On Wednesday, I took the carrier over to my neighbor’s back yard and coaxed Walter out of his hiding place. He complained loudly all the way home. I put him in the bathroom with Rossie and Daisy. He complained loudly for a long time. I sat with him until he calmed down. He tried to get on the window and kept slipping off. I moved what was left of the old cat tower into the bathroom, and it sits just high enoug for him to sit on top of it and look out the window.
Whenever he sees or hears me, he is quite vocal. As far as I can tell, he’s had no serious altercations with Rossie or Daisy. I’ve observed him eating, drinking, and using the litter box. He’s vocal when I come into the room, but when I cuddle him, he quiets right down and purrs. In related news, I had an opportunity to pick Daisy up today, so I released her back into the house. Being in the room did not result in her being more sociable, which was my rationale for putting her in there. Daisy gets along with all the other cats and has no problems in the general population except she doesn’t like me. She and Mr. L sometimes reach an accord where he can pet her.
Since taking Rossie for her annual exam, she’s been letting me pet her (after the obligatory hissing). For now, Rossie and Walter are in the room together. Neither one likes confrontation, so it’s possible they may not interact, but I’ll be observing how things go for both of them. Rossie has been drawn to the boys, so she may be interested in seeing how receptive Walter is to her. I want to give Walter at least 4 weeks to acclimate to being in the house. When he sees me walking Jase outside, he’s vocalizing at the window — loud enough to hear out by the street.
When we brought Sneaky into the house, she vocalized at the window for a little while, too. To my knowledge, Walter has been an outside cat all his life with little or no inside time (I’ve had him inside at least three or four times for an overnight stay in the crate). This is a big adjustment for him. After he demonstrates he’s adjusted to being in the house, I plan to introduce, one at a time, Daphne, Ajax, Lady, and Tarzan (not necessarily in that order) to him one on one by bringing them into the bathroom for supervised introductions. How that goes will affect my next steps.
For now, Walter is home, safe, and adjusting to a big change in his life.
