kard mkr : October 2015

We've had Twitch several weeks now and it seems like he's always been here. He's very sweet most of the time considering he's spent so much of his life at the no kill shelter and doesn't have a lot of one on one time with people so he's clumsy and sometimes annoyed with us. We're still learning his rhythms. He's so much more curious than our other two. Sassy and Sadie have NEVER been seen on the tables or counters. They like their window seats but they've never been where they're not supposed to be. Twitch, is on everything, in everything. Open a door, bam, he's there. He wants in the cabinets, the closets, the fridge. He loves to watch the water run in the sinks and is fascinated by a flushing toilet. He sleeps with us every night and even likes to get under the feather duvet. We've never had cats sleep with us before, so that's new for us. It's hard to turn over at night without rolling over him.

The dynamics in the house have changed. Sadie used to live in our bedroom, coming out to go into the cat house, eat and use the litter box. Now she lives in the spare bedroom and rarely ventures out. We've added a litter box and her dry food with a water bowl. Carl takes her wet food there in the morning because she's still taking her pill. He's cut that down to 1 every 3 days and this morning she actually purred for me. She really doesn't do that much. We'd much rather see her traveling the house and interacting more with the other two but whatever makes her comfortable is ok with us.

Sassy actually spends more time searching for, running away from and being close to Twitch. They play chase and I've even seen them bat at each other and not in a mean way. Twitch loves to play and so does Sassy so eventually they may even become friends. They do not sleep together. Sassy has been really good about using her litter box with the puppy pads as long as we are diligent about keeping it clean. In fact, after we clean it she can't wait to use it so usually we have to clean it twice in the morning. We've added a new litter box to the laundry room for Twitch so we're actually up to seven boxes although not all are used everyday. We've had the carpets cleaned and blocked off the living room so she can't get to her favorite spots to poop. As long as the gate is up, she's good with her litter box. Twitch can jump the gate but he's got a litter box in the living room which he uses on occasion. We're hoping sometime soon we can remove that box and the one in the dining room for good but we'll still leave the gate up until we feel Sassy has lost her fixation with the living room. Eventually we hope to be down to 2 in the laundry room, 1 in the basement and 1 in the spare bedroom (the rule is 1 more box than cats).

We took Twitch to the vet yesterday. He was due for shots in early November but he's got some hair loss around his nose and up by his eyes. He's so pretty, it's distracting and we didn't know if it would get worse. Twitch does not like shots. It took 3 of us to hold him. He's 9lbs, 8oz and long and lean. I called him 'sissy pants' all the way home. Sassy just lays there for shots, Twitch not so much. The vet examined his ears and face and prescribed an antibiotic for both. We need to squirt stuff in his ears twice a day and massage them to take care of the mites. He doesn't like it. The antibiotic is liquid and he needs it once a day. I'm doing ears (for seven days) and Carl is doing his antibiotic for twenty days. If there is no improvement in the hair loss the next step would be to anesthetize him and scrap the skin so they can tell just what's happening with him.

Last night we were having a family dinner so all of us were at the dining room table eating chili when Twitch nonchalantly jumps up on the table between my daughter and SIL - just like he belonged there. Luckily, when we put him down on the floor he doesn't try again. Maybe in time he will learn 'that's not his space'.

That's the update. I'll post again soon.