It was so nice to know that Frankie is safe this Halloween, and we told him that too.  He started giving eye kisses lately and he is not so spazy anymore, I am guessing he began to learn from the other kitties how to behave although...at breakfast he has no manners!  Talk about Frankie Yankie the New Yorker; "GIVE ME MY FOOD NOW WHILE I AM KNOCKING EVERYBODY DOWN" 

We have an appt for his physical for next week.  I suspect he has herpes and although he gets lysine everyday I am not sure it does much for him.  I have to call Dr Nan, our holistic vet and see what else can we do.  The intro process is still going on...He still feels the safest in the kitchen but we make efforts daily to integrate him in the rest of the house and make the others understand that he is our child just like they are.

Tubi scared us terribly this past Friday.  He had a dental and had a very bad reaction to the anesthesia. His body temperature rose to 107.5 and they had to give him cold baths and cool off his ears and paws with alcohol.  Thank God he remained conscious and did not seize through this ordeal.  He recovered fully but he had a swollen and red butt poor little guy from having his temp taken every 15 minutes.  He was thrilled to be home that evening.  The two teeth they extracted had very bad RLs and must have caused him tremendous pain...

October is here!

The kitties are enjoying their naps on rainy days and seek the sunlight through the house.

Frankie continues to adjust to his new life and spends his day in the kitchen, most of the time sleeping on my chair at the dining table.  In the mornings he ventures up on the windowsill in the laundry room to watch the critters and the leaves.  Eventually he runs up to the kitchen.  Leo still likes to pester him and corner him and therefore acquired a couple of mild scratches on his forehead and nose.  I keep telling him "See, this is what you get if you bother Frankie, he will smack you back!"

I can't wait to begin playing sessions with him but they all need more adjusting to Frankie being in the house.  We have some very needy and jealous kitties here...

I have been talking a lot lately to our RB babies.  I miss their quietness and peacefullness and can't but cry thinking of how calming Sammy's demeanour was.  All I needed was to look in his big loving eyes and all was better suddenly.  I will forever hold a very special place in my heart for senior kitties!

Frankie is hanging out in the house!

Frankie has been out in the house for week.  He still sleeps in his room at night with the baby gates up since Leo seems to like to pick on him at night.  Frankie spends most of his day in the kitchen!  And he is pretty shameless about claiming it his own, so I have to remind him every day the kitchen belongs to Mommy and RB Heidi Ann, but I think he disagrees with me...He loves to sleep on my chair at the kitchen table...

We have to stop some quarrelling when it gets to be too much.  Leo is the one who goes after him.  Frankie, well Frankie smacks him back and actually he smacks everbody at meal time when they are all gathered in the kitchen.  See, I told you he thinks the kitchen is his...

Leo has an appt for a dental on October 14th, and we will find out then if he needs any RL extractions.  The tartar is pretty bad and pushing into the gums, making it impossible for Dr. Wendi to figure out if there is any RL bone damage.

Happy Day!

Today was a happy day:  Frankie and Leo spent some time together in the house (20 minutes to be exact) and things went very well.  Leo chased him a lot and hissed at him but nothing more.  When Frankie had enough he ran to his room all the way up on the third level of his kitty tree.  Joe was supervising the two boys and I was with the other kitties in one of the bed rooms.

It looks like we will do a few more short sessions like today over the next few days.  All babies were calm and happy after the meeting.  Leo received tons of well deserved praisings, pets and kissies:)  He needs to go see Dr Wendi on Monday for his physical and for his dragon breath, I am certain he needs a dental again judging by the level of tartar on his teeth - it's incredible how his teeth look like after only nine months...I keep telling him to slow down on the hissing :)

We decided to slow down the intros so for the past week or so, we have allowed Frankie to spend time in the house on his own (the other kitties spent time in his room while he is up and about).  He gets all worked up when he is free in the house and I am guessing that he has a lot of anxiety about it.  We hope that if he spends longer periods of time in the house on his own, this anxiey will subside and when he gets to be around the other babies, things will go smoother.  It's all a lot of guessing and waiting at this point...He is for sure interested in dominance, we just pray that they will eventually work things up.

What is interesting is the fact that Frankie, Tubi and Leo can eat together with no problems; we take the baby gates down, Frankie comes out in the hallway and waits for me to come up the steps with the food bowls followed by Tubi and Leo.  So, food brings them together...It's the meeting "outside" eating time that has been a problem...

I am also hoping that time and patience will pay off, the same way they did when we worked with Sweet Pea.

We managed to trim Frankie's nails, YAAAAY!!!  Both Joe and I went into his room. Joe picked him up and I wrapped him in a towel.  Joe held his paw and pressed on the toe to extend claw, while I petted Frankie's head with my left hand and trimmed the claws with my right hand.  We will have to do this every two weeks for him since he is young and his nails grow very fast.

The introduction process is slow, but we continue to work diligently at it.  So far he has met everybody except Leo face to face.  Frankie is definitely a dominant kitty and I am a bit concerned because he overwhelms everybody with dominance poses and behavior.  Chloe, Peatsie and Tubi are all uneasy around him and don't know what to make of his manners.  Tonight we will have a longer intor session and see how it goes.  Frankie is very rambunctious and full of energy, definitely behaves like a trouble maker.  What happens is that he walks to the other kitties, body all tall, looking down at them with the "I am in power look" and jumps on them; I know this is common in kitties, but it's the way and the frequency that he does it, that are of concern.  He is a completley different kitty in his room behind the baby gates compared to when he is in the house with the other kitties.  I pray that all will work out...

Kitties and a rainy day

It has been a dark, rainy day, reminescent of November.  The kitties are sleeping all scattered through the house.  They seem to come eat and then they just go take naps.  Life is pretty exhausting, right?

We have to figure out how to trim Frankie's nails, he has got some weapons of mass destruction.  He doe not like being held, so that is out and we really need his nails trimmed before he starts meeting everybody face to face.  So, I am thinking to wrap him in a towel, and trim his nails while my husband holds him.  The trick is how to wrap him so that we leave his paws exposed.  Probably best to do it this one morning weekend so that I can see his nails; some of them have a dark pigment and I have to be careful with the quick.  He is snoozing right now in his doughnut bed:)

I will buy Bach Essence for them, perhaps this time will work and will keep them all calm and relaxed as we go through the intros.  Two years ago we tried quite a few herbal remedies when we introduced Sweet Pea to the household, but I am not convinced they helped.