Reunited

Mango Kitty's brother has come to live with us. He had already been given the name Biggie, but we changed it to Mr Bigglesworth (Austin Powers), shortened to Biggles so as not to confuse him. He hated us at first sight and spent the first evening glaring, growling and hissing. Mango was not entirely charmed at the intrusion, and it was obvious that they did not recognise each other after a break of six weeks or so (not that I ever thought they would). So we put Biggles in a soft kitty basket with his toys and closed him in the bathroom to acclimatise overnight. It was best not to show him the dogs at that stage.

Next morning, I decided it was best not to pussyfoot around and put him and Mango together to acquaint themselves. After some initial hissing, flattened ears and boxing, I separated them again. Susie was allowed into the room, but she is blind and probably doesn't know there is another kitty. Monty had to stay outside all day. 

We kept putting the kitties together and they have now accepted each other, although there is still some serious play fighting going on, and a few timeouts for Mango, but Biggles has settled in well and I'm sure they will soon be on the couch together. Monty didn't even notice him when he was allowed back in the house and it took another day before he twigged that there was now a black cat staring down from the kitchen counter. After a cursory bark and a sniff or two, he walked away in disdain, and a crisis has been averted.

Of course we didn't tell HWCFA that we had got another kitty, and when he saw Biggles, he said we couldn't have another cat and no one had asked him. Well, I ask you, would he have had any say anyway? It wasn't ten minutes and he was making silly kitty-calling noises, so another crisis has been averted