Tabby, Cow, Tuxedo, and Cast Iron

My brother has chosen to stay with his partner for some time to collect himself after the fire on Grange. This means that no one has to sleep in the living room, and I can drink my coffee on the couch with the lights on instead of going back to bed and drinking it in the dark so as not to wake Lee-Anne.

This might not decrease the amount of living beings in the apartment as much as you'd think though. This is because outside of the humans, we've also brought in these guys. 

Castor (colour of cast iron) and Pollux (rhymes with tux)!

The added complication being that we already had these guys.

Kieran the tabby and Finn the cowcat!

Before I go on, I'd like to point out that we are still within the legal parameters of Kitchener, which states a limit of any combination of five cats, dogs, ferrets, and rabbits. I kind of get rabbits, but I don't know why ferrets are listed as equivalent to dogs and cats. Also, could we have ten iguanas if we felt like it?

When we first got  Kieran and Finn, introductions went as smoothely as possible. I'd been through seeing one of our first cats, Penny, try to maul a kitten Blackavar on sight. When we got Thor and Luna, things were tense between them even though they were coming from the same household. In each case, things smoothed out over a period of time, separating them in different sections of the apartment, rotating them so they got used to the other's scent.

When we brought Finn home as a kitten, we let Kieran sniff him through the carrier and neither seemed upset. We tried presenting them to each other while holding them and they were chill. We supervised them freely interacting and they just enjoyed playing with each other. We separated them at night in an abundance of caution, but the next day they were fine with each other and we didn't have to do it again.

It's not as simple as them being okay with other cats though. Every once in a while we'll hear Kieran growling at the kitchen window and Finn will run away. This is usually because an outdoor cat has come into the backyard. So I wondered if they would react the way they did with each other, or if it would be more like the strangers in the window.

Finn is actually the genetic brothers of Castor and Pollux, albeit from different litters. They're the descendants of a barn cat owned by Lee-Anne's sister-in-law. So I wondered if there would be some kind of instinctual familiarity that would create a calming effect.

Castor and Pollux came in carriers, so we let Kieran and Finn sniff them through the bars. The same first step we gave last time. Kieran was cautious while Finn didn't act as dramatically as he does around outdoor cats, but he hunched down and low growled. So we decided to separate him and let the other three try interacting on their own.

 

Kieran didn't verbalize discomfort but he sort of shrank away. I felt bad because he didn't have his pal to support him, while the other two had each other. Pollux kind of postured like a tough guy while Castor was pretty chill.

On continued attempts at introductions, a bit of a dynamic formed. Pollux would shy away from Finn's growling, but Castor would run up and stop just short, then stalk away, try to sneak up and do the same thing again. I kind of wondered if it was bullying behaviour.

They joined forces to pop the air mattress at their first opportunity though. We had to replace it with a foam one. Four cats can be quite destructive.

We salvaged the Grange Street cat tree. It wasn't in the hallway long but the two that were familiar with it were eager to have it back, and the ones unfamiliar recognized its quality right away.

It was only a few days before Finn could be with the new cats without crouching and low growing. He continued to be a bit tense and Castor kept trying to interact with him, sometimes teasingly.

Eventually he relaxed and their dynamic became more equitable.

Pollux is the most athletic of the four. He can get into every windowsill except the one in the office, so I've had to move my succulent there. Finn's always been the resident climber, and ever since he's seen Pollux at work, he's been motivated to try more challenging jumps. Castor tries, but often finds himself barely catching ledges with his front paws and scrabbling to get up. Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes he doesn't. Kieran joins sometimes, but he's the least motivated.

Throughout my life, I've usually lived with two cats. The most was three, between Blackavar, Thor, and Luna. Four seems pretty crazy, but life circumstances require flexibility and for what it's worth, it's working out.