They couldn't be left alone at all at the risk of Smitty becoming aggressive and scary. She's a tiny little thing. Smitty isn't a big cat either, but he is at least twice her size. He's a year older than she is, but still...she's two years old, and so fully grown. After a couple of hours of watching them, I needed to make dinner, and so we decided to separate them, as the shelter suggested. This morning Mike found an excellent article from the Humane Society about introducing a new kitty into the house. We've never actually brought in an adult cat to live with another adult cat. We've always adopted kittens in the past. For now, we'll go much more slowly with the face-to-face contact. She's now living in Mike's office with her own litter box, bed, food, water, and toys, and we're checking in with her regularly for snuggles and attention. She's very affectionate and sweet. Overnight, we noted that she'd eaten some of her food and used her potty box, so everything is going well in there.
As for Smitty, he parked himself outside the French doors that separate Mike's office from the pantry. He could see her, and she could see him. Her litter box was just on the other side of the door, and we were a little concerned he might scare her away from that.
When we went to bed, we took him out of the pantry and shut the door. He stayed next to the door for a while, but came and got in bed with me around midnight. Just FYI, in that first image above, he's sitting next to the door that leads from the pantry into the rest of the house...so there are two doors into and out of the pantry. (Mike's office is a converted garage, and the pantry is a converted tiny bedroom...what can I say? Sometimes ya gotta go with the rooms and the support beams you have.)
I've been trying to get a better picture of her, but it's hard. Here, I caught her lying under the couch early on. When you use flash to take a picture of an animal, you end up with laser eyes. I wish someone would invent a photo editing tool for this. Red-eye adjustments won't work on pet eyes.
This morning I tried taking her picture without flash, and I ended up with dozens of pictures that look like this one:
Trying my best to hold the camera still in the dim light of the room, this was the best I could do.
Finally, I got a death grip on her and tried this sort-of-a-selfie while we sat inside the pantry.
So...those are my best shots of her so far, but I'll keep trying. Also, I need to figure out how to adjust the ISO on my new camera. I higher ISO might help with the blur. Oh yes, and I had to come back here and edit this post to say that we've changed her name to Maggie. She didn't answer to Noel anyway, and besides, Noel sounds too much like "No". So how do you discipline your cat without giving her a complete complex? Anyway...Maggie it is. It rolls off the tongue easily, which is why we chose it.
Despite all the excitement I finished the binding on the Icy Blues table runner this morning. It's my 30th finish for 2015, and I made it by the skin of my teeth...or by the whisker of my cat...or by the swish of my tail...or something. Anyway, here it is. It finished up at 21.5 x 43.5 inches. This is a free pattern designed by Jocelyn Ueng and available for download right here.
And now it's fulfilling the job it was born to do...a winter table runner on my dining room table.
Today I positively must get at the housework I've been putting off all week. Also, I'm fresh out of handwork, and so I want to trace out the next set of embroidery blocks for the Written in Thread quilt. If I have time, I'm hoping to get the Quilting Snowladies sandwiched today. Gotta get going on them while the free motion snowflakes are still fresh in my hands' memory.
Enjoy your New Year's Eve celebration, whatever that may be. We'll probably be sleeping when the ball drops.
17 comments:
You have had an amazingly productive year. I've enjoyed following your blog with your quilt and kitty adventures. Hope you and your family have a wonderful and blessed new year and that new kitty and Smitty settle in together nicely (and quickly)!
She's absolutely gorgeous, even with laser eyes! My guess is that they'll be hanging out together within a week. Great way to start the new year!
Icy Blues looks really good on the table.
Maggie is a great name. If neither kitty is hissing, I think you will be okay. I'm glad you have time to let them get used to each other. Don't believe that Maggie won't get any bigger. When we adopted Dainty she was just over a year old and tiny and we were told, because she had had kittens, she would not get any bigger. Wrong. Mind you, they also said she was not a very affectionate cat. Wrong again. She is extremely affectionate. Just needed the right cat mom, I guess.
Maggie and Smitty are lucky to be part of your family.
Nice review, love your icy blue table topper. Maggie is a beauty. Hope the introductions go well over the next days. Happy New Year!
Ooh, I like Maggie. And don't count on her staying small. We thought Cream (also two at adoption) was tiny compared to the giant fluffiness of CC, but then she discovered the joy of a magically refilling food bowl. Her butt is looking much plumper now. They'll settle in soon - we did the same thing someone suggested on Facebook - swapping isolation rooms so they got used to each other's scents. They were out of isolation within a week and now, a month later, they only rarely get into hissing matches.
Maggie is perfect and I'm sure they will soon be getting along well. I also agree that you should expect her to grow. Picasso isn't a big cat but he is so much larger than when we got him. He was at least one but not yet two when we got him according to our vet
The forced selfie shows her pretty blue eyes!
Happy New Year, Barbara. Your tablerunner is lovely. How wonderful that Maggie has a family for the new year. She's a very purity little girl.
She's really beautiful, I think Smitty will come around and be happy to have another lady in the house. You should try the red eye fix on her because her eyes are blue, I can always fix Maya's one blue eye but not the other.
So happy for all of you. Look forward to many more photos and stories
Icy Blues looks perfect there on your dining room table. Hope Smitty gets used to Ms. Maggie soon. At least he doesn't seem to be missing Gracie. Have a very Happy New Year.
It will take a few days.....I know you have enough love for both of them.
Her soft colors remind me of the soft browns and greys of the Downtown Abbey line - Maggie Smith!! Purrfect!!
Maggie is such a lovely addition to your family. Like you we stuck strictly to the guidance given about introducing our new cat to our rather grumpy resident cat. But when they were actually allowed to get close to each other we used sliced ham to distract them and reward good behaviour. It was very effective and now they are fast friends. If she is a cross Siamese, like our new cat, trust me you will get another constant companion!!! I can see another cat portrait on the cards for 2016!
Maggie cat! Our Maggie cat was very affectionate. I'm sure you will have many lovely days ahead petting (de-stressing) with Maggie. Smitty and she may end up fast friends and Smitty has the opportunity to have the relationship he wanted with Gracie.
Enjoy this start to a new year.
Oh, such pretty kitties! They'll be fine. You are doing the introduction exactly right and I'm sure they'll be fine together in a week or so. I have found that adults are a little harder than kittens in acclimating but only a little. And your two are young enough where it should be a breeze! Good luck and have fun with your new family member!
Oh my, lovelies in every frame !~! She's downright beautiful and i suspect that Smitty will come around in time. The blues in the runner are gorgeous too.
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