First Contact and Negotiations Begin
When we left off, it was Saturday night, the last night of Chanuka, and I had just brought Pecan Pie home and set her up in the bathroom for the night with beds and plenty of toys, and she was a happy kitten with a constant motor boat purr, though she'd try to walk out every time I came to the bathroom during the night.
Since the upstairs bathroom was small, and I didn't want her stuck in there when I took a shower, I put her in my bedroom during the day with more toys. I just couldn't keep her in the bedroom at night because I didn't want to shut out Tuxie, since he sometimes came to bed with me and I wanted to avoid causing whatever resentment I could. So that all worked out and then there were several calls and emails on Sunday to the rescue to set up getting new antibiotics for Shuri to replace the bottle I threw out in the bag she peed in.
Now I had 3 cats in separate places to divide time with. Purry now had the run of the house, along with Tuxie and no blood had been shed, and the likelihood of that happening was dropping so that was great. The downstairs bathroom was still her base and she spent most time in there, with play runs in the living room.
When I emailed my cousin and brother I was deciding on whether to name the kitten Shuri or Iskierka (Iska Kitty), they both stated a preference for Shuri, and I saw the benefit of the easier name being her first name, so Shuri it was.
So it was time to introduce Shuri to Purry and see if they'd get along and be the companion they each needed. I shut Purrsimmon back in the downstairs bathroom that was still her safe space and toy filled, and brought in Shuri. Shuri immediately started playing with all these wonderful new toys.
Purry watched her with interest.
They touched noses, but Purry immediately hissed. And her hissing and growling continued as the session went on. So after 10 or 15 minutes I picked up Shuri and took her back up to my bedroom. This was only the first meeting and not necessarily a failure--at least Purry had not attacked Shuri. But it wasn't the most auspicious meeting, and we'd just have to see what time would tell.
After spending a little while with Shuri so she could have some play time without anyone hissing at her, I went downstairs to check on Purry, who was still in the bathroom. And boy, she gave me a piece of her mind. She was angry and offended, and you have not been told off until a tiny cat angry-yodels at you. It totally was an angry yodel! "Woel-Woel-Woel-Woel-Woelll!!!" I was sure told. It was funny as hell, and I had a hard time not laughing at her. We made up.
But again, not an auspicious start. Perhaps I could count the fact that Purry was never one to hesitate speaking her mind to me a good thing, even her first terrified evening here, and that would help us work things out in time.
The problem was that we didn't have much time and I felt the pressure acutely. It's not hard to find a choice of homes for a siamese kitten--everyone wants a cute little kitten. For instance, here's the pics of Pecan Pie aka Shuri the rescue had up at petfinder:
This was the front page profile pic of her. LOL!!! I do not think it is a flattering pic, but it is adorable if crazed. Her nose is long if you look at her from above and she looks almost like a wedge-head meezer, but from other angles she has a very round apple-head face. Both she and Purry have such different faces from differing angles. Then if you clicked her entry on petfinder, you would see her other pics:
I would have made this her profile pic if I were trying to find her a home. So little and cute! I bet it was her first pic since it looks like she is in a holding cell.
This must be at her foster's house. Look at her little splayed toesies!!!!!
I think this is also at her foster's house.
So that's Shuri when she was only between 2 and 3 months old. By 6 months a kitten isn't looking quite as kitteny a little furball anymore--they get more lean and lanky and start looking like young cats. So there's only a couple of months after a kitten is weaned for optimum homing when they are most in demand by people looking to adopt. And if things did not work out between Purry and Shuri and I had to rehome Shuri, every week I took to patiently work with them to give them time to bond was time I would be stealing an optimum home from Shuri if I had to give her away. So we couldn't take our time with this trying out different tactics. The clock was ticking.
And Shuri was just so completely adorable and it would take a very hard person not to fall in love with her immediately, so I'd know I was doing her wrong on top of my broken heart if it didn't work out. And Ithis wonderful girl would not get the home she deserved because of me. And if I decided to solve things by getting yet a 4th kitty, I would need one who would bond with both Shuri and Purry since they were both in need of a playmate. And 4 kitties is getting into stretching my budget too far and a little too much litter box cleaning time, besides 5 cats being the limit for the coop I belong to, and me wanting to save those slots for kitties several years from now. Tuxie looked like he could deal with distantly tolerant coexistence at this point and that was working OK for him, if not optimum.
But Purry really needed a cat she could bond with, and it's a disservice to a kitten to raise them without a playmate. Needless to say, as wonderful as it was to have these new cats, my beautiful, sweet, troubled mountain girl and the most adorable kitten in the whole wide world, my anxiety was going through the roof for how this would work out. And I was pretty worn out at this point. The rescuers took a pic of me with Shuri before I left the Petsmart, and you can see how exhausted my eyes look, but Shuri shines in her absolutie adorableness as the movie star she is--looooooook at her:
Monday I had to drive up to Perry Hall, almost to Bel Air, north of Baltimore to get Shuri's meds, so that made the third long drive and back in a week, which didn't help. But the vet tech there said I didn't have to keep Shuri isolated, like the rescuers said, so that was a relief. I felt so bad keeping her cooped up, so I was glad I didn't have to do that for 10 days. So I took a little time in the evening to bring Shuri in with Purry for a second session. It went about the same as the first. No, bloodshed, which was very good, but Purry was not relenting at all, though Shuri tried to make contact.
Purry was still full of hisses and growls, if slightly less intense. And afterwards, I was once again angry-yodeled at by Purry, though a little less intense an angry-yodel. Sigh.
The next day would be New Year's Eve. I was worried and I was feeling bad shutting up Shuri still and running back and forth between cats and was considering letting Shuri rip tomorrow, and my friend P who raises Egyptian Mau cats and who I had been texting about these happenings concurred I should give her the run of the house and see what happens. So that was the plan for New Year's Eve . . .
Since the upstairs bathroom was small, and I didn't want her stuck in there when I took a shower, I put her in my bedroom during the day with more toys. I just couldn't keep her in the bedroom at night because I didn't want to shut out Tuxie, since he sometimes came to bed with me and I wanted to avoid causing whatever resentment I could. So that all worked out and then there were several calls and emails on Sunday to the rescue to set up getting new antibiotics for Shuri to replace the bottle I threw out in the bag she peed in.
Now I had 3 cats in separate places to divide time with. Purry now had the run of the house, along with Tuxie and no blood had been shed, and the likelihood of that happening was dropping so that was great. The downstairs bathroom was still her base and she spent most time in there, with play runs in the living room.
When I emailed my cousin and brother I was deciding on whether to name the kitten Shuri or Iskierka (Iska Kitty), they both stated a preference for Shuri, and I saw the benefit of the easier name being her first name, so Shuri it was.
So it was time to introduce Shuri to Purry and see if they'd get along and be the companion they each needed. I shut Purrsimmon back in the downstairs bathroom that was still her safe space and toy filled, and brought in Shuri. Shuri immediately started playing with all these wonderful new toys.
Purry watched her with interest.
They touched noses, but Purry immediately hissed. And her hissing and growling continued as the session went on. So after 10 or 15 minutes I picked up Shuri and took her back up to my bedroom. This was only the first meeting and not necessarily a failure--at least Purry had not attacked Shuri. But it wasn't the most auspicious meeting, and we'd just have to see what time would tell.
After spending a little while with Shuri so she could have some play time without anyone hissing at her, I went downstairs to check on Purry, who was still in the bathroom. And boy, she gave me a piece of her mind. She was angry and offended, and you have not been told off until a tiny cat angry-yodels at you. It totally was an angry yodel! "Woel-Woel-Woel-Woel-Woelll!!!" I was sure told. It was funny as hell, and I had a hard time not laughing at her. We made up.
But again, not an auspicious start. Perhaps I could count the fact that Purry was never one to hesitate speaking her mind to me a good thing, even her first terrified evening here, and that would help us work things out in time.
The problem was that we didn't have much time and I felt the pressure acutely. It's not hard to find a choice of homes for a siamese kitten--everyone wants a cute little kitten. For instance, here's the pics of Pecan Pie aka Shuri the rescue had up at petfinder:
This was the front page profile pic of her. LOL!!! I do not think it is a flattering pic, but it is adorable if crazed. Her nose is long if you look at her from above and she looks almost like a wedge-head meezer, but from other angles she has a very round apple-head face. Both she and Purry have such different faces from differing angles. Then if you clicked her entry on petfinder, you would see her other pics:
I would have made this her profile pic if I were trying to find her a home. So little and cute! I bet it was her first pic since it looks like she is in a holding cell.
This must be at her foster's house. Look at her little splayed toesies!!!!!
I think this is also at her foster's house.
So that's Shuri when she was only between 2 and 3 months old. By 6 months a kitten isn't looking quite as kitteny a little furball anymore--they get more lean and lanky and start looking like young cats. So there's only a couple of months after a kitten is weaned for optimum homing when they are most in demand by people looking to adopt. And if things did not work out between Purry and Shuri and I had to rehome Shuri, every week I took to patiently work with them to give them time to bond was time I would be stealing an optimum home from Shuri if I had to give her away. So we couldn't take our time with this trying out different tactics. The clock was ticking.
And Shuri was just so completely adorable and it would take a very hard person not to fall in love with her immediately, so I'd know I was doing her wrong on top of my broken heart if it didn't work out. And Ithis wonderful girl would not get the home she deserved because of me. And if I decided to solve things by getting yet a 4th kitty, I would need one who would bond with both Shuri and Purry since they were both in need of a playmate. And 4 kitties is getting into stretching my budget too far and a little too much litter box cleaning time, besides 5 cats being the limit for the coop I belong to, and me wanting to save those slots for kitties several years from now. Tuxie looked like he could deal with distantly tolerant coexistence at this point and that was working OK for him, if not optimum.
But Purry really needed a cat she could bond with, and it's a disservice to a kitten to raise them without a playmate. Needless to say, as wonderful as it was to have these new cats, my beautiful, sweet, troubled mountain girl and the most adorable kitten in the whole wide world, my anxiety was going through the roof for how this would work out. And I was pretty worn out at this point. The rescuers took a pic of me with Shuri before I left the Petsmart, and you can see how exhausted my eyes look, but Shuri shines in her absolutie adorableness as the movie star she is--looooooook at her:
Monday I had to drive up to Perry Hall, almost to Bel Air, north of Baltimore to get Shuri's meds, so that made the third long drive and back in a week, which didn't help. But the vet tech there said I didn't have to keep Shuri isolated, like the rescuers said, so that was a relief. I felt so bad keeping her cooped up, so I was glad I didn't have to do that for 10 days. So I took a little time in the evening to bring Shuri in with Purry for a second session. It went about the same as the first. No, bloodshed, which was very good, but Purry was not relenting at all, though Shuri tried to make contact.
Purry was still full of hisses and growls, if slightly less intense. And afterwards, I was once again angry-yodeled at by Purry, though a little less intense an angry-yodel. Sigh.
The next day would be New Year's Eve. I was worried and I was feeling bad shutting up Shuri still and running back and forth between cats and was considering letting Shuri rip tomorrow, and my friend P who raises Egyptian Mau cats and who I had been texting about these happenings concurred I should give her the run of the house and see what happens. So that was the plan for New Year's Eve . . .