Since yesterday, Monty has been increasingly antsy to leave the office and - as more than one or two folks have put it - “unlock the rest of the map.” He’d been around the main living level, and downstairs a few times, but not yet in our bedroom down there; it has the kinds of nooks and crannies (under the bed, under the furniture, buried in the walk-in closet, etc.) where one could actually lose track of a cat… and not have any good way to retrieve it. I wanted a better handle on Monty’s personality before we took it to that level.
Last night while he was roaming the scene, Lucy accidentally cornered him (not really, and not on purpose - but he thought she had him boxed in); he lunged for her, paws a’whapping, and the dog did something I’d never seen her do before: a full-tilt cartoon scramble backwards in retreat. She basically left a Lucy-shaped hole in the air as she vanished up the stairs in search of my husband.
We checked her snoot pretty thoroughly. If any contact was actually made, no claws were deployed.
Twenty minutes later, they had this little exchange and I held my breath the whole time, waiting for Lucy to get retaliatory (as she’s been known to do). But as you can see, she was a Very Good Girl.
I seriously don’t know what it is about this cat, that has Lucy on her heels. She seems to genuinely want his friendship, or attention, or general goodwill; I’ve just known her to be unpredictable before, and I’m watching for any sign of it now. I guess in a nutshell, I’m wary because this is new behavior for her. Even the dearly departed eldercat (::pours one out::) never lashed out at Lucy or held her hostage on the stairs, daring her to push past. It was never necessary. The eldercat was simply The Boss, and when Lucy was adopted onto The Boss’s home turf, she understood it immediately.
Now Lucy is The Boss, and it looks like we brought home… a Mini-Boss.
I worry, yes. But Mini-Boss will leave the dogs alone if they leave him alone, which I hope bodes well for general acceptance and maybe even affection, one day. Greyson whines at him, and approaches while he’s sleeping - then he stands over him like a sparkle vampire, grinning his face off, for as long as he dares… before wandering off to take a nap of his own. Lucy will follow him a little bit, at a distance, but she’s clearly doing her best to not surprise or upset him.
Since this morning, Monty has come within an inch or two of a mutual boop with each pooch, though no formal booping has taken place yet. We’re getting there.
However. Another awesome milestone did occur - and will wonders never cease, I got it on video. I don’t have a great means of embedding video here, but I will send you to this link right here: Monty and the Neighbor Cat meet at last. Readers, I nearly died of the tension and cuteness.
As I previously mentioned, Monty came from a stray colony in Hawaii, so obviously he’s familiar with other cats; and there was a note in his file about him seeming to get along with them in general - though he had no known history with dogs. Even so, indoor tomcat meeting outdoor tomcat with nothing but a screen between them… well, it could’ve gone south, real loudly and violently. I’m so glad it went this way, instead.
This morning, my husband just left the baby gate open when he got up and around (it was his turn to stay upstairs last night) - so the little dude has been zipping around the house all day, to zero problems and no small measure of hilarity. Being a tripod is not much of a disability if you ask him. Hell, it’s barely a disadvantage - and I suspect that once the rest of his muscles learn to compensate, it’ll be absolutely meaningless, as far as he’s concerned.
That said, he’s been licking at his hip, his elbows, and his shoulders a lot, as his muscles and joints are beginning to adjust to his new 3-legged gait. This is the most room he’s had to roam, having been in the kitty hospital or the shelter since the operation, so I’m sure he’s a little sore in odd places. I mean, whomst among us, right? When we do some weird new exercise, or try out a new dance move, we all get a little achy; so I ordered him some of the same joint supplement that Quinnie took for the last half of her life, as it really did seem to help her. It’s called Dasuquin, you can get it without a prescription at Amazon, and comes in powder capsules or a tasty chewy. Hopefully, it’ll provide some support while his body rebuilds itself around this new shape.
(Note: it’s the kind of thing that takes a few weeks to really take full effect.)
A tripod gray tabby cat stands proudly atop a bistro table with two MCM chairs tucked underneath it.
As you can see, missing 1/4 of his limbs is not slowing him down. He’s also been on top of the kitchen island (platformed off the trash can), up in every window, all over the back of the couch and loveseat, and on top of the bannisters you see behind him in this shot.
[Since someone asks literally every time I post a picture with those chairs in them - yes, I know what they are; no, I’m not looking to sell them.]
At any rate, since he was doing so well, and the dogs were behaving so nicely, I said “to hell with it” and started moving his stuff to its more formal and permanent positions. Litterbox went in the bathroom closet we had customized to hold such things; food is now over in the corner between the couch and the loveseat where the dogs can’t reach it. He seemed fine with these changes, so I put away the murphy bed, too. Then I spent a ridiculous amount of time cleaning my office. I’d spilled some of his liquid meds, and there was kitty litter everywhere, and he’d made a little mess with the wet food, etc.
He does not miss the bed or anything else in there. When he hasn’t been running around, investigating every nook and cranny of his new home, he’s been sitting in his new cat-seat by one of the kitchen windows.
A tripod gray tabby makes himself very comfortable in a small gray cat tree with a round seat on top, set at the perfect level for him to stare out the window and watch the bird-feeders.
That’s where Quinnie’s little “haunted castle” from Target’s Halloween collection used to be. It was several years old and utterly trashed, so we threw it away once she was gone…but it’s a great little nook between the stairs and the dog stuff, with a perfect view of the bird-feeders, so I had a feeling that any cat might appreciate the view. I’m glad I was right. I’m glad he seems happy. I’m glad the dogs are behaving themselves, despite their intense and pitiful desire to be his friend. I’m glad the Neighbor Cat has been deemed “acceptable” so far as visitors go, and I’m glad we fell in love with the most raggedy-ass kitty at the Humane Society.
He finished one of his antibiotics yesterday, and will finish the other on Saturday. Earlier this week he would sometimes do a little bit of wheezing after zoomies, and he snores a tad, and once in awhile he sounds slightly phlegmy when he purrs, but I think he’s going to be just fine. The missing leg is a non-issue. Ditto the missing tooth, the janky toe, and all the rest.
And he’s going to be a real stunner when his coat grows back in and his shoulders/hips aren’t quite so pointy, I tell you what.