We all survived!

This weekend past the big introduction happened- and all went relatively smoothly.

By Sunday, when the dogs went home, Taxi was actually venturing down the passage to the closed gate and checking out the dogs who were sitting on the other side- as you can see in the picture (which I have to take from a distance so as not to interfere).

And he didn't even get all fuzzy and fluffed up!

Greebo is still very wary and remains behind a door when checking out the dogs.
In the other picture, Taxi is lying on the bed and Greebo is sitting at the cupboard on the floor peeking round the corner. You can see one of the dogs at the closed gate at the end of the passage. This is about as close as Greebo is prepared to get.

The dogs are back again as of this Wednesday night... so we'll see how it goes.
Though I am quite happy with keeping them seperated as they won't be seeing each other all that often...

The Age Old War...

Last night, the Glugster's dogs arrived to spend the weekend with us.

GASP!!

SHOCK!!

HORROR!!

Greebo and Taxi have never in their lives seen a dog... ever... and I had no idea how they would react!

It went relatively well... I s’pose…

The dogs sniffed around a little before shooting up the staircase and barking their heads off at the closed security gate- behind which the cats were safely ensconced and cowering watching from under the bed in our bedroom.

It didn't take my furry masters long to emerge once they realised the dogs were not coming further than the staircase- but Greebo remained either under our bed or under the duvet with Damien in his bedroom for the rest of the night.

Taxi spent the night on our bed as usual, but keeping a close eye on the bedroom door. Every now and then he's head for the door and as he got into the passage he'd get all fuzzy and arched and come back into the room.

Poor Yodi and Phoebe spent the night outside the security gate trying to guard us from the black fuzzy threats that had invaded their other home- and the dogs are used to snuggling with their people so this was real torture for them!

Luckily for all involved its short term…

Check Us Out!

New collarrrs and new toys!

Greebo and Taxi with the catnip fish
Taxi- chewing with no teeth...
Greebo loving the fishie
Taxi's new camo and target patterned collar- his is always blue
Greebo's new fishbone collar- his is always yellow

These arrre catnip filled fish so naturrrally they'rrre ourrr new favourrrite toy...

And as always ourrr new collarrrs arrre colourrr-coded forrr the odd occasion when ourrr human can't tell us aparrrt, and of courrrse forrr ourrr new human to be able to tell us aparrrt since he's still learrrning!

It Was Grrrreat!!!

The furry master's move to their new house went OH so smoothly... WAY easier than I ever imagined!
Greebo and Taxi settled in REALLY well, and by Sunday night they had each annexed an ottoman in the livingroom and snoozed with us whilst we watched the Sunday night movie!
Initially, on the Friday night, they stayed in Damien's room- with all their stuff. And BOTH of them slept under the duvet with Damien- which Taxi has NEVER done!
When I popped in to say hello on Saturday morning, Taxi was perched on Damien’s windowsill checking out the new view. I gave him a cuddle and greeted Greebo, and then Taxi tried to follow me out when I left!
Then on Saturday evening, my Glugs and I were watching a movie in bed ‘coz it was so damn cold; and I kept popping into Damien’s room to see the furbabies. After a bit my Glugs said to bring them to our room. I went and fetched Taxi and Damien brought Greebo. They slunk around a little- you know the nervous-cat-slow-and-low-to-the-ground type of movement… but in short order Taxi was on the bed with us and climbing all over Glugs! My Glugs then took a nap while I watched TV and the boys explored the room. Later in the evening when I went to make supper, they came downstairs with us… albeit slowly! They were very quickly exploring the rest of the house and following us up and downstairs, Taxi wanting to be where I was as always- including the loo- and Greebo is right back to sleeping with Damien under the duvet. Although on Sunday when I stayed home and out of the cold they both spent the day on the bed with me.
I realised today that what might also have made the boy's move even easier is that Damien and I have spent just about every weekend of the last 7 months here, so the whole house smells of us all over the place! Its not all that different to their last home...

My Poor Poor Taxi...

He's stressing so much about everything that's going on around him in the flat that his whiskers are splitting and breaking...!
My poor little snicker-doodle-tixanax has almost no whiskers left on the right side of his face and the left side's whiskers are only a little bit better.
As he was diagnosed with FeLV a few months ago, so I monitor him closely to make sure he is himself and doesn't develop the mysterious fever, loss of appetite and listlessness that seems to be indemic to FeLV. When he does get a fever, I take him to the vet and he gets a broad spectrum antibiotic- so of course I immediately attributed the whisker loss to his FeLV.

I Googled like a lunatic and could only find that maybe a kid had cut them off, he'd lost them in a fight, or he needed a dietary supplement. Then I called my vet.

He phoned me back (isn't he sweet?) and made the same suggestions as I had found online.

Losing them in a fight is not an option becaus he and Greebo are BIG mates and they don't go outside. Damien-the-amateur-eco-warrior cutting them off was also ruled out. A dietary supplement may help... but when he mentioned stress it all clicked into place!

So here's hoping they'll grow back normally when he moves in with my Glugs and things settle down again.

Moving House...

I have decided to move my furbabies in with my Glugs before we move, and even before I give my landlady notice. This also means my landlady can "show" my flat if she wants to and I won't have to worry about the boys getting out.
For one thing, my babies won’t be alone again as they’ll be with my Glugs in the week and we’ll be there on weekends.
I am very excited about our move- but at the same time I am terrified of the upheaval and the packing is very daunting…
So I have decided to move Greebo and Taxi so they can settle in before we are fully moved and they can consider it home as we steadily transfer our belongings over.
I’ll be transporting them both in their own travel boxes- they have one each- and because their boxes are always open on the floor, they consider it part of their home and they are not afraid to get into their boxes.
I’ll also be taking all their belongings over, their own bowls and water fountain and blankets and scratch posts and such. They’ll be locked in what is going to be Damien’s room to begin with- I’ll probably keep them isolated in there for a couple of weeks.
I am telling myself it will be a little easier to move them than it is to move some cats as my boys do not go outside at all. So they will not have a huge territorial adjustment to make when they move.
I will also be leaving some of mine and Damien’s things in the room with them so they can smell us and to reassure them that we are still “there”.
I was ecstatic when my Glugs met my furbabies and liked them both- and they liked him- which is amazing ‘coz they usually don’t like having anyone in their space…
And what I am even happier about is that my Glugs is quite happy with them remaining indoor cats once they’ve settled in. With Taxi’s FeLV I can’t run the risk of him infecting other cats with fighting or playing, and luckily to date Greebo has tested negative for the virus. Taxi can also very easily pick up illnesses from other cats should he be allowed to go outside since the FeLV attacks his immune system, so I won’t have that risk either.
Another bonus is that there’s a vet right around the corner where I’ll be able to take them for shots and for when Taxi needs a treatment.
This is very nerve-wracking… but I am confident they’ll be okay!