Chronicles of the Xmas Kittens – Journal Entry 15

Finished putting up the flyer around the vicinity, although I missed the deadline with some shopping centres and it won't go up on the community bulletin board until Monday next week. 

I tested the white and red kitten at a next door neighbour's place the other day. They have a Siamese female who lives in the house at night and in a huge custom built cat cage (which she loves) during the day. They're wanting to get a companion cat for her and, although they're exceptionally kind to their animal family, I'm a little reluctant to let the male go for several reasons – (1) feral cats do better in pairs with their siblings; (2) the neighbour has a small yappy dog that chases everything she comes across; (3) no formal inter-species introductions have been made yet to introduce the cat and dog; (4) the cats were separated into two parts of the cage and watched each other through the mesh – I don't know yet how territorial the female will be when they come together as she gave mixed signals in the first stage; and (5) the little one is better off transitioning from the inside of the house to the outside cage and hopefully into the garden so he can roam free. One of the reasons the neighbours have the cage is because there are poisonous snakes in the vicinity and also a mean dog on the property next door that would have no hesitation in attacking any animal (dog or cat and in fact has done so in the past) should they wander close to each other. This is a dilemma.

I brought the white and red one and the black kitten 1 (the female) into my office yesterday. They loved it. They climbed over and sniffed everything out. Samson came in too and the black one curled up with him on the bed. I also brought Jake our kelpie in, and the white and red kitten sneaked up on him and played with his tail. They later had a bit of a face off – Jake just stood there in fascination and wonder, the cat went into protective mode with an arched back, hair standing up on end on the neck and back, and a tail twice the size of the norm. I have pics but still need to upload them to my computer. 

I'll bring in all three of them today and then spend a little one on one time with Miss Tortie-and-White. The trick with transitioning her will be to bring her into my office either by herself or with one other in the future when I can catch her again. I will then ignore her and let her wander around by herself. I've done this on a previous occasion where three of the five kittens were socialised in 48 hours and found a good home about a week later, and the two remaining kittens completely avoided me for nigh on three weeks. Once I brought them into my office so they were with me for a good part of the day, they relaxed and were purring in my lap before long.