Pets!

[Bessarion]

@Cornpopped THAT FACE

[junipersky]

Baby Clover <

All of them + mama got fixed today. They came home super snuggly. Especially the little girl, Columbine. Spay is so much harder on their bodies than neuter is.

[GF]

@junipersky Awwwww, thems needin much snuggins

[junipersky]

My new foster family is adorable. 2 orange (1 male, 1 female), 2 tortoiseshell, and their DAD. Mom was too skittish and refused to be caught. If they do catch her they will likely spay and release.

We call them the SWAT team.
Commander
Adorable. He is probably less than two years old (no tabby cheeks from testosterone) and had to be someone’s pet at some point because he is so docile and calm.

Sierra
Sweet, but rather shy. She enjoys playing but is spooked easily.

Whiskey
All purrs and action, no brain. He lives up to the orange cat stereotype.

Alpha
Her name is earned, she is OPINIONATED. She is allowed to be in our space when she chooses to be, including for sleeps, but God forbid if we go into HERS. She will smack!

Tango
She is a good balance between Whiskey and Alpha. She loves to get petted and loved, but looks before she throws herself into something. She got all the brains Whiskey didn’t.

Cutest pair: Sierra and Commander. They adore one another and cuddle constantly. If they stay this close after spay and neuter, we are going to have to get creative for how they can stay together in the shelter. Sierra is too little for the adult areas, and Commander is too sweet and big for our kitten room. (I think our teenage kittens will bully him.)

[Pax]

one of my little idiots. my swaggletooth underbite champion. I’d murder for her, I wouldn’t even hesitate.

[helvetica]

One of these dogs has made a huge mistake.

[Testament]

@helvetica It’s the one smiling. They’re proud of what they did. And they’ll do it again.

[Packrat]

I got a new friend just before Christmas, a ragdoll kitten who is opinionated and altogether too pretty.

Six months old now and I am pretty sure she thinks she owns the place:

[Testament]

I do love ragdoll cats. They’re cute af

[Tez]

@Packrat SWEET BABY. You will have to post update pics as her coloring darkens. Is she a blue or a lilac? I have the worst time telling those colors apart.

I have a smoke ragdoll and my sister has her blue kitten. I call her my defective discount purebred. She wasn’t having big enough litters so the breeder sold her to us at a discount with her last kitten.

[bear_necessities]

If only he’d stop eating trash.

[junipersky]

We have decided that we are keeping Commander and Sierra together despite the age difference. They sat in my lap snuggled together for an hour. This is Commander and Sierra with Commander giving her a kiss.

![alt text (https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1046495457200848979/1075256212804870224/VideoCapture_20230214-201933.jpg)

[Wizz]

I know this is more of a picture thread, but can I ask for some advice?

We’ve wound up with six cats all told because times are tough and all the local vets were charging very high prices for spay/neuturing (almost $400 just for one) and were booked out like three months, unfortunately. Poppa cat Alucard is fixed, and we’re scheduling the momma Oreo next for her health, so we’re not worried about any more showing up, lol…but six cats is just a lot of cats for us in the long term.

My son and I adore these little creatures and he is very, very attached to them, but I have finally been able to help him understand that at least some of them need to find new homes.

The biggest issue, however, is that now that the kittens are weened, Oreo does not tolerate them, like at all. She is very affectionate with us, but has become very standoffish with ALL the other cats and will not accept them in her space, which is aggravated by the fact that they are all very playful and constantly try, which sets her off.

I have been considering finding her a home without other pets, but my son absolutely will not hear it since he’s had her since she was a kitten and they have a very strong bond. I am really worried that she will continue to become more aggressive with the other cats and I feel like it’s only a matter of time until she hurts one of them or gets hurt, though. Any thoughts on how I can approach this with him?

[bear_necessities]

@Wizz Honestly letting go of the cat that you’ve had since she was a kitten seems unfair. It seems like she’s doing the momma cat thing and establishing her boundaries now that the kittens are weened. It might be overwhelming to her to have that many kittens in her space/face all the time. I would rehome the kittens and give momma her peace back.

[Wizz]

@bear_necessities

We can start there, but she’s also been very aggressive with Alucard lately as well. Hopefully rehoming the kittens helps, and I don’t have to come back around to it.

[Pax]

@Wizz This might be a bit above my paygrade and I haven’t had a lot of cats, but to echo @bear_necessities, older dogs “correcting” younger ones is common socializing behavior. Eventually, the little 'uns learn boundaries and what they should and shouldn’t do. It looks crazy and aggressive to us but for them, it’s perfectly normal and completely fine. They don’t have another way of saying “don’t do that, it stresses me out, I don’t like that shit.”

The spillover to Alucard may very well just be stress, and fair cop: suddenly having a bunch of kittens in your space is stressful. Imagine if four toddlers you didn’t ask for showed up right now! You’d be stressin.

*Again, let me emphasize IDK anything about cats, this is just what I’ve observed from a lifetime of doggos.

[Wizz]

@Pax that makes sense. This is my first time really raising cats on my own, and it was definitely unsettling to see her seem so upset with them, especially since Alucard is so affectionate with them. I will keep that in mind!

[GF]

@Wizz By a weird coincidence, YouTube has been pushing a lot of “how to socialize cats” videos to me lately, so there seems to be a lot of advice over there if you have the time to watch the vids.

[Snackness]

@Wizz Cats are very sensitive to changes to their social structure and territories. I can’t guarantee that rehoming the kittens will help her behavior towards the other cats, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

[Wizz]

@Snackness
Fingers definitely crossed. I love Oreo and especially love how close she is with my kiddo, so I was dreading the prospect of rehoming her too and will just try to be positive about it not coming to that.

Thanks all!