Thread: I'm indulging myself

Originally Posted by FreyjaRoMaine

In the first image, Freyja was exactly 4 months old.

In the second image, she was just over 7 months old.

Don't ask me how I got her to pose the same way twice!

What an absolute stunner she is! Her colouring is very much like one of Tatja's sisters. When we'd only seen pictures of the litter she was our first choice. But when we met the sisters in person we decided on Tatja who was more laid-back and affectionate. The sister was kept by the breeder as a future queen and she's growing into the most gorgeous torbie girl, almost as pretty as your Freyja.

BTW, how are things going with Freyja and Wicca?

Originally Posted by Antonia

BTW, how are things going with Freyja and Wicca?

Rationally, I know it's no worse than anyone else's experience but I've not been in this situation before and it's been awful. Freyja's taken to stalking Wicca now and tries to corner her in rooms or on the stairs. Initially she didn't try to touch her or go near her, just hostile growling and hissing, but in the last two days we've moved on to boxing with extended claws and dropping to attack stance before going for Wicca. Bizarrely, Wicca generally doesn't give a toss unless she's being trapped into a space and has to get past Hissing Sid to get out. OH was here with them all day and he felt anxious enough to move Wicca's food bowls and litter tray into the dining room as he was convinced that Freyja's intimidation tactics were preventing the little thing from having a pee.

Wicca's just adorable - she's precocious, bold, brave, hilarious, loving, affectionate and has just to-die-for chirps, but it's really difficult to enjoy her when Freyja is so deeply unhappy.

I don't recognise Freyja and I miss her so much. She's avoiding OH and me so the best we are currently able to do in terms of showing her love is talking to her, braving the hissing to give her ears a rub and treats.

Oh dear Karen, that sounds really distressing. I would suggest as others have done, to give Freyja lots of one-to-one attention, and the run of the house, barring one room where Wicca stays. Then take it gradually from there. What do you guys think?

Owww... difficult, difficult. The stalking I’ve seen, but never the extended claws, and never had to lock a cat up.

I remember a friend of mine had two hostile cats. She solved it by getting them to play with the same toy. She kept dangling the toy between them. Took a while but finally it worked. They’re best mates now.

Howlinbob’s suggestion sounds good… keep giving Freyja lots of attention. But I’m not sure about locking Wicca up.

I can imagine you are distressed. When Tatja and Monty were not yet seeing eye to eye, hubby and I almost panicked and we thought: “OMG, we’ve made two cats unhappy!” Of course, we hadn’t. Cats live in a world where things are different. So perhaps you shouldn’t try to read too much in the girls’ behaviour yet. Observe, be patient, don’t interfere. It takes time, and some distance on your part.

Someone on here (Candes?) said: have a drink, chill out. Not bad advice at all. There's not much else you can do right now, I think.

Originally Posted by candes

And Antonia, not all cats have to be locked up. But it is best to do this and to take it slow. Just in case this kind of jealous cat situation develops. And also, until you learn the personality of the new kitten too.

Yes, you’re probably right. As I have said, I have no experience with serious hostilities… both our newcomers settled in quickly. I guess we were just lucky two times round. Which makes your advice more useful than mine.

Originally Posted by candes

Still Antonia, all kittens get stressed with change. And also from being yanked away from their moms and littermates.

Makes sense.
What you're saying confirms my idea that we must have been unusually lucky indeed to have had two newcomers who took everything in their stride. I would have been at my wits' end if little Minnie had been terrified of the big ones.
I do hope the dust will settle at Karen's soon.

Originally Posted by candes

I wonder how Karens kitties are doing today.

So do I. Haven´t seen any new posting by her...

Thought I'd post a few more pics of the girls, especially as the dust has well and truly settled...

So, first, the girls have a new Tigga Tower for the lounge; we've been getting serious turf war over the one platform in the study despite the fact there's enough bed space for three giant cats, so I popped down to Tigga Towers to get a second platform to replace the igloo with (the tower is about 2 meters tall to the top of the igloo and both cats like to sit ON it rather than in it, which just makes me cringe, so it's got to go) and ended up coming home with the platform PLUS a second tower. They like the new one as it means they've got their own space - a platform each - in the same room as us. So both towers now have enough platform space for platform-hog-Wicca and the ever-expanding-Freyja.

I also managed to get a half-decent picture of Wicca, although I've had to adjust the brightness so that you can actually see her features!

A miracle photograph of the two cats grooming each other - apologies for the poor quality.

And a nice picture of Freyja lolling about on our bed. She had been chewing on my kindle case - possibly to show me that she prefers The Dresden Files as a bedtime story over The Desert Spear! She wasn't that keen on The Angels of 9/11, either, so I guess she's really a vampire/wizard/werewolf kind of a cat. Wicca's not that interested in books at all, but she does quite like being in the kitchen when OH is cooking and he's listening to his 'sweaty raver' CD's! No photo's of the latter yet, but watch this space...