OMG YAY! / HMD JEJ!

i had a post almost all typed up and ready to go when suddenly (because the other human suddenly let Fae out of a room) Fae and Iggy did something that made that post no longer worth posting!

mi jam preskaŭ fintajpis blogaĵo kiam subite (ĉar la alia homo subite malfermis la prodon de la ĉambron en kiu estis Fae) Fae kaj Iggy faris ion, kion fariĝis tiun blogaĵon negrava!

THEY HAD THEIR FIRST SUCCESSFUL FULL-ON MEETING!!

ILI SUKCESE RENKONTIS UNUAFOJE!!

i don't have any good photos because the suddenness of it and i had to keep a close eye on them, but they played with a ball together and ate treats together! it was short, but oh so sweet! i'm so happy that all of the other stuff i was going to post about can wait!

bonajn fotojn mi ne havas pro la subiteco de la renkonto kaj ĉar mi devis atentege rigardi ilin, sed ili ludis kune per pilko kaj kune manĝis iom da krommanĝaĵoj! la renkonto estis mallongtempa sed dolĉega! mi estas tiel feliĉega, ke la aliaj aferoj, pri kiu mi antaŭe skribis ne gravas!

except for the fact that Iggy has a vet appointment in the morning to clear up a minor case of the cat flu that he's caught from Fae. also, Iggy has successfully eaten his first two raw meals. 8)

krom la fakto, ke morgaŭ Iggy vizitos la bestkuraciston ĉar li havas la kat-gripon dank' al Fae. ho, kaj Iggy sukcesis manĝi krudan manĝaĵon unuafoje. 8)

Iggy goes exploring / Iggy esploras

enough with the walls of text! this post is going to be photo-heavy, so sorry to anyone with a slow internet connection. today Iggy got to explore the whole apartment for the first time! he was very nervous at first because he didn't know where Fae was until we showed him, but things went very well after that. :)

jam sufiĉas la teksto-plenigitaj blogaĵoj! ĉi tiu blogaĵo estos plenplena da fotoj, do pardonon al tiuj, kiuj havas malrapidan interreton. hodiaŭ Iggy povis esplori la tutan apartamenton unuafoje! unue li estis tre nervoza ĉar li ne sciis, kie estis Fae ĝis kiam ni ŝin montris al li. tamen, post tio ĉio bonege iris. :)

stages of acceptance / etapoj de akcepto

note: Esperanto is at the end. / notu: Esperanto troviĝas fine.

from the start we knew that if we got another cat Fae may not be happy with it. when we first met her at the RSPCA shelter it was obvious that she wasn't getting along with her penmate. i tried to not read too much into that, however, as i see that all the time while volunteering at the RSPCA and know that that doesn't always last. then there was the incident with the neighbor's cat where Fae literally went ballistic. since then, however, Fae seemed to calm down some and so when Fae started acting lethargic we held out some hope that a second cat could work.

so far Fae has been taking things remarkably well. :) i think Fae's feelings come and go in stages/waves.

1. the pissed off stage: wants nothing to do with you.
2. the angry stage: still very mad but reluctantly near you.
3. the unhappy acceptance stage: not so mad anymore but still very unhappy.
4. the acceptance stage: starts to act more like normal; even becomes curious.
5. ????

during stage 1 if we sat by her she would go elsewhere. she didn't even make direct eye contact with you-- talk about being given "the cold shoulder"! stage 2 seemed to begin when she reluctantly wanted to be near us again but still shunned the attention that we gave her. during stages 1 and 2 Fae didn't purr at all, which was very strikingly noticeable because she usually purrs a lot! it wasn't until stage 3 that she started purring a little again when food was involved. she also started to play again but her already rough playing became markedly rougher! it was to the point where biting often hurt even though no blood was drawn. i guess she was acting out her mixed feelings about things... now we have entered stage 4 where she seems to have come to terms with Iggy's permanent presence in her apartment. she is still somewhat apprehensive about it, but she hisses only sometimes now and she only distances herself from us occasionally. her purring and tail wagging are almost back to normal, thank god! i'd missed them a lot. <3 i wonder if stage 5 will be "ok, i'm ready to deal with him now"..? or perhaps that's stage 6 or 10.

today we seem to have made a lot of progress! we had already been swapping their blankets and had been letting them smell each other on our clothes, but this morning they swapped places to an extent. Iggy got to go in our bedroom while Fae investigated the spare bedroom (her favorite room) that Iggy had been staying in. Fae didn't seem very put out by Iggy's smell being everywhere, although Iggy was a bit antsy, presumably due to obviously being in Fae's space. they also saw each other through a crack in the door that was bigger than ever. out of about 6 crack-in-the-door meetings there was only minor hissing twice. very encouraging. :) i'm thinking that maybe tomorrow we'll put Fae in the spare bedroom and let Iggy fully explore the apartment. then Fae will have to start facing up to his smell being everywhere without having to face Iggy himself.

in conclusion, here's a short video of Fae play-biting. enjoy your weekend & thanks for reading!

(Esperanto is below / sube troviĝas Esperanton)

Iggy's first day / la unua tago de Iggy

Note: Esperanto translation is at the end. / Notu: traduko esperanten troviĝas je la fino.

all photos are from yesterday, Iggy's 1st day.

before bringing Iggy into the apartment, the other human went up and closed Fae in our bedroom. we still had nothing at all for Iggy, so he ran off to the petstore while i brought Iggy upstairs and closed us both in the spare bedroom (Fae's favorite room btw). of course Fae heard his arrival as he was very loud about it. ^^;

like Fae, Iggy loves his food more than anything.

immediately upon being let out of the box Iggy explored every place low & high in the room. places that Fae had never tried to reach or had reached with difficulty Iggy reached with ease! he's obviously an experienced climber and explorer. when we finally had dishes to give him food and water he ate as if he had been lost in a desert for weeks! i guess he hadn't been fed/given water that day...? he's currently on Science Diet because that's what the RSPCA feeds its animals, but i intend to transition him to raw as soon as i get our vet's approval.

anyway, eventually Fae was let out of our bedroom and she immediately went to the spare room door which had never been closed before. at one point the door was barely open a crack when both of them were at it and they both had their first good whiff of each other.

Fae's response: HIIIISSSSS SPIT SPIT BAM BAM BAM!! *attacks the door*
Iggy's reply: HIIISSSS *runs away under the bed*

poor Iggy got a little scare from Fae, but he quickly bounced back not overly fazed. he is use to dealing with other cats and has confidence. Fae, on the other hand, was very miffed and confused. she hasn't attacked the door again like that since then, but she does hiss & spit a bit whenever she's at the door and knows Iggy's on the other side.

anyway, Iggy's first night went fine. i discovered that: Iggy LOVES string; he is SUPER affectionate and is gentler about it than Fae (ie. no biting); he is VERY demanding about his food, just like Fae; his voice is very similar to Fae's. i spent the night in the guest bed with him curled up in Fae's favorite spot next to me under the blanket... i see fights over this in the  future!

yesterday went about the same except without Fae attacking the door. Iggy is pretty laid back (excluding food related matters) and is taking things very well. Fae, on the other hand.... i could write a whole seperate post on how Fae is handling things and i think i will. stay tuned!

in the meantime, if anyone has any advice on introducing cats to each other it would be much appreciated. we intend to take things slow but could use some ideas on how to progress with it. thanks in advance!

:(

(Esperanto translation is below / traduko esperante estas sube)

introducing / mi prezentas IGGY!

NOTE: this post is rather long (sorry!) so i've split up the English & Esperanto for easier reading. See below for Esperanto.

NOTU: ĉar ĉi tiu blogaĵo estas iom longa (pardonon!), mi  malkunigis la anglan kaj Esperanton por ke ĝi estu pli facile legebla. Esperanto sekvas la anglan.

all photos were taken yesterday late afternoon/evening

introducing Iggy! a 1year & 4 month old black smoke Devon Rex. as some of you guessed in my previous post, he is to be Fae's new friend/brother. we're super glad to have him. :)) like everyone, Iggy has a story.... here's his (as far as i know it):

effects of the rash still visible on his head; fur is short & dull

Iggy had a loving family with other cats, a dog and a kid(s) but sadly he got very sick and his owner surrendered him to the RSPCA (Americans, think ASPCA). you see, Iggy has a very strange and terrible allergy. :( he was somehow allergic to one of his previous owner's cats (a fellow Devon!) but not to the other cat! his skin broke out terribly and he lost a lot of his fur. at the RSPCA he was put into foster care while his health improved and this is where our adoption story begins...

the photo on his RSPCA file

i have mentioned here how we felt that Fae had been acting rather lonely/lethargic lately... this lead me to casually browsing adoption/for sale listings looking for potential friends for Fae. i wasn't seriously looking because i was still very uncertain as to whether Fae would be alright with another cat and our lease only allowed for one. anyway, 3ish weeks ago i was browsing the RSPCA database (for those who don't know, i volunteer at the RSPCA) and i found Iggy's file. The photo was horrible because Iggy looked horrible when it was taken, but I was in love! BUT i kept Iggy to myself. for the next week I tired to forget about him.

he has to smell everything, of course.

a week goes by and i couldn't stand it anymore. me and the other human already agreed that Fae was acting strange-- even more so then than previously-- and we both concluded that a friend might be a good thing for her if we could find one that was suitable. well, i started casually mentioning Iggy and eventually showed Iggy's file to the other human. he liked Iggy too but we were still undecided and went back and forth on the issue for the next week.

this past sunday i woke up determined to call the RSPCA to at least find out how he was doing at his foster home and let them know that someone was interested in him. i was worried because if he wasn't recovering welll he would probably end up being euthanized and even if he were recovering well they may euthanize him anyway if they deem his condition too hard to find a home for.... i wanted them to know that someone was interested in him despite his condition.

upon calling the RSPCA, i was told that his condition was improving but he still wasn't well. as i had feared, the person on the other end of the line voiced concern about him being adopted because even though his breed was very desirable his condition was not. she wasn't sure when/if he would leave his foster home and become available for adoption, but she said that she would keep me updated on his condition. :)

the next day (this past monday) i received a call from another person at the RSPCA. again i was told about his condition-- that it is something that he would possibly need lifelong treatment for etc-- and then i was asked if i wanted to meet him. of course i jumped at the opportunity, despite the fact that Iggy was at a shelter 2hrs drive away! i told the person that we would come on thursday.

fast forward to yesterday, the day of the most exciting and anxious roadtrip ever! we drove to Toowoomba, a small mountain town west of Brisbane. it was the farthest west i've been in Queensland yet and was a really interesting ride, but i'll skip that part. :P we arrived at the small RSPCA shelter sometime around 2pm and was taken to meet Iggy who had been brought back to the shelter and was staying in a kennel in the cattery.

Fae did this soon after we got her too!

talk about a talkative cat! i thought Fae was really talkative, but Iggy takes the cake. he wandered around free in the small cattery talking up a storm and exploring everything while we watched and talked to the adoptions person. even in the environment that was the kitten-filled cattery Iggy had quite the personality. we loved him and decided to take him home with us. :) after filling out some paperwork we made the 2hr trek home with a very scared/angry and LOUD Iggy in a box in my lap (see previous post). it was a very, VERY long ride home.........

to be continued!

(the following is in Esperanto / ĉi sube troviĝas Esperanto)

UHOH

earlier today in the car (via cellphone video).....

hodiaŭ pli frue en la aŭto (per poŝtelefona video)....

WARNING: if you have a cat around headphones are advised!

ATENTU: se proksime estas kato mi rekomendas, ke vi uzu kapaŭskultilojn!

(or watch the video on Youtube / aŭ spekti la videon ĉe Youtube)

wordless wednesday / senvorta merkredo

"wish it were Warmer"

"deziras, ke estus pli Varme"