Cats: Rossie Made A Decision
Last Sunday night, around 8:30, Rossie decided to come down the back stairs and spend time in the kitchen with us while we worked on a jigsaw puzzle. She ate from the food tower, but she spent most of her time on the rug by the back door (which is also the foot of the stairs). This freed her to make a quick trip back upstairs if she was so inclined (and she was a couple of times). She repeated this process every night this week.
I left for San Antonio on Monday, taking Lady, Natasha, Tarzan, Floyd, and Daphne with me. Mr. L, Rossie, Ruby, Delta, and Ajax had a quiet week here in Central Texas.
Lady and Natasha got significant back yard time down in San Antonio. Floyd gets his medicine twice a day, and, while he doesn’t like taking it, I notice he seems to have come to expect me to pick him up and give it to him. Likewise, Lady comes running when I pick up the treat bag. Since I’ve started giving her a treat after she takes her medicine, she’s been much easier to pill. That has also worked very well for tucking her into the cage between 8 and 8:30 at night (ensuring Mr. L’s sleep isn’t interrupted by any nighttime discussions with Rossie).
When I got back to Central Texas, Sneaky was very amenable to some cuddling. I haven’t seen Moose since I’ve been back, but Mr. L said he’s been around. I have some medicine to mix with his Fancy Feast to treat him for worms. Other parasitic medications are all topical, so they will have to wait until he decides I can handle him.
Rossie has come a long way from spending most of her time under the dresser upstairs. A couple of months ago, she moved to spending more time in the upstairs hallway. Now she’s decided she’s willing to spend time in the kitchen while we’re there. It’s good to see more of her. Maybe, in time, she’ll welcome being handled a little more (she does like to be petted, but she seems to forget).
So good to hear that Rossie is coming around. She’ll be happier and healthier when she gets more petting and cuddling.
Do you feel guilty about putting the kitties into their crates for sleeping? Both of our dogs were brought home to crates right away. The lab/catahoula liked the crate right away. The rattie, not so much. There was no way to keep her from unlocking her crate and getting out! Mind you, she was only a few months old at the time. Later, she got so she’d settle down with her “brother” in his crate.
The crates are folded up and put away now, but the dogs still sleep together, and in fact, do everything together.
But in general, the dogs I’ve known (keeping in mind that dogs are NOT cats) regard their crates as places of safety and relaxation.
I do feel guilty, but Lady’s carrier is inside a large dog wire cage about 3′ X 4′ X 3.5′. It’s self-contained and quite spacious. When the cage is open during the day, several cats move in and sleep or use the litter box or drink water, or use the scratching box. Sometimes one will go in the cage when I’m putting Lady in for the night, and if they don’t want to come out, I leave them in there with her. Lady and Tarzan were born in that cage, the four ferals spent time in there while they were getting basic socialization, and Daphne was quarantined in it while she had ringworm when she first came to us, so nobody considers it punishment (except maybe Rossie) to be in there.
At this point, she’s only in there at night to preserve Mr. L’s sleep, and sometimes Floyd and Rossie get into it during the night, so there’s no guarantee his sleep won’t be interrupted. It’s kind of a compromise with Rossie, too, because it gives her time to move about with less stress.
I try to leave a carrier out of storage and open for any cat that wants a cave to be able to escape. Several of them choose to use it from time to time, so the carriers are not a source of too much distress for them. I do try to bring carriers inside the night before we plan to travel, because when I bring them all in, several cats get nervous and hide. Most of them aren’t wild about a three hour ride to or from San Antonio. Ajax and Daphne actively complain the whole way, and Ajax’s tummy rebels.