Time does march on.
The Niblet, at last checkup, was at 8 months old and 14 lbs. For comparison: his first day with us at 15 oz. and last month:
He spends the entirety of his days out with the older cats, pestering them relentlessly. He is fully aware that he can use his greater body mass to tackle and pin the others and does so until their hisses, growls and swats dissuade him temporarily or they run off.
He still spends the night in his cage complex, which has been something of a sticking point. He wants to sleep there. It's his den, his safe space. He'll nap outside the cage, but only fully relaxes and sleeps deeply when he's closed inside. In fact, he has taken to "asking" to be put to bed. He gets fractious and starts grabbing my arm (or being pesky to the other cats); I ask him if he needs to go to bed, and he runs over to his open cage door. He gets a small bedtime nibble as positive reinforcement (suggested by the vet), then has a bite of kibble, a drink of water, and ten minutes later is out cold.
He can't quite bring himself to go in voluntarily no matter how much he wants to - he needs the bribe and the ritual shutting of the door as I tell him Good Night. If I'm distracted, he'll "ask" repeatedly to go to bed, grabbing at me and then running to the door several times until I get it. He just won't take that final step on his own. We're currently at an impasse about it. The next step will probably be to remove parts of the cage one by one and get him used to a smaller den so we can eventually transition him to sleeping outside of it for good.
He's also quite the talker - trills, gurgles, yowls, murmurs and impressive snarls when he gets mad or startled. He's started head-butting legs for affection, but it's a lot more like an enthusiastic soccer player than a gentle rub. We call him the bulldozer.
He spends the entirety of his days out with the older cats, pestering them relentlessly. He is fully aware that he can use his greater body mass to tackle and pin the others and does so until their hisses, growls and swats dissuade him temporarily or they run off.
He still spends the night in his cage complex, which has been something of a sticking point. He wants to sleep there. It's his den, his safe space. He'll nap outside the cage, but only fully relaxes and sleeps deeply when he's closed inside. In fact, he has taken to "asking" to be put to bed. He gets fractious and starts grabbing my arm (or being pesky to the other cats); I ask him if he needs to go to bed, and he runs over to his open cage door. He gets a small bedtime nibble as positive reinforcement (suggested by the vet), then has a bite of kibble, a drink of water, and ten minutes later is out cold.
He can't quite bring himself to go in voluntarily no matter how much he wants to - he needs the bribe and the ritual shutting of the door as I tell him Good Night. If I'm distracted, he'll "ask" repeatedly to go to bed, grabbing at me and then running to the door several times until I get it. He just won't take that final step on his own. We're currently at an impasse about it. The next step will probably be to remove parts of the cage one by one and get him used to a smaller den so we can eventually transition him to sleeping outside of it for good.
He's also quite the talker - trills, gurgles, yowls, murmurs and impressive snarls when he gets mad or startled. He's started head-butting legs for affection, but it's a lot more like an enthusiastic soccer player than a gentle rub. We call him the bulldozer.