May Fourth

 "May The Fourth Be With You"...

We really need to make a new graphic for today.  Why?  Well, it's old.  But also because...

Today is Lapis Lazuli's (Laz) 3rd Gotcha Day here.  What a mess he was then...  Trembling, frightened, traumatic due to his first couple years with pit bulls and grabby kids (most of you know the story, but new visitors don't).  

Laz seems to have healed mentally.  These days he doesn't bother Ayla (I've seen them nose-sniff and walk past each other peacefully).  Lori has helped soothe his troubled mind for the past 18 months.  I continue to give him special attention (as I do all The Mews but they don't realize that).  But with Laz, it is a bit different.  He is still a little nervous sometimes; but it is so much less.  I think some memories have faded.

He adores being outside (and he and Lori are never far apart there (as in indoors).  I suspect being able to engage in natural cat activities has also helped him a lot.  He is happy to wander around in the fenced backyard hunting mousies and watching squirrels.  

He comes in when called, which means he likes me and the house (and it isn't always for dinner).  He is happy inside too.  He does something I can only call "the flop".  Marley sits on my lap and my newspaper.  Ayla calls to me for attention whenever I walk into the bedroom.  Lori stands on hindlegs and stretches up for scritchies.  Laz "flops".  That's his request for attention.  Previously fur rubs, but lately for chin scritchies.  Thats almost the only time he actually purrs.

So some early pictures...

He "hid" on the Mews Room platform tree...

And napped in the little cave at the base.

When I oped the door after a couple days, Marley greeted him nicely and they sniffed nosies.

But Laz did prefer to stay alone for days.

I think "alone" meant "safety" to him.

But he did like the room itself.  Maybe it was the first safe place he had ever had.

I went in one day and couldn't find him.  He had made a great leap to the top of the bar.

And felt really safe up there.   

When he finally came out of The Mews Room after a week, he liked the computer room chair.  

And finally, when he came out into the house, he found a box with a folded towel. He immediately settled into it.

That was Laz's first week here.  When he met Ayla, he attacked her (seeking a position in a multicat household).  You all know about that hard year.  But he has calmed down.  Ayla wanders around more freely now

So cheers to Laz on his 3rd Gotcha Day!  May his old memories fade further and someday trouble him no longer.  He has become a Good Cat.  

    ---------

If some manager wants to add Laz's Gotcha Day to the calendar, that would be good...  😻

Easy Like Sunday

LORI:   Im close to Laz inside a lot, but sometimes outside too...

And aside from that, Ive watched Ayla, Marley, and Laz have Birfdays.  Ive enjoyed the celebrations and party.  But Ive been wondering when mine will be.  It would be my first.

But TBT said he would surprise me about it.  Well, he finally told me!  I turn 1 year old in 3 days; August 3rd.  And I will have a big pawty ta celabrate it!

He promises the best foods and Nip (though I don't really respond to Nip yet), games, toys, boxes and bags.  All new because it is my 1st Birfday.  Please save the date to visit; it will be my 1st ever...

So it has been a great 1st year:

Last First Day Pics Of Lori

TBT:   These are the last of the First Day Pics Ann took.  This series was titled "Mark With Lori".  Ann not only spent a lot of time TAKING all the pics, she spent time SENDING them!  Windows and Apple don't always send and receive in quite the same way, but I was having problems with my regular AOL account AND wasn't familiar with the gmail account I set up to try to get around AOL.  And was having trouble with zip files.  So she had to send most of her pics several different ways before I could manage them.

So here they are:

You will be seeing more pics of Lori (and the other mews), but don't expect to see many more of ME for a while.  I think I am "picced out".  LOL!

More Monday Lori Pics

TBT:   Today is the 2nd series of Ann pics called Lorelei Lee.  I'll be starting to show more recent I took myself, but hers are better and I don't want to lose track of them...

Lori is adjusting rapidly.  The breeder said she only eats FF Chicken Kitten feast, but it seems that Turkey and Salmon works for her too.  Same with litter.  She was used to "Worlds Best", but seems to accept scoopable litter just fine.  

Lori loves The Lap.  It funny, I am so used to The Mews coming up on my lap while I am sitting and watching TV after dinner, I often don't even realize I am stroking one, or which one.  Sometimes, I am surprized to find one at all.  It gets THAT subconcious after a while.

And now Lori is there too.  I had Ayla on the back of the chair, Marley on the ottoman in front of me and Lori on my lap last evening!  Laz doesn't quite get The Lap yet, but he was curled up on the floor next to the chair.  All 5 of us within touching distance!

And last night, Lori was under the covers with me and Laz was napping ON the covers right next to her.  Surely, he could smell that she was mere inches away.  He was calm.

I'm not prepared to say who will become BFFs yet, but everything is generally peaceful  for now.  I can't ask for much more than that...

I slept the sleep of the just, last night.

Lorelei Lee Pictures

TBT:   First, pictures!  Ann sent me 2 zip files of the pictures she took while here which I need to unzip and I have about 100 of my own to process.  That will take some time.  But she sent me some regular ones I can use immediately...

Official First Day Portrait:

And collage:

Second, a little about her so far:

While her full name is Lorelei Lee, her "everyday name" will be "Lori" (as Lapis Lazuli's everyday name is "Laz' - Ayla and Marley didn't need to be shortened). 

Lori will be staying in The Mews Room for several days while she gets used to the smells and sounds of her Forever Home.  The more she is accustomed to those, the better she will adjust to The Whole House. 

She has a litter box in one corner and the food and water bowls are as far away from that as possible.  I spend about 10 minutes each waking hour with her.  I don't want to overwhelm her with too much as she adjust.  There is a small cave-like hut (a carpeted cylinder on its side at the bottom)  and she seems to have adopted that as her resting spot.  There is a small cat mat that gets up to 83F nearby.

Lori is extremely human-oriented and affectionate when I spend time with her in the room (typical for a Tonkinese).  She crawls all over me, purring and nuzzling the whole time.  I have received MANY kitten-kisses!

She has shown me her tummy many times and stares at me frequently.  I constantly talk to her while sitting on the floor to give her full access to me.  She sniffs me a lot (interested in both mine and the other Mews' smells).

When I'm sitting, she stays on my lap or walks around me nearby, purring constantly.  If I hold her while standing up, she wants to drape on or grab my shoulder (and she has really sharp little needles for claws).  That may be a reaction to the height.  Iza was never fond of heights either.

I mentioned that she purrs constantly around me.  I got my first "meow" this morning.  She is not as talkative as a Siamese, but that may change.  She is accustomed to the higher pitch of the lady breeder; it may take her a while to adjust to a male voice.  But I'm accustomed to adjust my own pitch higher when talking to The Mews...

I brought her some toys first thing this morning.  I almost forgot about that.  Marley has never been interested in toys, Ayla used to carry plastic bottle rings around, and Laz only likes to chew the string off of wand toys.  

The breeder brought some plastic springs she said Lori likes.  I rummaged through the toy box and found a cloth ball and a rattley mouse (like Iza loved).  Lori went crazy over each of them in turn!  The first morning visit, she grabbed the springs and tossed/chased them around like crazy.  

I was worried that she was overstimulated in the new place and person, but maybe she was under-stimulated.  Even while in the basement, I could hear her running around a lot chasing her new toys...

The next visit, she loved the cloth ball, carrying it all around the room and pushing it into corners just so she could poke around and dig it back out.  The 3rd visit of the day, I offerred her the rattley mouse and she went crazy over THAT.  So she loves toys.  I don't want to compare her to Iza too often (and that will fade), but she seems to like the same kind of toys AND is very enthusiastic about them.

Apparently, she has eaten Fancy Feast Chicken For Kittens almost exclusively.  The breeder brought 4 cans.  I ordered more but they won't be delivered until Thursday.  I found a turkey version while shopping and bought 3 cans "just in case".   She also brought a small bag of "baby" dry kibble and a jar of freeze-dried chicken.

The chicken flavor obsession will have to be adjusted eventually.  The other Mews are mostly fishie-fanatics these days.  Her food will be adjusted very gradually (like getting your young children to eat new foods), but she will get her chicken flavors as long as it takes.  I was the short-order cook at a country club swimming pool once.  My youngest sister's family were vegan and visited a couple times.  I can adjust to varied demands...  LOL!

I took Lori (closely held) on a walking tour of the house for a bit of stimulation just before starting this post.  She was interested, but a bit grumbly and making an odd complaint sound.  Until she saw Marley!    Marley is probably the biggest cat she has ever seen.  She went completely quiet and just stared.

Marley, in turn, glanced up at her and didn't even react.  He's a REALLY laid-back cat, LOL!  It was like "Oh, another one?  OK".  Laz walked by (oblivious to Lori) until I did the "tongue-click" and he looked up.  But he didn't react negatively, and I consider that a VERY good sign of his continuing adjustment.

She hasn't seen Ayla yet...  THAT will be interesting.  Ayla is hissy and I don't know that Lori has ever been hissed at in her short life (living only with her Mom and a few littermates).

Lori wants to come out of The Mews Room.  She is lonely (though the toys help - I can hear her running around when I pass the door).  I will increase my time with her tomorrow.  Skeeter, LC, Ayla, Iza, Marley, and Laz were happy to be left alone to get used to the place for several days.  Lori is impatient.  She calls to me as I walk past.  But she is not ready to join the others safely.  I would LOVE to just let her out, but I HAVE to be certain the others accept her peacefully.  I am at home most of the time but I don't want to take any chances.  Lori is just too small to defend herself...

I will take her on more "carries" around the house tomorrow, sometimes with the other Mews inside and sometimes when they are out.  It's not like I'm going to just open the door to The Mews room Wensday and say "OK, deal with it".  A lot depends on how the adult cats accept a new one that I will have to deal with.

When I got Ayla, Skeeter and LC accepted her immediately.  When I got Iza, she was about 6 months and confident (and bigger than Ayla).  When Marley arrived, it was Ayla and Iza and they were kind of accepting a (medium-sized, very non-threatening) boycat around.

Laz was a problem (trauma, aggression, fear), but he tended to stay in The Mews Room on his own while I talked him into a sense of safety for nearly a month.

So this is the time of introduction to the others.  Tomorrow, I will bring Marley into the room to see how he reacts.  Then Ayla. Finally, Laz.  So many questions and so few certainties!