We’re part way through day three of new kitten, and while I won’t say Sylvia and Pippin are besties yet, we have come a long way.
Monday Night
Monday night was a bit rough. I tried to sleep in the bedroom, but Pippin was happily ensconced in the bed and Sylvia kept stalking into the bedroom, seeing him there, and walking off in a huff. If I tried to coax her onto the bed, Pippin immediately showed up to see if what was up…
So I grabbed my pillows and headed out to the couch to stay with Sylvia, whereupon Pippin immediately hopped off the bed to see where I was going (this is why he is named Pippin – these sorts of things remind us of the characters impulsiveness. Why not throw a rock down the well?). We eventually got him to stay put in bed while I slept on the couch. Around 2:30am Sylvia woke me up to open the balcony door (not entirely opposed to this – it’s when it was finally cooling off a little outside). I headed back to bed in the bedroom for what was left of the night, since she’d also decided she could sleep under the bed and tolerate being in the same room with The Intruder. We also heard her playing with the toy which the breeder sent home with Pippin – three tiers of decreasing size, each with a ball in a track. Since she hadn’t played all day Monday, this was good (if noisy for 3am) to hear.
Tuesday
By Tuesday morning, things were definitely improving further. Sylvia was now tolerating being in the same room, and even relaxing somewhat. She remained watchful, but more and more it was with curiosity rather than suspicion; more big sister keeping an eye out and less intense surveillance of a possible threat. Pippin was also permitted to approach to a distance of a few feet, and she would periodically approach even closer.
She also came up with a new (albeit slightly mean) game, which she’d first started Monday night. We called it “rising dragon” – if he was sleeping on a raised surface (bed, chair, window sill) which she could reach (and she’s lonnnggg so that’s a lot!) she’d put her paws on the edge, slowly raise herself up to look him in the face and then growl at him before settling back down and stalking off. We tried not to laugh too much when she did this. But since she seemed actually pretty in control emotionally (not worked up or angry) and he seemed to take it in stride… I definitely indulged in some chuckles.
They also had their first real, though minor, altercation. For the most part, Sylvia has not tried to corner Pippin. He always has an escape route, whether backwards or to one side. But while my husband was working on the bed, Pippin got himself stuck behind the curtains in one corner, and Sylvia took advantage. They exchanged some hisses, and whacks, at each other, but claws remained sheathed. This seemed to break some of the tension though, as after this Sylvia appeared more confident and at ease around the little guy. Jonathan even got them to play briefly together on the ball-in-a-track toy while I was out picking up bread for lunch.
I also think that she’s felt more confident that things will be ok as she’s seen us discipline Pippin – such as redirecting him from non-toys (cords) to toys, or picking him up to move him away from where he shouldn’t be. It’s proof he’s going to be subject to the same rules she is, and that’s important for older siblings to see.
The one worrying thing yesterday: Sylvia didn’t seem to be eating much. She is not by nature particularly food driven, and her Maslow’s pyramid of needs is a bit inverted. Ie: love/belonging often comes before food for her. It’s not unusual for her to seek out love and affection before settling down to eat. Between the heat and the stress, she didn’t seem to realize she needed to eat. So when she tried to cough up a hairball (which isn’t often an issue for her) and threw up only water, I wasn’t happy and felt I needed to encourage getting some food into her. While Pippin was napping in the afternoon, I took out a treat stick, which she can almost never resist, and “hid” the pieces while she watched me to follow along, “find”, and eat them. She also got an extra large portion of tuna when I made tuna salad for our dinner. When I put some food on the counter (not normal procedure – but Pippin can’t get up there yet) for her later that evening, she was pretty ravenous and ate it all.
When we went to bed Tuesday night, I stuck with the bedroom. We got her to come up on the bed for a few seconds here and there, enough for her to say “I could be here, if I wanted”, and then she settled in to sleep on the floor (which would be more typical of her anyway). I was happy when I woke up a few hours later to see her sleeping in her cat bed on the floor, as this is where she often sleeps for much of the night, and she hadn’t been in it since we brought Pippin home. I was also happy to hear her eating food in the main room once she was certain Pippin was safely asleep and out of the way. Once we settle in for the night, he does seem to stay on the bed until we get up in the morning. He didn’t even get down when Sylvia got us up in the middle of the night to open the balcony doors and go to her food bowl with her.
Wednesday Morning
This morning started off well, with Sylvia eating most of her portion of wet food from the stool in the kitchen (this is normal – she is allowed to eat from there). I was able to encourage Pippin to stick to his food bowl out in the main room, giving her space to eat in peace. I moved his food from the office to the main room on Monday evening when it was clear he’d figured out the main room was where everybody else eats, so why shouldn’t he? He was raiding Sylvia’s food. Now there are two food stations in the main room, and each time he gets it wrong, it’s easy to just scooch him back over to his.
But the really exciting news? They have started playing together! This morning it was a bit like Sylvia was trying to catch up on three days of missed zoomies. She was dashing all over the place, and then she realized she could give chase to Pippin as he ran through the apartment. She always stopped short of actually catching him, and he didn’t seem to be freaked out about it. She also ambushed him a few times from above when he was rolling around on the floor by a chair or the couch. I think a couple of these actually made him realize what a big cat he’d been antagonizing since he arrived, but she backed off whenever he hissed and indicated he wasn’t having fun.
But the really cute thing was when they played together with the cardboard “log” I bought Sylvia a while back. There is a cardboard scratch pad in the bottom, and little holes for paws around the side. She and I play with toy mice in it, and sometimes she likes to just lie inside and get pets while purring. Anyway, Pippin hopped in and she’d give him little whacks with a soft paw when he popped his head out, while he batted at her through the holes. Super cute.
We’re still seeing plenty of displays of growling and hissing, but I think she’s starting to see that there might be benefits to having a little brother around as well.