A New Era: The Tale of Two Kitties

On July 4th I picked up my old cat, Mikey, from my mom's house. Mikey was a kitten of our two cats from when I was in high school. After going to college, my sister took care of the cat while she lived at home. My parents had gotten dogs which secluded Mikey to my sister's bedroom. Eventually she moved out and Mikey moved into the basement. Now, my parents have sold their house, so Mikey needed a home. I've been asking Dan for a while to adopt Mikey, but now seemed to be the time that he could move in. He's 13 years old now, and I couldn't bare to send him to the Humane Society. So, it's a few weeks later and we now have what I like to call The Tale of Two Kitties -- The Freed Prisoner and The Angry Wife.

The Freed Prisoner

Like I said before, Mikey has spent a number of years isolated in my sister's bedroom or in the basement because of my parents' dogs. Early on Mikey had dared to go down the stairs and one of the dogs, a German shephard, got a hold of him. So, Mikey has been assured all these years that he is better off staying in his room.

As soon as we brought Mikey home, we locked him in our bedroom trying to separate him from Pinball. We were going on advise that we found via the internet about introducing the cats slowly. Mikey settled right in; He LOVES sitting in front of the patio door especially if it is open. If he hears a bird singing, not much can distract him. It's fun to watch him come to life and be happy.

So, we have been slowly keeping the doors open so that the cats can roam throughout the apartment. Mikey is more brave than Pinball. In fact, he almost antagonizes her. They haven't gotten into a fight yet, but they can't nicely sit in the same room either. Mikey can be seen jogging out of the room after hearing Pinball hiss at him. Since he has moved in, I think that he may have lost some weight. (He's pretty fat- I like to call him Bubba now. I don't know why.) He has been working on easily jumping on furniture and has gotten a little faster at running around.

The Angry Wife

We were nervous about bringing Mikey home because Pinball can't even see a cat outside the window without letting out a screeching howl and completely flipping out. Needless to say, she hasn't attacked Mikey yet, but she is very hesitant around him. When Mikey approaches her, she growls and hisses, but is nothing like how she used to react to outside cats.

I wonder if sometimes Pinball feels betrayed. Since Mikey has come, she hasn't been able to go into our bedroom even at night. She now can be found sleeping in the office chair in the morning. In fact, she spends a lot of time in the office now. But we try to be good parents and give attention to both cats. Maybe someday they will be able to be happy together.