Bilbo update

Adapting to our house is progressing quickly with Bilbo. You wouldn't really know he had been a stray. He wasn't that far in socialization from being a regular housecat to start, but now he's even more like the others. It's been almost three weeks of having him in the house.

• He's climbing into hubby's lap on his own. (He's always loved laps but was reluctant to get up onto the furniture unless we lifted him up.)
• He's exuberant for toys. (And a bit too much wanting the other cats to play with him--they still don't want that.)
• He's learned the feeding routine and knows the sound of the treat bag. (That never takes long. 😉)
• He knows what the water bottle means. (We've used it a few times when he starts hunting the older kitties. It's the only thing that gets his mind off that behavior.)🙀
• He comes to the door when people are coming or going, instead of running away to hide.
• He doesn't hide much anymore or run from normal household sounds or activity. (Once in a while, he does get startled, but it's much less than it used to be and he doesn't flee to hide from us but goes a little distance and stops to look back.)
• He's staying out in the open more near us.

The only issue I see is indications that he may have had a lower back or leg injury. He doesn't like to jump off the ground when playing and remains low, but he does go up and down the stairs and will jump onto the dining chairs (carpeting helps). We even have pet stairs for the old kitties getting up and down from our bed and he uses those instead of jumping up and down. When he does jump, his hid legs don't seem to hold steady but give out a little beneath him.

He returns to the vet the day after Christmas for his second DRC/Leukemia vaccine. Then he'll be done for the year. At that time, I'll have the vet see what they can determine of his back end. He seems to be improving slowly (jumping for the feather toys once in a while), but I'd feel better with them examining him a bit at that time.

Overall, we were very blessed that such a cat found us (as was he to find a good cat-loving home). We weren't looking for another cat, but when the cat distribution system delivers such a wonderful feline, you can't refuse.

Meow!

ps--Adding this pic after my initial posting. They've been eating like this for the last week already. No fights or growls or stealing each other's food, except the usual food steals by middle two from the oldest kitty.

Oldest two eat closest together while third oldest eats by the shredder (pushes his bowl around, so the little corner stops that, and he tends to go after the food of everyone else, although he's learned to wait until we're not looking) and new boy, Bilbo, eats near the dining table on the carpet. Bilbo tends to push himself back while eating, so his back legs always slide back and he has to pull them up close repeatedly while eating. We feed him on the carpet for this reason and to make the oldest kitties more comfortable with eating in his vicinity. Our oldest (Siamese) is the one shorted--he sits back and gives us a forlorn look if anyone starts eating his food. He doesn't do anything to stop them. We usually sit at the counter and watch, since the others do try to steal his food at times. He's a big baby.