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Kitty City: Population, eight
There are times when we all seem to be doing well, and other times when we would just as soon sell off the lot of them for medical experiments.
So a couple of weeks ago saw me trek to the PetSmart in the retail wilds of Brentwood Commons. I went to the back of the store, found the item I wanted, then flagged down a staffer. “I need to buy this cat tree,” I said. “Do you have a dolly or flat bed truck I could use?” It turned out that he did, and would wheel it out for me. I shelled out the hundred-odd dollars for the tree, then out we went to the parking lot.
As I unlocked the car door, I remarked to the PetSmart guy that the tree should fit inside the vehicle, as my wife had purchased one a few days earlier and was able to fit it inside. PetSmart Guy was visibly struck by the notion that this was our second cat tree purchase. By way of explanation, I told him that we had six cats at home. The look of amazement did not leave his face.
Loading the cat tree into the car was the work of a moment, and I thanked the staffer for his help. PetSmart Guy smiled. “Do you think you have enough cat trees?” he asked.
I smiled back and said, “Sure hope so!”, when what I should have said was, “Yeah, you can laugh, pal, it’s not your six cats.”
The trees, positioned at north and south:
We purchased this feline furniture not just to add more soft horizontal surfaces to a house that already abounds in cushions and padded baskets. Rather, we bought the trees in order to give the cats more territory, something to offset the cramped horizons that came with an increase in cat population and the closing off of previously accessible rooms. They do seem to like the new furniture (which they had better, considering the cost in dollars and amused grins from PetSmart employees).
M decided to buy the first tree after some reading in Cat vs. Cat by feline behaviorist Pam Johnson-Bennett, which has been a boon to us here in Kitty City. Prior to ordering the book, we’d lurched along in our attempts to create a harmonious multi-cat household - some good days, at least as many difficult days, and an overriding sense of frustration. M has many years of experience with cats - much more than I do - but even she was often at wit’s end.
Many of the problems we’d encountered in trying to incorporate one-eyed, FIV+ former stray Jack into the household stemmed less from him than from the reaction of other cats to him - most notably Scooter, our stubborn gray British shorthair. Scooter’s opinion of Jack could be fairly paraphrased from Donkey’s reaction to Puss in Boots in Shrek II: “The role of annoying talking animal is already taken.” He’s acted as the fierce guardian at the gates, a kind of living Fu Dog:
Scooter has done his best to bully Jack out of the house, but Jack confounds him by utterly refusing to be intimidated. You’ve seen cats roll over on their sides or backs in apparent submission before other felines? Jack doesn’t do that. “Submissive” doesn’t seem to be in his vocabulary. This is why we call him Little Big Cat. Of course, we also call him Mike Wazowski.
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I’m exhausted just reading this!
My house is about 1000 square feet, and I once housed 8 cats: 7 inside, 1 outside. Two in my bedroom, two in my office, three had the run of the rest of the house. (The sequestered four were foster cats.)
Scooter has done his best to bully Jack out of the house, but Jack confounds him by utterly refusing to be intimidated.
I’ve experienced this. One of my late cats, Shadow, was the alpha guy. When I brought home (the also late) JJ, she was only a kitten, but she’d been living on the streets and I suspect gained some skills. Her first look at Shadow brought her love at first sight, but he was having none of it and started his usual belligerence and posturing. She responded to all his bullying by rubbing against him affectionately: Love me! Love me! Love me! He soon gave up and gave in. He bullied Molly to the end, but JJ was his napping/cleaning pal.
Jack’s yowly attitude toward Leon
Maybe Jack and Leon know each other from The Outside.
I’m down to one cat, a new one since all the others died, and it occurs that I’ve never blogged about him even though he’s one interesting dude. I need to get on that.
Have the cats all claimed specific perches on the cat trees, or do they share?
Eight cats? That makes us look like slackers. You are then more than familiar with the cat shelter lifestyle.
Love me! Love me! Love me!
Awww! I love that!
M has wondered if jack and Leon have a prior relationship. Hard to say, though, and the carts aren’t talking. (Or maybe they are and we just aren’t grokking it.)
About the cat trees: Roxy has dibs on the top of the north tree, and sometimes uses the top of the south treee. Otherwise, the top of the south tree belongs to Baxter. Scooter never climbs, but will occasionally sleep on the bottom of either tree. Venice takes whatever level she feels like. Jack usually goes for the middle level of one tree or another (assuming that some other cat doesn’t complain about his presence), when he bothers with the trees at all. He seems to prefer the back of the sofa in the front room.
You should totally blog about your kitty. And your post about Molly really was moving.
you are a genius and a friend to all the feline world- always heard they needed their territory, but who would think vertical. Maybe we can send Cheney and Palin vertical…
Maybe we can send Cheney and Palin vertical…
John, there’s not a tall enough cat tree in the whole world…
I thoroughly enjoyed your post. We only have TWO cats, and sometimes that’s more than enough!
Yes, even two cats can be a handful…if they’re the right kind of cats!
Don’t I know it. We already have two cats, and are thinking of adding another two. The younger of the two brats would probably like a little girl-critter to chase him around the house, but my older fat bastard is just mean as hell. He used to beat up Little Man when I first brought him home but now that they’re both older the tides have somewhat turned. We’re hoping that the appearance of two little girls may confuse him so much they’ll have a fighting chance. And, yes- that book is great!
The idea of adding two girls to balance your two boys (as opposed to two more boys or a mixed pairing) sounds good to me - but beware! Four cats can be more than twice the work of two. Of course, it does depend on the personalities. Good luck with the family additions!
In addition to Cat vs. Cat, we also have Johnson-Bennett’s big book, Think Like a Cat, which we’ve dipped into many times. I used to visit her forum at iVillage during the five years she was the resident cat behavior expert there.
Eight cats . . .Wow, I’ve had three in one household and that was . . . Exciting.
I want a cat, but nahhhhh I don’t think Jim will go for it. *wry look*
I’ll just have to visit you and M, instead :-)
And speaking of that . .I am looking forward to meeting you two this weekend!
Andrea
I want a cat, but nahhhhh I don’t think Jim will go for it. *wry look*
Yes…I don’t see Jim and cats on the same page, not on a regular basis. :-)
Looking forward to seeing you two as well!
aahhhhh! i love the picture of baxter with the four other cats on the window behind him. lord of the manor, indeed.