Well, things are getting better. Boots still doesn’t get along well with the other cats, but there’s much less fighting and hissing and chasing. Best of all…Boots gets along smashingly with the dog!! They play and wrestle and fight and tumble…and we even found them sleeping together (pics to come soon—they’re still on the camera)!!! So, we feel much better now that she has someone to play with—we were feeling bad because the other cats were shunning her. She still rarely comes upstairs and has yet to sleep with us (since her first night) but things ARE getting better!
The strangest thing happened yesterday, however. The little girl who used to own her came to visit (and bring her vet paperwork) and it was obvious Boots/Elizabeth remembered her because she did something to her she’s NEVER done to us… pounce and attack! The little girl was just standing there and you could see Boots crouch down, get into pounce mode, then literally rush and LEAP at the girl, making it about to her stomach,wrapping her arms around the girl. (Of course, with no claws she couldn’t hold on or do any damage, but boy, was it a sight to behold!) We thought it might just be an odd occurrence, but Boots did it about five times while she was there! And she said Boots/Elizabeth used to do that to her ALL the time!
Of course, Maggie is as cute as ever! She’s still potty training—she had a few accidents when we took her to Roger & Ursula’s (to let her play with their puppy, Scrappy) but I assume that’s to be expected since it was a strange place. But for the most part she’s good—although we still watch her like a hawk. She sleeps a lot—she’s always in one of our laps—and she will even nap with us (cute pics to come of that, as well). We’re almost to the point of leaving her in her crate during the day, instead of leaving her in the bathroom (which she HATES). We just don’t want her to piddle in her crate and create bad habits.
Our small kitchen is even smaller now, what with all the animals underfoot—and there’s ALWAYS someone underfoot (although it’s mostly Boots or Maggie). Maggie likes the kitchen because that’s where the cats’ food is, and she eats their crumbs…and their actual food when we’re not paying attention or when we forget to move it. She’s sneaky that way.
So, overall, things are going well and we’re one big happy family!