Kitten High

Phil has been home for two weeks and things are going fairly well! He is a goofy confident fluff. Once he consistently came out and played with us in the safe room, we took him on excursions in a carrier to the living room so he could meet the two old ladies.  Or the Golden Girls as we like to call them.  Surprisingly, Shauna was the more aggressive of the two! She growled, hissed, and batted the carrier. Stella only growled and hissed. Phil was not scared at all. He was straining to look everywhere. He stayed out for almost an hour and then we’d whisk him back to his safe room. A couple more nights of that resulted in me letting him out in my bedroom. He was so tentative and yet excited. When he was pooped, he crawled back in the carrier.

 

The next night, we left the safe room door wide open. Phil emerged eventually and made his way to the living room. The two girls did the growl and hiss thing but nothing physical – just posturing. Shauna would slink into the safe room, nibble on Phil’s kitten food, and curl up on his blanket bed while he was out exploring. When it was bed time for the humans, Phil went back to his room. We had a couple more rounds of this kind of night and now Phil is out 24/7. We’ll slowly transition his safe room feeding and litter areas to the other cats but now the areas are still separate.

Phil enjoys the scratching post in the living room and crawling under our coffee table to A) stalk Shauna or Stella or B) curl up and snooze. He is absolutely not afraid of the old ladies at all. He keeps on trying to engage them in play but they are having none of it. He’s especially persistent with Stella.


I’m going to try Jackson Galaxy’s bully formula with Stella to hopefully mellow her out. Phil does climb in bed with me which is fucking amazing and fills my heart with joy. And YET Stella is lying against me and starts growling once she sees him. Guys, there’s enough love for both of you – I promise!

Seeing Phil in the hallway with his head cocked to the side with a “Whatcha doin?” look or hearing his squeaky mews makes me so happy.  When he lets me pick him up, I love that he lets me pretend lick him while he purrs like an engine.  He’s healing my heart in ways I can’t describe.