Two more kitty questions

OK, well the kitten is at home & behind the stove. She's been there since we got home early Sat. afternoon. I forget what she looks like LOL.

Seriously, she's a little black & gray tabby, 3 mos. VERY adorable. When we got home I put her in the litter box right away & she zipped behind the stove. Haven't seen her since. However, she has been eating, drinking & using the litterbox, I guess when the dogs & I are asleep. She woke me about 3 am last night playing w/one of those jingly toys. Unfortunately she woke Max too, who promptly ran to the kitchen & started yipping at her. Not barking, just yipping. I expect she might start coming out during the day when Max is crated & Cosmo is sleeping. Either way, I'm just leaving her alone & letting her make her way out when she's comfortable.

As far as names go, I think I've settled on Minnie. Partly b/c I want her to go for the mice, & partly b/c it kind of goes w/Max. What do you guys think?
 
I love Minnie! Such a cute girl cat name! You should post a pic of her if you ever see her again.:)

Carolyn
 
Hi Laura....don't know what it is about the stove! She'll come out. I just thought of something though, Most all cats love catnip....get some and sprinkle it on the kitchen floor without the dogs around. You may be able to show her some love and start the bonding process with you, she will probably run back there again, but it just takes time. Amber
 
Even though kitty is behind the stove, make sure you talk to her a lot (I find that using "kitty" ---something that cats seem attracted to universally-- and the name will help cats learn their name. For example, when you talk to her, for a while say "Minnie, kitty." Then you can start dropping the 'kitty' and just use Minnie (I do that whenever I get a new cat, and it seems to work. And I like my pets to know their names---which they all do now--so that they know when I'm talking to them and I can communicate that they've done something good...or bad!...by the intonation I use with their name...so when I say "SIMON!" in my 'stop that!~" voice when he's trying to get into one of the water dispensers and risks spilling the water all over the place, he knows the scolding is for him, and the other cats don't pay attention).

Also, you want to make sure that 'behind the stove' is safe. I wouldn't risk turning the stove on with her back there (she might have actually found her way into an area that would be dangerous). (We used to have cats that hid behind the fridge, but behind the stove is a new one!) You might want to put a 'hiding place' for her somewhere, like a turned-over box or even a grocery bag she can hide in.
 
Oh trust me, behind the stove is safe. It broke a month after I got it & not being a cook, I never got it fixed. :+ Also, during the mouse saga, the exterminator pulled all the appliances away from the wall & plugged up all the holes w/steel wook & caulk. I think the reason she's there is b/c she can access it from the little area I blocked off & probably thinks if we can't see her we don't know she's there.

And yes, I do talk to her every time I go into the kitchen. She ignores me, just like the rest of my animals. :D

Amber, the lady at the pet store told me kittens shouldn't have catnip b/c it's a stimulant, like coffee is for humans, & is really only for older cats. Was she BSing me?
 
Laura,

Congrats on your new kitten! I think Minnie is a great name!!

When I first got my older cats, they were truly barn cats. I got them at 6 weeks and "escaped proof" the barn, even for tiny kittens. Whenever I went to check on them, they were hiding behind some plywood propped up against the wall. They would sit back there and hiss and spit at me! It was quite amusing! I would pick them up and hold each one of them and they eventually got better - they were just scared! One thing I would encourage you to do, if she's small enough and will let you, is to turn her upside down in your arms as you hold her. I put all my cats and several of my patients through the "upside-down cat test". If they tolerate being upside down and having their belly rubbed, you know they are great cats!! I did this a lot with my kittens, and now that's the way they prefer to be picked up and carried! I love it!
 
>I put all my cats and several of my patients through the
>"upside-down cat test". If they tolerate being upside down
>and having their belly rubbed, you know they are great cats!!

There is a cat at the shelter who loves to show me his belly every time I'm there (unless he's just airing out his boy parts!). Today, I had two other cats on my lap, and he kind of pushed himself up between/over them in order to nuzzle my neck (talk about big time lovin'!)
 
Laura...ya know I'm not sure about the catnip, I always gave a little to my kittens, but I am no expert. Bestoutwest...aka Edie is a vet I believe, would be a good question to pose to her!

AMber
 
I just got a new kitty a couple of weeks ago from the Humane Society(or Animal Care and Control as they call it here in S. Florida).

He was 2 months and 2 pounds and listed as a "stray" but he's at least part siamese:) My other 2 cats(one is 6 years old and about 12-15 pounds, the other is 16 years old and about 10 pounds)are both siamese. I was concerned about the "stray" part that he wouldn't use the litter box. The catbox thing was never a problem, I just stuck him in it a couple of times when he first got home and he did just fine.

The guidelines from the Animal Care place said I had to keep him separated from the other cats for 8-10 days--he'd just been "fixed" for one thing but also he'd only had his first set of kitty "shots".

After literally 8 days of playing with him sporadically in the spare bedroom(though I think I spent more time with Merlot than my husband and the other 2 cats, lol) where he had more toys than any cat I'd ever seen and a kitty "bed" and the tv on so there would be "noise"--I even left the light on at night--must be the nurse in me(lol)I let him out to be with the other cats. I was NERVOUS because the 6 year old is such a tank in size compared to him. When the hissing started I was there to make sure nothing happened, and nothing did. They would try and tap each other with their paws but then the little one, "Merlot" is his name, hence the wine connotation--lol, started to play with both of them. (The other cat's names are Junior and Ricky).It's more like watching WWF wrestling, but now they even sleep together.

I actually think he liked the separate bedroom thing at first, big enough for him to acclimate to a new environment but small enough so he wasn't overwhelmed. Trust me, he's running the WHOLE house JUST FINE--lol. It's like keeping an eye on a 2 year old child--(of which I have no kids though), he loves to play with EVERYTHING--he's hilarious and Junior has a buddy to play with.

The other thing I did was set up a vet appointment so that when I took him home I went straight to the vet to get him checked out to be on the safe side. He's gone for his second set of shots and has already gained a pound:)

Hope this helps!!

P.S. guess this comes a little late, sounds like Minnie is doing just fine--I know what you mean about the jingly toy thing!!!!! Just wait until Minnie wants to play with you at 3 a.m. when you're dead asleep!!!LOL
 
Guess who came out to play last night.........

:) :) :) :) :)

It was so cute--she was behind the gate & I leaned over & was playing w/her w/one of those toy on a stick things. Max sat right next to me watching with curiosity but being very sweet & calm.

We played for about 5 minutes until Cosmo realized what was going on & started whining & snuffling. Scared the daylights out of Minnie & she returned to her spot behind the stove. Cosmo's much bigger than Maximus--much more harmless but also much more intimidating.

Later on I found her sleeping on her bed instead of behind the stove. Seems like she's adjusting slowly but surely. Maybe she'll even come out from behind the gate someday!
 
RE: Guess who came out to play last night.........

REading about your new kittie reminds me of when we got our youngest cat. We had our yellow lab and we had just brought our new kittie home. He was having a great time running around the house, and hiding behind the couch. Then dh let out Bowzer to let them meet. There Bowzer is standing in the middle of the living room and smokey (our kitten)runs out from behind the couch totally unaware of what he was about to encounter. He's going full speed, mind you from behind the couch. He runs head first into Bowzer and immediately his little back arched (Heck, it was already a little arched, he was new) but, then his tail puffed up and he started hopping sideways backwards towards to back of the couch again and ran and hid back there for a long time. Dh and I were laughing so hard! Kittens are just so cute! Dh was said that he thought that Smokey probably was thinking, "oh my gosh! That is the biggest kittie I've EVER seen!" The funniest is that smokey used to climb into poor Bowzers food bowl and eat his food. Now Bowzer woofs his food down too fast for any other animal to get a shot at it. LOL!
Congrats on your new addition! May your kittie bring lots of fun memories!!
Kathy
 
RE: Guess who came out to play last night.........

>Later on I found her sleeping on her bed instead of behind the
>stove. Seems like she's adjusting slowly but surely. Maybe
>she'll even come out from behind the gate someday!
Sounds like you're making good progress! (It may seem slow to you, but on cat terms, it's about right! I'd say 2 weeks is a good amount of time to allow for everything to settle in. Some cats take less (my Simon settled in in about 2 days, including having the other cats not mind that he was around) some take a bit more.
 
RE: Guess who came out to play last night.........

LOL Kathryn, after reading about the Xmas trees I'm kind of hoping it'll take two months!

I have to admit I was really surprised at Max. I thought he'd be scrambling to get behind the gate, but instead it was like he was patiently waiting for the kitten to prepare herself mentally & physically to play with him. He's such a good little pug. :)

I was also surprised at Cosmo--she's pretty much immobile & of course the only time she shows any energy is to freak out the poor kitten.
 
RE: Guess who came out to play last night.........

>YEAH Minnie is coming around!

I'm already thinking of her as "Minnie Mouser"!
 
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