New addition to the family...

**ISUFan22** · 06-11-2007, 09:04 AM

Picked her up yesterday, she's about 10 or 11 weeks old. Desperately needed to add a friend for Sassy - our 7 year old cat that lost her sister back in April. Sassy is none too pleased right now - hissing and growling almost non-stop since we brought the new kitten home Sunday afternoon.

Still don't have a name for her yet, but here's a couple photos - she poses for the camera quite nicely! Also have a couple photos of the much bigger, fatter Sassy...

**CyinCo** · 06-11-2007, 09:09 AM

Ah, yes, the lazer pointer game. Fun for cats and dogs alike.

**ISUFan22** · 06-11-2007, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by CyinCo

Ah, yes, the lazer pointer game. Fun for cats and dogs alike.

Oh...if I feel like it - I'll record a short video of her chasing that thing. Man...kittens go nuts over it.

Sadly, this one quickly learned chasing the thing in circles made her dizzy which led to falling flat on her chin. Only was able to do that twice before she figured it out and would no longer chase the laser circle. Sassy, on the other hand - will still do it.

**AirWalke** · 06-11-2007, 09:16 AM

Originally Posted by CyinCo

Ah, yes, the lazer pointer game. Fun for cats and dogs alike.

I used to use my laser pointer to drive my cat up the walls -- literally. I spun the poor thing in circles on the kitchen floor as well. She seems to have learned better at her old age, but it was still fun to mess with her intrigue as a kitten.

**cycloneworld** · 06-11-2007, 09:18 AM

Congrats! It will take a few weeks for the existing cat to get used to the new one. Expect nightly fights.

**ISUFan22** · 06-11-2007, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by cycloneworld

Congrats! It will take a few weeks for the existing cat to get used to the new one. Expect nightly fights.

Yeah, we're used to that. Sassy was our first cat and we introduced Sadie a year later. It was all-out war. We made the mistake of letting them hash it out early - when Sadie still had her front claws. Sassy got scratched up a bit.

My method for finally solving that fight was to put them in a box (that once held reams of paper), cut a few holes in it and let them sort it out. That box shifted and jumped for a good 10-15 minutes. Finally no more noise came from the box and it stopped moving.

They were best friends from that day until we had to put Sadie to sleep in April.

I don't think we'll do that this time around as Sassy is much bigger now. We are only going to let the new kitten out when we're around until we get her front paws declawed. And even then, we won't leave 'em alone together until they're at least somewhat decent to one another.

**DaddyMac** · 06-11-2007, 09:35 AM

Two words ...

Disco ball.

My brother got one for a christmas present a few years back. We hung it up, got a light on it and the cat went absolutely ballistic. Funny as hell. He'd sit there and watch intently. Then all of a sudden he'd pick one dot out and go like mad for it - across the floor, up the couch, up the wall, back down, then start over.

Hope your integration of the two cats goes better than ours did. When my wife moved in, I had my male cat and she had her "Seed of Satan". It's been 5 years and she's still a little $#@&#@ - the cat, not my wife.

Fortunately, for the past year we've had the puppy to torment it. She just wants to play with the cat, but pretty much ends up beating the daylights out of it in the process.

**CyGal** · 06-11-2007, 10:00 AM

Hey, congrats on the beautiful kitten!

About the laser pointer and the cats climbing the walls: My dad got ahold of a laser pointer when my cat was still quite young. He was running her all over the living room and eventually had her climb the back of the couch. As the pointer continued going up the wall, the cat thought she could keep chasing, so she kept trying to go up, and ended up falling behind the couch. We all laughed our a**es off, and the poor cat climbs sheepishly out from behind the couch, waits about 2 minutes, and starts going after the light again. I really wish we had taped that, it was priceless!
Much more interesting than my in-law's cat that will stare for hours at the spot on the wall where he last saw the light.

**ISUFan22** · 06-11-2007, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by CyGal

Much more interesting than my in-law's cat that will stare for hours at the spot on the wall where he last saw the light.

Sassy will do the same thing - look for the missing light - nearly as funny as a cat chasing it.

The new kitten looked for the light after it was gone for about 30 seconds, looked up and thought "Oh, fluffy ball!" and began attacking a yarn-like ball. No attention span to kittens...

**AirWalke** · 06-11-2007, 10:37 AM

Originally Posted by ISUFan22

Sassy will do the same thing - look for the missing light - nearly as funny as a cat chasing it.

The new kitten looked for the light after it was gone for about 30 seconds, looked up and thought "Oh, fluffy ball!" and began attacking a yarn-like ball. No attention span to kittens...

The real fun is running the laser right into the crease of the couch, and then turning it off, making it appear as if it slid right between the cracks. It drives cats crazy just looking for it!

**CyGal** · 06-11-2007, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by AirWalke

The real fun is running the laser right into the crease of the couch, and then turning it off, making it appear as if it slid right between the cracks. It drives cats crazy just looking for it!

My dog doesn't need a laser pointer to stick his head between the couch cushions. Every now and again I'll look over and his head is buried and his but sticking straight up in the air. I guess he's looking for crums or chewies that might have been dropped down the cracks.

**jdoggivjc** · 06-11-2007, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by AirWalke

The real fun is running the laser right into the crease of the couch, and then turning it off, making it appear as if it slid right between the cracks. It drives cats crazy just looking for it!

We'll do the same thing with Pepper, only we'll send it under the couch and she'll just wait for it to come out (it always appears behind her

).

What's really fun is if the kitten has some "puppy" tendencies, like if he/she likes to play fetch. Our kitten loves that. We have this stick with feathers and bells on the end of it and she loves to stalk that, then she'll charge it, and as you bring it straight up she'll jump like 3 feet into the air just to try to get it. Then you chuck the stick and she'll run after it and bring it back to you. It's a lot of fun!

**CyGal** · 06-11-2007, 11:20 AM

I had a cat who used to walk from the basement to the 2nd story of the house, grab his favorite toy (a feather on a string, attached to a plastic stick) and drag it all the way back down to the basement. Only he would leave it 5 feet out of your reach, so you had to get up and 'fetch' so you could get him to play.

**nboltz** · 06-12-2007, 12:54 PM

We have had two cats for over 1.5 years and they still fight constantly. They have never got along with each other, and I don't think that they ever will.

**ISUFan22** · 06-12-2007, 01:00 PM

Well, I'm encouraged by our situation. Sassy is coming around...

Coming around meaning - instead of hanging out in the basement or in a corner - growling and hissing...

She's upstairs, out in the open, a little closer to the new kitten (now known as "Hazel") - growling and hissing.

This is a good sign, yes?