It’s been a long time since I’ve written a purely personal blog post anywhere, and I’ve never done one here, so here goes:
As my Bluesky followers know, we bid farewell to Mosey on March 14 of this year, leaving us with just Ruby. She had been restless for some time, even before Mosey’s passing, constantly demanding attention. I remembered that, as a formal feral in a cat colony, Ruby has never lived without another cat, and I suggested to bitprophet that we adopt a new friend for her sooner rather than later.
Near the end of March, we visited a shelter our cat-specialist vet recommended, and picked out a cute lil’ guy. Unfortunately, said lil’ guy was a nervous wreck, and as such, they weren’t able to wrangle him into a carrier that day. We came back early the following day, brought him home, and put him into isolation, as one is supposed to do at first when introducing a new cat to another. Unfortunately, after contacting the vet with New Guy’s info, it seemed that he hadn’t been properly quarantined for FIV and feline leukemia, so we spent the next month keeping him locked away in the bedroom, not allowing Ruby any sort of contact.
After New Guy’s successful quarantine, after which he was found to be clean, we finally began the process of introducing him to Ruby. She wasn’t exactly accepting of him at first, and he acted as suspicious of her as he did of us back in early April—seriously, I’d never been hissed at by a cat so much in my life. Ruby got her bullying out of her system, and New Guy, which we had properly named Pip, came out of his shell. As we worked to get him acclimated to the rest of the house, Ruby and Pip’s relationship improved further, and now they’re hanging out with each other and playing together on a daily basis.
Pip has been a fun little guy so far, though he loves to eat a little too much, and we have to watch his weight. He loves kicky toys, and digs in a litterbox like an excavator. He’s retained a fair amount of nervous energy, so tasks like trimming his claws can be a bit of a pain. Still, he’s a lovable new addition to our little family. I hope you’ll enjoy him too, in the pictures we post online going forward.
