Foster Buddies Updates

I don't know how to break this to you all, but...Neville didn't actually work out.  It's not that he isn't a fantastic kitty--he absolutely is.  Unfortunately, he is also a kitty who has no interest in being in the company of other cats.  Which is kind of problematic in our house, for obvious reasons.  

So, Neville ended up going to PetSmart to await his furever home with no other cats involved.  He went on a Wednesday, and on Saturday, I came to see if I could help the new home process along.  While I was there, a cat named Estabon (sic) started sneezing, which meant he needed to come out of the kitty habitat and go get fostered.  I resisted--I really did.  Our cats were already traumatized enough by the whole Neville debacle.  It hardly seemed fair to bring another one into the house so soon after that.  

But compassion won out, and I bundled the little buddy into the carrier and took him home.  This is how we slept the first night:

And once you've gone there, it's really hard to go back.  So after a week or so of being in quarantine, we brought him out to meet the other buddies.  It was like night and day from the Neville experience.  "Estabon" was curious, friendly, and exuberant with the other buddies, with varying results.  He likes to rub his mouth against our mouths, and he tried the same trick with Wanda when he first met her.  He kind of slid into her across the bathroom floor and shoved his adorable little face into hers.

Wanda was not amused.

Neither, for that matter, has Zelda been.  Which is ironic, because she's the main reason we even considered adopting a new buddy.  It seems unfair somehow that Zelda is the lone youngster in a house of super-geriatrics.  The next oldest cat is eleven years older than her, which puts her at a bit of a disadvantage, in my opinion.  She needs someone she can play with, snuggle with, and grow old with  I hope she's able to figure that out eventually. 

The boys are neutral, oddly enough.  They don't seem to mind him, and Mister actually seems exhilarated by his presence.  He has suddenly gotten very playful, and wants to be along the top of the tub when I shower again.  He doesn't even care that his face gets wet.  He jumps into the tub afterward, is eating his mush more heartily, and seems excited about life again.  Reg seems to recognize a kindred spirit (he's getting goaded into play right now, as I type), and Otto just mostly ignores him.

Zelda, weirdly, has also gotten more cuddly though.  She's been supervising showers again, and has even tried her hand at sleeping with us at night.  She's a little awkward with it, but at least she's trying.  Maybe she feels a bit threatened by the new blood and needs to prove her worth to us?  We're working extra-hard to give her reassurance.

The last two nights, the new little buddy "treed" Zelda at the top of the kitty tree.  After trying repeatedly and failing to get her to play with him, he finally decided to win the war of attrition by camping out on the next level of the tree and going to sleep, lulled to dreamworld, no doubt, by the harmonious sounds of Zelda growling at him.  I thought it was kind of a brilliant strategy, myself.  That is one patient little buddy.

Here he is in Elroy's old spot on the couch:

Obviously, he's not a replacement for Elroy, because no cat could ever replace Elroy.  He was really more of an accident than anything.  We certainly didn't set out to find a new cat.  But here he is, and we love him dearly already.  

So dearly, in fact, that this past Saturday, we made him official.  Meet Cooper, the sixth Buddy Eclectic:

P.S.  I'm happy to report that Neville has a happy ending as well.  He was adopted by a nice couple with no other cats and no dogs a week after we took him to PetSmart.  Way to go, Neville!