Please meet Teddy

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Ruth B
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Re: Please meet Teddy

Post by Ruth B »

Two steps forward, one step back, just the way it goes.

Friday night I was in the dining room GMing and let Teddy out for the evening, he had a good explore around the ground floor and then spend quite a bit of time sat on the chair besides me. So having had a good couple of meetings yesterday I decided to let him out again once the cat flap was blocked. I was upstairs in the bedroom and the junior were both with me, something spooked Freyja and she went under the bed. Teddy then came in the bedroom, Saturn remained on the windowsill doing his best to ignore and be ignored, Teddy eventually wandered off to find my OH in the back room. Freyja cam out from under the bed and headed for the door, Teddy was on the landing and approached her, while I was able to watch I coulnt' get close as I knew it would make Freyja worse, so it was a case of wait and see, unfortunately a hiss and raised paw from Teddy did make me move forward, at which Freyja ran for under the bed and Teddy ran back to the lounge. Not what i'd hoped for, but could have been a lot worse.

Time to take a step back and just let Teddy explore a bit under supervision a bit more. Just a hiss I would have accepted as them sorting themselves out, the raised paw may not have connected, but it wasn't the message I wanted Freyja to get or Teddy to give.
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Mollycat
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Re: Please meet Teddy

Post by Mollycat »

I don't imagine that will do any damage, as you say it could have been so much worse. And I imagine you know cats well enough that you wouldn't have allowed that situation to be a possibility if you didn't feel it would be ok. I worried when Molly first arrived (I know this because I am reminded of it by social media memories!) because she kept chasing Bobby, but then they would come thundering back with him chasing her. It was all part of them getting to know each other. Molly raised many paws and hissed many hisses, and gentle placid Boo took it all in his stride.
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Ruth B
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Re: Please meet Teddy, Introducing a new cat to the household

Post by Ruth B »

I'm sure they will be fine given time and I never expected totally smooth sailing, I'm pleased it has gone as well as it has up to now. I don't really consider it a set back, just a sign to slow down again for a bit. One of the biggest mistakes people make is to rush introductions, so at least documenting it here is giving an idea of the time involved with hence the addition to the thread title, it might bring it up more for people.

I know the family he came from had a number of unspayed females and they did tend to pester the neutered males, so that could be why he is better with Saturn, and will take more time to realise that Freyja isn't going to be trying to jump on him all the time.
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Ruth B
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Re: Please meet Teddy

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We have now had Teddy a month, I was surprised when I checked back, we only got him on the 14th May, and it is now the 15th June, he has come a long way in those four weeks. After a week of hiding, he suddenly decided he liked it here and we were demons in disguise.

Currently he is still kept in the lounge over night or when both of us are out, but if one of us is in and awake, he can wander the house, he has shown no interest in the cat flap, so I'm not really worried about him suddenly going outside, that can come later.

He and Saturn now get on fine, yesterday Saturn had been out all day and turned up again at about 8.00, had something to eat and then landed on the bed for a snooze. I was on the bed on my IPad, and Teddy jumped on as well, walked down to the sleeping Saturn and had a sniff at him. Saturn woke up at that, turned his head to see who was sniffing him and then after a mutual nose to nose, Saturn just turn back around and went back to sleep. If we just had Saturn, as long as the cat flap was shut at night, I would be happy to let Teddy wander, but we don't just have Saturn, we also have Freyja, and she is taking a bit longer to settle with him.

Currently their relationship is best described as a non aggression pact. As long as Teddy doesn't get too close to her she just watches him sternly, if he gets too close then it is hissing and a bit of yowling, which normally is enough to send Teddy back to the lounge. The hissing and yowling doesn't really worry me, the rest of her body language isn't particularly aggressive, I do think it concerns my other half far more, he is itching to go and separate them, it is easier for me during the week while he is at work and I can let them get on with it from a distance There was one incident that made me realise that it isn't quite time to let them be without someone around just yet. Teddy was in the back bedroom (no bed in sight, it used for computers and modeling) with me and Freyja reached the doorway. Teddy wanted to get out and get to the safety of his room, but Freyja stood there hissing and yowling and blocking the exit. The moment I moved Freyja took off to the bedroom and Teddy took off downstairs to the safety of the lounge. I don't think it would have come to blows if I hadn't been here, Teddy, is a cat who will back down, but it might have been a standoff for some time.

As I said, it has only been a little over 4 weeks since he came, and I never expected the introductions to happen instantly, personally I think it is going remarkably well.
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Mollycat
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Re: Please meet Teddy

Post by Mollycat »

Encouraging indeed, you always knew Freyja might take a bit more winning over and girls (I'm told) are less accepting of new friends generally - I have to agree it sounds like it's going swimmingly. Thanks for the updates this will be one really useful reference as you said for other people going through introductions to see how long it should take and how to be watchful but relaxed and not too quick to step in.
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Ruth B
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Re: Please meet Teddy

Post by Ruth B »

Another Wednesday update, which means another week has past and things are still moving forward well.

Freyja will now approach and walk past Teddy, but still isn't happy when he approaches her, as long as he gives her a wide berth she is normally happy with just a hard stare. Yesterday we went out for a bit, (first the dentist and then the cinema) and decided we would take the chance and leave him the run of the house as well. While he is interested in outside and has come out of the door a bit when it is open, he hasn't ventured far, and has yet to work out how to use the cat flap, although I think he is getting the idea watching Saturn and Freyja come and go. There was no sign there had been any problem over the day, and I was very close to letting him have the run of the house as well at night, then when i was on the bed on my IPad, about an hour before Supper Time, Saturn came hurtling into the room and under the bed, Teddy was in close pursuit. There was no hissing or anything, so I think it was just a game of chase, but decided i wasn't ready to take any chances just yet over night, it doesn't do Teddy any harm to stay in the lounge over night.

As for Teddy some of his traits are coming through:

Homicidal Tenancies, this isn't uncommon in cats and Teddy has it in full amount. The stairs are his normal weapon of choice, he is really good at running past you and then straight across in front of you as you are about to take the next step down. He will also do it on the way up,particularly if you have a much of hot coffee in hand.

Shoelaces are cat toys, it doesn't matter that he has a box of toys, balls, cat nip mice, etc, the best toy is someone's shoe laces when they are trying to tie them. A length of twine that was tying one of my rolls of leather proved a good substitute when no shoes laces were available, he managed to untie it entirely so he could play with the twine.

This morning I was out in the garden and left the back door open so he could watch and venture out a bit if he wanted. He watched for a bit, but then i noticed he was playing with something, when I investigated closer, I wasn't sure if it was a wasp or a fly, eitherway with my attitude to wasps being what it is, and seeing as it didn't seem able to fly, it ended up with a coaster dropped on it and a foot put on top of that. It did mean the door was then shut so he had to watch out of the window.

We have noticed he is a bit crosseyed, and while it doesn't seem to give him much problem we have noticed he seems somewhat hesitant to jump. He obviously doesn't have any problem when it comes to seeing something as shown by his liking of toys, so it could be even though they had a great cat tree in the house he came from, being able to jump all over the place is less normal for him, and he has problems judging the distances.

On a good note, he loves his scratching boards. While he will use the cardboard horizontal one he really like the wall mounted board, so much so that we've bought a new one to replace the existing one that has been pulled apart. I have a feeling that as it is screwed to the wall and is fairly high it is nice and firm and he can really strech up to it and have a good pull at it without feeling it might fall over on him.

All in all things are going well, and I see no point in rushing anything.
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Ruth B
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Re: Please meet Teddy

Post by Ruth B »

It has been just over 7 weeks since Teddy joined us, and I think we can say we are there.

Teddy now has the run of the house day and night (except out bedroom at night, no cat has been allowed in the bedroom at night, and it is one rule we have tried very hard to keep). He and Saturn now enjoy a game of chase on occasion, although I'm not sure Saturn quite approves of being on the receiving end of the game, rather than being the instigator, I don't think it will be long until Teddy chases Saturn in one direction and the Saturn is chasing Teddy in the other. Freyja is still less than sure about him, if Teddy approaches her too closely she will give a warning hiss, but as Teddy then backs off and 'does as he is told' I figure this counts as getting along fine. The only thing I still watch for is when Teddy lies across the landing and Freyja wants to get somewhere. I don't think Teddy would have a go at her, but Saturn used to do the same and he would have a quick opportunistic swipe when she went passed, so I think she is just being cautious. She has learnt that going over the banister is one option and he just ignores her if she does.

Teddy still can't use the catflap, and I'm being a bit slow teaching him, i see no point in rushing that yet. He does like going out and will spend half an hour or so in a morning either while I get the breakfast ready or if I'm out gardening getting used to the garden, so if one ay he does learn to use a cat flap all by himself and follow one of the others out he won't be entirely shocked and scared by what he finds.

Once I've worked out how to get the photos from my Ipone to my computer to manipulate them to fit on here, I'll add a few new ones of him
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Mollycat
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Re: Please meet Teddy

Post by Mollycat »

This all sounds really good Ruth.

Molly and Boo used to play chase - in my very small flat - thump-a-thump-a-thump Molly chasing Boo into the bedroom, then a pause, then thump-a-thump-a-thump Boo chasing Molly back into the living room. Molly also used to be the doorway sitter but not maliciously, and whenever she heard Boo in the litter tray she would hide to ambush him. All of this was games for the purpose of establishing their relationship and boundaries. He wanted to wash and snuggle with her but that was too much for her, she wanted to play rough properly but he found that overwhelming, and so they played and compromised through testing things out. Reading this makes me think that's what yours are all doing, finding their new places in the bigger family.

Also I'm a big believer in taking cats out at first, not just opening the door and letting them go, for a million and one reasons. Having Teddy establish himself in the garden and develop his confidence outdoors with you present also helps him find his way back should he ever go exploring a bit too far and helps him develop trust in you as well.

All good stuff!
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Ruth B
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Re: Please meet Teddy

Post by Ruth B »

It seems hard to believe but we have now had Teddy for almost 6 months, and for the most part things are going really well.

Teddy and Saturn quickly accepted each other, and I expected Freyja to take a little longer, which she did. I think it was a mix of her personality and instinct to be wary of anything new, and Teddy having had a bit of a rough time with the unspayed females where he originally lived. However she has come to realise, that while he may be big, he is gentle, and even if she does have to run past him he doesn't swipe at her like Saturn will at times. There have even been times when he goes past her and she will take a quick swipe at him. He on the other hand has also learnt that she isn't out to have a go at him when she does and it is just a bit of gentle playing on her part.

he loves being near people, not necessarily sitting on them but close by. It was either late last year or early this one when we were having problems with visiting cats and decided to block the cat flap off at night. One morning, soon after we had started doing it, Saturn decided he didn't want to use the litter tray as it had been used, but also didn't want to use the alternative one even though it was clean. I caught him going on the old bathmat that the dumbbells my husband has are kept on, trying to squat around the dumbbells in what looked a really uncomfortable position. It was right next to the litter tray so he was trying his best. Fortunately I got to it before it soaked through, being a bathmat it was designed to hold liquid and just put it in the washing machine. I did decide I needed something to put there, both to soften the blow when the dumbbells were put down and in case Saturn did it again, so i bught a couple of cheap bathmats off Amazon and moved things around a bit so if he really felt he had to go somewhere and didn't want to use either litter tray he could at least get on easier, some may think I'm soft, but for me it was a better option than him going on the carpet. He never did again and accepted his confinement. The spare mat ended up in front of the bathroom door. it isn't really a bathroom any more, we had a wet room put in when it was refurbished so coming out with wet feet is normal. Teddy has very much claimed it for himself. Most of the nights, and frequently during the day he is stretched out on it. He knows I'm close by in the back room during the day and can't go anywhere with out going past him.
When I'm sat on the bed watching things on Youtube or Amazon Prime is when he will join me, he iwll curl up beside me using my leg as a pillow, and with my arm wrapped around him. Freyja as taken this as her lead to come and get some fuss, lately she has been almost rolling over when I've been fussing her ears and even a quiet purr coming from her.

We still have one problem, the cat flap. When we had Freyja teaching her to use the cat flap was a nightmare, as you couldn't get close to her when she was near it. i thought that a nice friendly cat would be an easy teach, how wrong i was. He will happily go in and out if it is held open. He will even go in and out if it is only held a little, but he will not start to push it. I want him to learn to come in first, so I'll go outside with him and try and hold it open so he can get in. Unfortunately once i'm out with him he no longer is bothered about going inside, just rubbing up against my hand. There have been times when he has been outside and ended up sat out in the rain under the garden table because I hadn't noticed it had started raining. I've hoped that the cold or wet weather might make him try and use it, but he just finds some shelter and then waits until her hears me and comes meowing at the door. One day he will learn, but until then I just have to keep trying and spend time out in the cold and wet trying to get him to push a cat flap open.

There is one other incident I will mention and it is one of those that I wished I had the camera running for. Not long after he was being let out and when the cat flap was pegged open for him, i heard him come in at such a rate of knots that I was convinced that something was chasing him. I went out to check and found him on the landing soaking wet, and I mean soaking. I was too busy grabbing him and a towel to dry him off and then clean up the floor as there was a trail of water from the cat flap to the stairs and up to the landing, that there was no way i was going to grab a camera to get a picture. I'm fairly certain he must have fallen in the pond to get so wet. We have had ponds and cats for years and never had any end up in it, but I'm sure Teddy must have, possibly he thought the Lily leaves were solid ground not just floating on the surface, or he misjudged a jump, i'll never know, fortunately he seemed to have learnt his lesson and took no harm from his dunking.

I guess that is the latest update, and while i don't have any photos of a very soggy cat i do have one where he is 'helping. me on the computer by totally blocking my access to my mouse (fortunately I also have tracker ball on the other side), on the left hand side is the modem and on the right it is the side of my monitor hood.
teddy with comp mouse opt.jpg
teddy with comp mouse opt.jpg (27.77 KiB) Viewed 2491 times
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Mollycat
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Re: Please meet Teddy

Post by Mollycat »

What a very handsome chap he is and how quickly the half year has flown by. All sounds like it's going ... swimmingly!

Joking aside that really does sound so very positive for everyone concerned. It's not an easy adjustment for many cats so Freyja especially is doing so well.
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Ruth B
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Re: Please meet Teddy

Post by Ruth B »

Finally the break through, he has worked out he can use the cat flap by himself to get back in. I had been leaving him outside for longer in hope that he would work it out, instead of just going and sitting under the table when it rained and he had managed it a couple of times, but I wasn't sure if it was just a case of him following one of the other closely. This morning he was out and wanted to come in so I called him from inside, and after a couple of attempts he managed to managed to push it open with his paws and then get his head through and come in Treats were in order.

he still hasn't gone out of it by himself and i'm in no hurry to teach him that trick, with Diwali, Halloween and then Bonfire night it is a time for kitties to be safely inside if at all possible. If he hasn't worked it out by the New Year I'll start teaching him then, for now I'm just happy to know he can get in when ever he wants.
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Re: Please meet Teddy

Post by Mollycat »

Yippee clever Teddy!

Must admit my Raggie was near the back of the queue when the brains were handed out!
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Ruth B
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Re: Please meet Teddy

Post by Ruth B »

Blue was definitely not the sharpest knife in the block, he was more of a spoon to be honest. however I'm fairly certain he learnt to use a cat flap as a kitten a he never had to be taught how to use one, he even managed to escape in his first weeks with us. He was kept in the lounge with a bolt on the door as it didn't sneck well. between him and Patch they managed to jiggle the door until the bolt came undone. We came down on a cold, wet January morning to find him out of the room and out of the cat flap. I was stood in the garden shaking a box of crunchies and calling his name at 7.00 in the morning. fortunately he made his way home, and we were very careful to make sure the bolt was as far across as possible after that.

I will admit that Teddy does seem to have a few more brain cells, so I knew it was only a matter of time and having the incentive and he would work it out himself, getting me to open it for him was just the easy option. I also noticed that while his tail has the long fur that I expect on a Raggie, his body fur isn't quite as long and luxurious as Blue's was, it is still soft and thick but is missing the really long hairs, so my theory still stands, you can have the fur or the brains, but not both.
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