🚀 go-pugleaf

First off, a big thank you to all of you who provided us with guidance. You
certainly took a lot of strain off our nerves ...

I read the page supplied by Megan (thx a lot again) but I'm afraid that one
came just a wee bit late, since contact already had been established. So I
have followed that course:

We do have a winter garden (actually, it's more like a roofed balcony w/ a
lot of windows) which I set up for Betty. Since lots of old and disassembled
furniture are in there, she has a lot of places to explore; in there also is
a flokati (a rug looking like a polar bear hide :o) which she can rest on.
Since she is still a kitten (I don't call eleven weeks *that* old), I give
her just a shot of milk with her water, just enough to colour the liquid
white, about one part milk to six parts water. She gets that IAMS and Royal
Canin kitten food we still have left from Rima's and Luca's babyhood and
seems to like it. Plus, I dismounted the sleeping cave from the top of what
I've dubbed the "cat rack" (a climbing/scratching/playing tree about 5 1/2
ft high) for privacy and to get her used to it.

Rima and Luca both never really seemed to like the cat rack; they had part
of the door stop towards the kitchen fixed for sharpening their claws. Since
they used to wait in the kitchen as soon as one of us was in there, just in
case we fixed them some food, they could use it on the way out to their
feeding place in the entry hall. After Luca died, I tried to interest Rima
into it, but he sort of gave me that "I didn't tell you to spend $100+ on
that crap" stare and wondered off. So, Betty gets to inherit it.

Personalities: We received Luca and Rima when they were just five weeks old.
Soon enough our life was upside down, matching the contents of our numerous
shelves :o) and our day cycle whas shot to microscopic pieces. Ask any
first-time cat owner. They both are short-haired Europeans; while Rima has a
white belly and brown/grey tiger stripes, Luca was black as night except for
a white shirt, white shoes, and a white tail end. Not long after we got
them, we were heavily tempted to nickname Luca "Buster" after the famous
black-and-white movies comedian Buster Keaton. He had us laughing to tears
every other week, yet seemed unable to crack even the faintest smile.

Just one episode that clings to the mind: We found a hook fixed to the
living room ceiling when we moved in, supposedly to hang a pot plant
arrangement from it. Soon as we had the cats, I fixed a yarn roll to an old
strip of curtains and suspended it from said hook so it hung directly over
the back of our sofa. Now one night my fiancee and I were sitting on the
sofa, watching TV and cuddling the cats, when Luca started playing with that
yarn roll. Well, he gave it a world champion pounce, but struck too high so
he actually hit that strip of curtain. Puzzled by this new experience, he
failed to retract his claws in time and to our amazement came swinging over
the sofa's back like Tarzan reborn on that strip, with a facial expression
that said clear enough: "One giggle and I'll kill you all!" Well, to be
honest, we couldn't sit nor talk straight for half an hour and after lots of
hugging, stroking and scratching he eventually forgave us.

Now Rima, he's more the stoic. Not overly tall for a cat his age but built
like a brick wall, he has the temper to match. Except when something stirs
in the kitchen he reminds me of a buddha statue, because he seems to smile
all the time. He almost got tagged with the name "Mr. Stumbling Block" but
eventually learned in time not to sneak up to standing humans from the back
and lie down behind them, expecting to get another of the belly scratches he
adores so much that he even sleeps on his back (just in case a human comes
along).

Betty has turned around a full one-hundred-and-eighty in the last day. She
has wolfed down her food, started meowing so loud that my fiancee came
running from the upstairs bedroom when she felt like having company, and by
now she must have explored every square inch of every surface in the winter
garden, probably including the ceiling as well.

She and Rima still don't go too well together. I don't mind since there's a
glass door to the winter garden so at least they can get used to seeing each
other. Tonight I opened the door a crack so they could smell each other and
exchange hissing pleasantries. The German cat newsgroup
(de.rec.tiere.katzen) basically told me that Rima needs to reassert he's
boss around here, and that Betty'll have him dance to her every whim by the
end of next week. I'm not that optimistic, but Betty seems to be as
well-natured as Rima used to be while Luca was still around, so I think at
least there's hope.

Enough ramblings for now, gotta punch the keyboard a little more to earn a
couple more cans of cat food (I work as a programmer). Have a nice week, you
all, and remember Luca.

Regards,
Juergen

* EMAIL ADDRESS SPAM PROTECTED *