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There is a new member in the Viola Household. She\u2019s a young Russian Blue mix kitty and Apollo and Anna are both curious and somewhat intimidated by this 8-pound little creature.<\/p>\nThere is a new member in the Viola Household. She\u2019s a young Russian Blue mix kitty and Apollo and Anna are both curious and somewhat intimidated by this 8-pound little creature.<\/p>\n
As both Apollo and Anna are affectionate at times, neither is a cuddler and for the past couple of months I\u2019d been thinking how nice it would be to have a kitty sitting on my lap purring and cuddling. Well, Saturday night I brought home \u201cTeresa\u201d from a car shelter, after going to see \u201cMiss Happy Birthday\u201d who bit me 5 times in between her purrs and then attacked \u201cTeresa\u201d when she came over to say hello to me! Not the cat for me! Both cats were among 40 cats removed from a house when the owner died. Several shelters stepped up to take the cats, and five went to the Pat Brody Shelter which I found during my searching on-line. The next day, actually at 4 a.m., I couldn\u2019t sleep so I got up, went on-line and started looking for Russian girl\u2019s names. Hence Mishka! \u2013 with my own spelling.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been an interesting three days \u2013 especially the first 36 hours. I decided Al\u2019s former study would be a good \u201ckitty house\u201d initially so I could keep the cat and dogs apart and introduce them slowly. I also was told to introduce Mishka to the house slowly \u2013 one room at a time, so for the first two days I had a series of revolving doors between dogs and the cat with time set aside for all three individually. In order to share the adventure with my family, I kept track of the day\u2019s schedule:<\/p>\n
Get up, let dogs out, feed dogs.<\/p>\n
Go upstairs, ask Mishka how she slept, feed her and clean litter box.<\/p>\n
Go downstairs and stuff Kongs with peanut butter and kibble for the dogs during the Patriots game<\/p>\n
Go walk the dogs.<\/p>\n
Go back upstairs and play with Mishka and clean the litter box again.<\/p>\n
Bring Mishka downstairs and out to the sun room so she can start to learn about her new home. Keep dogs on the other side of the glass door so they can see but not touch.<\/p>\n
Take Mishka back upstairs to her room and go down to the living room and open up the box with the cat tower I\u2019d purchased so kitty could look out the window and watch the bird feeders<\/p>\n
Spend the next 1 \u00bd hours trying to assemble the cat tower parts \u2013 unsuccessfully even though every part was numbered. (Where\u2019s Al !! I\u2019m not mechanically inclined and the tower is still assembled unsteadily and incorrectly with parts and screws left over)<\/p>\n
Watch the first half of the Patriots game with the dogs.<\/p>\n
Give the dogs their kongs and put them in two separate rooms so Anna doesn\u2019t steal Apollo\u2019s and bring Mishka down to the living room to watch the second half of the Patriots game.<\/p>\n
After the game, switch to the Red Sox playoff game, take Mishka back to her room, put batteries in a little radio so she has some music, and then go let the dogs out.<\/p>\n
Feed the dogs, the cat, and me (a hamburger.)<\/p>\n
Watched \u201cThe Equalizer\u201d on TV then let the dogs out for the last time and go into Mishka\u2019s room to spend a little time with her.<\/p>\n
Crawl into bed exhausted.<\/p>\n
Yesterday went a little more smoothly, having it now down to a routine \u2013 put dogs away, introduce Mishka to a new room, bring dogs back out, take one dog into bedroom with Mishka for one-on-one introductions. Walk dogs. Feed everyone, clean the litter box, give everyone treats<\/p>\n
Today is day three and we\u2019ve made great progress. Mishka likes Anna, it seems \u2013 no hissing \u2013 and although she walks around her. Mishka seems unafraid, but Anna is still somewhat intimidated. Apollo remains curious and has now decided he wants Mom to cuddle, rub his tummy at least twice a day and tell her he\u2019s happy to cuddle, he loves her \u2013 why did she get a cat!<\/p>\n
Lunch was peaceful. The dogs sat and stared at my sandwich, per usual, Mishka walked past both of them, assumed a comfortable position on the sofa and proceeded to go to sleep. Both dogs decided to do likewise once Mom was though eating, so I read the newspaper and the three critters slept in co-habitation peacefully! Stayed tuned\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is a new member in the Viola Household. She\u2019s a young Russian Blue mix kitty and Apollo and Anna are both<\/p>\n