New Cat QQ — 8 Week Update
I would apologize for taking so long to provide an update, but it wasn’t my fault. The humans thought you needed to know about shipping more than you needed to know about cats. *shakes head*
Location
QQ is still spending most of her time in her room, on the cat tree just outside of her room, or on the landing at the top of the stairs. And sometimes, she comes and pokes her head into the male human’s office to meow at him. However, the human female knows she roams downstairs at night. How does she know this? QQ’s poop is in the downstairs litterbox ;) But hey, at least it’s in the box, right?
And that’s the good news — the anger poops have stopped! Yay! No more random floor poops!
But because it’s 2020, with good news always comes bad news…
Smells
You know how “they” say that male cats will mark territory when they aren’t fixed? And then when you fix them, they stop marking? Did you know that female cats will mark territory as well, especially when stressed? (Ohhhh, I betcha see where this is going, right?)
The room QQ hangs out in is the cat room. When the humans moved us into the new house, they put all of us in that room to hang out while the movers were hauling stuff inside. Since it’s the cat room, any time a new cat is brought into the house (Larry, Hank, QQ…), they go into the cat room. It’s got a warm bed, and a separate spot for a litter box, and a box to hide in, and a couple cat trees, and some toys. Basically it’s the perfect spot for a cat to hang out before being introduced to the rest of us. (‘Cuz it also has cameras so the humans can spy on us. Sheesh.)
With Larry, he decided when he was done with the cat room, and now he roams the upstairs. And when Mama was in the cat room in the old house, she decided when she was done with the room and came downstairs. Hank, well, he went back to the feral colony. So the last three cats that have been in a cat room all decided when to be done with the room and join the rest of us (because legit there are SO MANY awesome sunbeams in this house I have no idea why you’d stay in the cat room!)
But QQ…is not done with the room. QQ has decided the room is *her* room, not a “hey everyone hang out here until they’re comfortable integrating” room. And as such, she is peeing in the room, and not in her box. And because we’re like woah, that’s not your room, that’s the cat room, we obviously have to go in and pee where she peed to show her that room belongs to all of us, not just her.
So the humans spent a *lot* of time cleaning that room over the holiday weekend, and setting up the cameras in different ways to figure out exactly which of us cats is peeing (they have suspicions, but we outsmart them until they catch us on film). (Female human says to mention they use cameras they bought on Amazon, and you can set them up on your phone to watch us, because you need another reason to be on your phone more *eyeroll*).
Time and Patience
Definitely still needing a lot of patience and time to integrate QQ into the house. The rest of us were all part of a family or a pack of cats before we came to live with these humans, and while we dealt with change, it wasn’t nearly as much change as QQ’s had to deal with. I know the humans can get pretty frustrated with cat pee (especially the female — she HATES cat pee because she’s really good at putting her hand in it, or stepping in it with a bare foot — hah!), but they know QQ’s history, and that gives them a lot more empathy.
There’s also a food issue with Little Squishie and QQ that I’m having to police. See, if the food is on the floor in her room, Little Squishie and Larry will both jump the gate to eat it because they’re pigs, unlike me who’s super delicate and adorable and knows her limits. So the male human decided to move the food higher up, to a spot the boys won’t jump to (because they’re food motivated but also lazy). In the morning, before the humans get out of bed, sometimes Little Squishie will go after QQ because he’s hungry and hasn’t learned he just has to step on the humans’ faces to get them to wake up to feed them. Instead, he goes after her. And then I have to go after him and tell him to knock it off. And with all the running and the hissing, the humans wake up and start feeding us, and then everyone calms down again. But it’s *super* irritating to have to go after him on an empty stomach — I wish he’d just learn to bug the humans!
That’s something new that just started a couple weeks ago, so the humans are having to figure out how much to feed the rest of us so the boys are full enough not to go after her, but not so full they’re being over-fed and become chonky. I don’t like math, so I don’t envy them having to deal with that. The good thing is there’s no real nastiness — no blood or anything — but the humans want to make sure it stays that way, so they’re problem solving a lot.
Flexibility
One thing the humans started doing that QQ really digs is the male human spends the night with her a couple times a week. She LOVES him — like a LOT. And that makes sense — he’s her savior. Literally. When he first came to see her, the person she was staying with was grieving and having a hard time feeding himself, and that meant he didn’t always remember to feed QQ or change her litter box. My male human fed her, and changed her litter, and gave her treats, and then made sure she had fresh water and some light pettings when she was ready for it.
Us cats remember when you’re nice to us, and QQ totally remembers. When he spends the night with her, she spends the first part of it grooming him to let him know she cares, and then she snuggles up next to him. She’s not big on being touched, but she likes to be near him. Then, when he’s asleep, she goes to her cat tree outside the room and watches to make sure none of the rest of us can go near him (ok that part I don’t love, but I give her credit for being hardcore).
The humans don’t love that they have to spend the night away from each other, but they understand that it’s *hopefully* temporary, and that this is what QQ needs right now to help integrate.
I would’ve loved to say that after two months, QQ is fully integrated and chilling with the rest of us. But that would also mean I might have to share my chair with her, and that part isn’t so great (and she probably knows I don’t like sharing which is why she doesn’t come downstairs much). So more time, and patience, and cleaning, and flexibility, and another update in a couple weeks to let you know how the stress/territory peeing issue is going!
