare room, but we keep its door closed so it doesn't get too much of her scent in it.

I'm mostly nervous about what's going to happen when we leave her out overnight the first few times. If the supervised visits seem to be going well for the next couple of days, we might try leaving her out overnight this weekend when we don't have to go to work, so we won't have too much of our sleep disturbed if we have to get up and separate them.

[jenett]

Those are lovely catten photos, all of them!

(Astra will come and drape her front paws over my arm, which is - hard on the typing, and also adorable.)

I hope it goes well with them. TCWNN is lovely.

[telophase]

Thank you! :)

[umadoshi]

Kitty! I hope it works out--she sounds like a darling.

[telophase]

She's definitely a sweetie. Opinionated as all get-out, but a sweetie. XD

[rachelmanija]

Aww, what a darling! I hope it works out.

[telophase]

She is mostly unperturbed by Sora except for bottle-brushing her tail occasionally, but no hissing or anything. Fingers crossed!

[yhlee]

Aww, catten! Fingers crossed for all of y'all.

[telophase]

myrialux calls her "catten" thank to your Twitter feed! XD

[rilina]

She is adorable!

[telophase]

That she is! XD

[adafrog]

Wow, go you with the introduction.
Also, awwww..kitties. I like that he wants to be in control of where your hand is.