The Perils of Zeke and Zack
Well, Jeannie and I have been able to coax our new cats, Zeke and Zack, out of hiding for two nights in a row.But they go back into hiding each night, and need to be coaxed out again when we get home.
Still, they seem to be getting acclimated to their new home little by little. In fact, one of them woke me up about a half-hour ago by knocking down one of our CD towers.
Katie, our other cat, is still hissing and growling at the boys. I’ve seen her swat at them at least twice. But the new cats seem to be getting braver in her presence. Katie tried to scare Zeke away from the food dish, but he ignored her and kept eating. I hope they’ll both learn to stand up to her soon.
I haven’t gotten any pictures of them yet, but I’ll post them as soon as I do.
January 3rd, 2007 at 3:04 pm
If you want to coax them out of hiding for long periods of time, swing by Wal-Mart and drop about $4.00 on a Hartz: Gone Fishin toy.
It’s a plastic stick with a bungee rope, a wooden ball, a bell and some fuzzy feathers on the end of the rope. Toss the suction cup in the trash. It’s worthless if you just stick it somewhere and wait for them to play with it. Hold the stick and flip the feather end back and forth by and over their heads. If nothing else, you’ll find out what kind of bird catchers they’ll grow up to be. Rikki will vertical leap, no exaggeration here, four and a half feet up to catch the thing. Sometimes doing a back flip twist in midair to get a bit of extra silliness in there.
One word of warning with this toy. It may turn your cats into the equivalent of crack addicts. We got this toy a few months ago and now Rikki lives for the thing. He begs for you to play with him with it all day and will come running from any of his hidey holes at the faintest sound of the thing’s bell tingling. Hell, he’ll play with it to the point that, ooooh, three hours later, he looks like he just ran the New York Marathon, collapse in a heap and still paws at the toy to try and get you to play with it with him.
January 4th, 2007 at 11:00 am
There is a second way we get the cats out in the open. Go to PetSmart and buy trests calles Kookamunga. They are catnip treats. I wouldn’t give any one cat more than 4 treats. They are potent little things and will make your cat sick if you give them too many.
All we have to do is shake the can and they come running. Nio turns into Zen Kitty and Ricki turns into Spaz Kitty, and they both get along.
All else fails…get catnip:)
January 4th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Actually, Zeke and Zack have come out of hiding on their own. They’re exploring the house, eating, drinking their water, playing, and being affectionate. They’re even learning to stand up to Katie!
I am, however, concerned about Katie now. I don’t want her to feel alienated, and I don’t like her constant aggression towards the boys. I’m not sure there’s anything I can do, though. It may be something all three cats will have to work out for themselves.
January 4th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
Yeah, they’ll probably work it out for themselves. Like I said in the other thread, Nio was a real stinker about Rikki for about a month before the ice started to thaw around here. By month six, Nio looked at Rikki as his favorite toy. We only had problems after that when endless kittenish energy would still be at high levels when Nio’s Evil Kitty power meter had shifted well into his “snooze” settings.
Jenn’s also bugging me to say “sorry” for her for the spelling errors in her post. Yeah, I told her it’s no big deal. She’s just self conscious about it at the moment. She can usually write better then most people, in two languages no less, but the spawns of Evil (Evil being me
) are flat-lining her energy levels to the point that her brain is going on strike for at least twelve hour a day.
January 5th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Congrats on the new addtions to your family!! I’m sure Katie will come around. Kittens are so fun- I’m jealous!!
January 5th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
MAN, I wish we could get cats, but our landlord won’t let us. I miss the one cat we used to have, Mr. Smokey. He’d ride around on my shoulder, occasionally swiping at things. He’d climb my shirt to get up there. (Although the one time he tried after I’d been swimming was less than a pleasing experience for either of us.)
Mr. Smokey and White Cat, an almost-stray that Stace brough home, also had that fising thing. White Cat never noticed it, but somewhere I’ve got a tape of Smokey stalking the thing like Smokey of the Serengeti. If you get one, if nothing else it’ll get Katie used to the guys, or you’ll have a full fledged fur flying fivil, er, civil war on your hands.
January 15th, 2007 at 8:05 am
deer meester bills…
eye wuz jusssst reeding you are enteries boot yur knewish kyttenz.
mays bee ewe shuld duck quack taype da oldahs kytten ins placelyke an den de widdle wons kkann tikkle herrs phancies unn tills she puurrsssss…
good, yyesss?
January 16th, 2007 at 8:57 am
hmmm….veddy intewesting.