Well, here we are. One big happy family.
There are a few things I glossed over in the last post here that I wanted to cover.
Daisy was able to get the Meta 2 Ray-Bans, but they are not yet in her possession. They'll have to be manufactured, lenses set to her prescription, etc etc. Walmart will call her for pickup when they're ready. Luckily the Walmart is three miles from our house (it's the one that I get all my grocery deliveries from) and I haven't been in there in a few years now, so it'll be a fun little excursion when we go pick them up.
We had a good bit more of the FSA to go through before we emptied the account before midnight, and I'd already done my own FSA purchases earlier in the month -- getting some new glasses of my own, some cold/flu medicine, a new heating pad, face wash, etc -- everything I would possibly personally need that FSA covered for the next year. Therefore, when we went over to the parents' to have New Year's Eve dinner (locking the child into the bedroom while we did so, which I felt bad about) we made sure they were aware that we had "use it or lose it" money left in the FSA and whatever they needed, we'd just get for them so they didn't have to spend money on it themselves. Daisy ended up getting them an eye massager, a heating pad, and some other various odds and ends, which dropped us down to like, five bucks left in the FSA account before midnight. I'm not concerned about five bucks.
Their stuff will arrive in the next few days, likely in multiple shipments.
Dinner with the parents was wonderful; Mama made calzone dough and we all crafted calzones. It was nice to have a quiet, peaceful evening with them with no social pressure, no need to entertain children or protect them from angry cats, no expectations of getting drunk or loud music at a bar while the ball dropped, etc. I have never been a New Year's Eve partier and don't plan to start in my mid-forties.
It has been many years since we spent a New Year's Eve with the parents where they actually stayed up late enough to see the ball drop or see the actual new year ring in an hour later (remember, we're central time in the midwest). So, predictably, the parents decided they wanted to retire to bed long before the ball dropped, and we came back home around 7:30 or so to spend time with our new child -- who as we know, does not like being kept isolated, nor did she like the loud booms of every redneck in the tri-state area lighting off fireworks to celebrate the new year rolling in.
I had sympathy for the little girl -- she'd had her spay surgery the day before, awakened that morning in a cage in a kennel with her brothers, then she'd been removed from them, taken out of that cage and kennel and placed into a cardboard box, driven halfway across town screaming the whole time, brought into a house and into a bedroom that smells like other cats and people she doesn't know, and while she got some love, those people closed her up in that room alone for hours all the while multiple other cats were sitting outside the door growling at her cries and everything was exploding outside.
It had to be a very long, stressful day for little Dolly is all that I'm saying. The first day or two in a new home for a kitten is always hard because they're usually sick from their spay/neuter surgery (if they're adopted immediately after that, which most highly-desirable kittens are), and they have trouble getting their bearings in a new environment, figuring out where the food/water/litter is, trying to get around and use the pan while in pain, etc.
Dolly, remarkably, does not seem to have any trouble like that. She uses the pan just fine -- though she has cried while using it, likely from post-surgery pain -- but she has peed and pooped a lot and is perfectly litter trained. She also very quickly found the food and water bowls and is eating and drinking quite heartily. Her surgery incision is healing nicely with no swelling or drainage and she seems perfectly healthy.
I read the literature provided on her, which is quite sparse. She was dewormed over the course of four weeks and got the last dose around the middle of the month. Spay was performed on 12/30 and was normal. She was born on Halloween and brought to the shelter that day, and entered the foster system about a week later, where she remained until this past week when she was ready to be spayed and adopted out at the same time as her spicy brothers. She came from the 44th street area here in Omaha and the litter was strays -- having her come in on the day she was born tells me that her mother was likely with her, or that she was possibly born in the shelter to a stray mother who was brought in. There was no other information available on the paperwork. It is quite possible that Daisy fed these kittens during her normal kitten-feeding duties on weekends and didn't even know or remember it. They also could have been in isolation and staff-only, too. That is likely lost to time now.
Daisy was very tired when we returned home last night, and was on the struggle bus. She watched some TV and we decompressed a bit after checking on the child. Finally, she messaged me and told me to come downstairs, she was done with her show and if I didn't come downstairs to keep her awake (essentially) she would not make it to the ball drop in Times Square at 11pm CT and would just shower and go to bed.
I came down and yes, we did watch the ball drop. We kissed, it was sweet. And then I immediately turned the TV off as "New York, New York" began playing as it always does, we shut down the house, and both of us went upstairs.
I don't care about actual central-time-zone midnight. I never have. The spectacle is the ball drop in Times Square, and all the confetti and people cheering and Ryan Seacrest being Ryan Seacrest. I couldn't care less about anything that happens after that point. Daisy and I came upstairs, she took a shower and went to bed with the child, and I did some laundry. I only knew it was midnight when the fireworks went from a dull roar to a much louder cacophony for several minutes, and I looked at the clock.
Remarkably, they settled down quickly and the night once more went silent. I eventually settled down in my chair with my phone, and messaged Daisy that I would likely just sleep in here, in my office, to avoid disturbing the child and more importantly, to avoid disturbing her, who was severely sleep deprived. Mable, who has been my shadow and loving protector ever since Pete died, could not join me; I said that whatever Mable did was whatever Mable did, and it couldn't be avoided -- she couldn't be in here sleeping with me as she will get into shit when she wants out of the room, and it doesn't mean I'll wake up when she does. I added that once it got light outside and I could see to get in and out of the room without totally disturbing her or Dolly, I'd likely come to bed then and sleep a few more hours.
I woke up sometime after 7am when it was getting light outside, and let Mable back into my office, finally. Daisy and Dolly were still sleeping. At some point later, once I was fully conscious, I went downstairs to feed all of the older children and run a cleaning cycle on the dishwasher, give Hank his eyedrops and give Mable her pill (which I had to bring up here and lure her back upstairs with a Churu), and generally make sure the rest of the house was okay and the older cats weren't freaking out because there's a new fluffy goblin locked upstairs in the bedroom.
Look, I've been through this enough at this point to know the other cats' reactions to a new child joining the household, and this time around it's pretty much been the same:
Hank and Emmy are boycotting the child and are pretending she doesn't exist -- all while knowing full well she does and she's upstairs. Hank has been showing his displeasure by growling at us and grumbling/hissing whenever we try to brush him out or touch him too much, as is the usual when we have a new kid join the household. Emmy's protests are much more subtle -- she worms her way underneath the couch blankets and becomes a large, "hidden" lump for hours at a time. For both of them, their reactions are the equivalent of a kid sticking their fingers in their ears and going la la la la la I can't hear you! Etc. They'll come around.
Charlie and Gary are growly and hissy, but very curious. We like to let all of the cats observe the new child through the baby gate, so we set that up across the threshold of our bedroom door and open the door. That way they can all physically see and smell each other, but they can't directly interact or really touch. Both of the Double Trouble Boys™ have spent a lot of time in observation in the hallway outside our door, watching/smelling/listening. When Dolly approaches the gate, inquisitively, they'll each get close to her and then, eventually, either she or one of them will begin a hissing match back and forth. Dolly actually tends to stand her ground, which usually makes the boys back down and slink away a bit. I was surprised at Gary hissing, as I don't know that I've ever heard Gary hiss at anyone or anything. Charlie, even though he's the sweetest little boy, is also very Hank-like in his attitude and mannerisms, and it doesn't surprise me that he growled and hissed a bit here and there. Again, they'll come around.
Mable has been the most interested and inquisitive of all the cats. Mable was made to be a mothergirl to baby kittens. She heavily babied Charlie when we brought him into the house:
Daisy said that part of why she chose Dolly was to give Mable a daughter to love on, and hopefully that would defuse some of the animosity between her and Empress. Which, to be fair, is a pretty solid plan. It may or may not work but, well, worth a shot.
To those ends, Mable was the first cat to really "meet" Dolly. Daisy brought her into my office when Mable was in there and let them examine one another, cautiously. Mable was curious and sniffed all over her, just examining her with her nose very gently. Dolly was very cautious, and eventually after a few moments of this, got spooked and hissed at Mable and tried to run away. Mable looked sad and I felt so bad for the big girl. She just wanted to make friends.
The parallels to Pete meeting the babies one by one here are very apparent and are not lost on us. Mable loved Pete and is, in so many ways, so very like him down to a lot of her mannerisms and facial expressions. It's so wild to see that.
Later, when we let them sniff and greet each other again, the same sequence of events happened -- except this time, Mable hissed back and forth with her a few times.
In the night, when Daisy was going to bed, Dolly was so distraught that she was screaming trying to get Daisy to come into the room. Mable was on the little cat tree pedestal in the hallway outside of our door, and as soon as Daisy opened the door, Dolly climbed the gate and sat on the pedestal with Mable...and then realized she was still scared of Mable, hissed, and then vacated the premises to the safety of the bedroom.
Yes, there is video.
I wish I would've been there to see the whole thing. Alas, I was downstairs working at the time.
Daisy also told me last night that Dolly groomed her entire face, and then bit her nipple this morning.
"She's claimed you as her Mama," I said.
Dolly grooms me too. This morning when I was trying to sleep, she spent some time working over my earlobe, and then my nose/cheeks, and this afternoon tried to stick her tongue in my mouth. Hank used to do the same thing when he was a tiny boy.
Overall, Dolly seems to be really healthy. She has mostly stopped her long-duration screaming whenever we leave the room, and now seems quite content to snuggle up somewhere and pass out. She eats heartily, drinks a lot of water, uses the pan normally (she takes some really good, healthy shits), sleeps normally at night, and when she's awake is quite active and playful. There's nothing I've seen that gives me any cause for concern healthwise thus far.
Tomorrow morning, Saturday, we have her first vet appointment set for her -- to get her checked out, screened, and all set to make sure she has a clean bill of health so that we can formally introduce her to the other children of the household. I want all of them to like her, of course, but I also know that introducing a new kitten is generally a bit stressful for Hank and Emmy and they take the longest to come around. I am sure that once the Double Trouble boys get used to her, they'll want to play and roughhouse with her, though we'll have to be careful since she is still very young, and the boys can go hard. Mable so far is an unknown quantity but seems to have had the best reaction to her -- curiosity and a genuine want to get to know her.
All of the others have gotten their new doses of Frontline as of last night, and I have more in my Amazon cart ready-to-order whenever necessary. I actually think I have some saved in my Costco cart too; I'll have to look. Adding another cat to the house again means twelve more doses of Frontline -- the equivalent of $126 more per year. Dolly got her first dose on 12/30 in the shelter (it's documented in her paperwork), so she is good to go until 1/29, when everyone else will get their next doses and she will get hers as well.
Dolly's brother, the last remaining spicy kitty of her litter at the shelter, was adopted today -- finally.
Dolly is on the right, her brother is on the left. This pic was taken by Daisy in the shelter shortly before she brought Dolly home. It's one of the few pictures we have of both of them together.
So, that's where we stand at the moment. We'll see what the vets have to say in the morning and what her test results and bloodwork show, but I'm not expecting anything major. I just can't wait for her to be able to be out and about with the others. I am excited for her to formally meet the rest of her family.
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