Mr Whiskers Gets His Teeth Brushed

Recently, when I got a little closer to Mr Whiskers face, I noticed a smell I didn't feel too good about. Mr Whiskers, I thought, "you need your teeth brushed!" I guessed gingivitus at least. Dr Buchoff, a holistic vet, had introduced me to pet care like brushing their coat, tapping on their sternum to boost the immune system, and teeth brushing.  Growing up with animals we never brushed their teeth and they seemed to do just fine. I thought this was a little over the top, but I did try a bit with my cats, then it kind of slipped away. But now it seems like a really good idea.

I took a good look when Mr W yawned and by golly his teeth are kinda really yellow. So I got out the toothpaste and the little cat toothbrush. I put some on my finger to see if he liked it. He did. Of course, Mr W likes just about everything that's edible. So I let him eat a bit off my finger. I figured by licking it he would get some on his teeth. Next I put some on the brush, and let him sniff that.


Then Patches came over to see what Mr W was so interested in. There is also a kind of thimble looking thing that has little bristles, but this was too big for his mouth. he did not like this, The toothbrush was a better size.

I should back  up a little and mention that I have been doing mouth circles w Mr W. I used the tip of my finger and did little circles all along his lips. As he got comfortable with this, his lips began to soften, loosen, I began to get in his mouth and onto his gums (just along the upper teeth). This can help anxious cats to calm down. I believe it can help with aggression, and probably other things. But here it helped him get used to having things in his mouth. This is actually really important and a valuable practice in case you need to medicate a cat. I hope I never have to pill Mr W, but one step at a time.

Slowly we worked up to the point where I was able to hold him gently but firmly on the scruff of his neck and use the toothbrush. As soon as he pulled strongly, I let go, let him walk around a bit, then when he was ready to come back I tried it again on the other side of his mouth. When I saw him go into a crouch and not look at me or move his head, I decided he had had enough. I gave him a pet and told him what a good boy he was. Next time I tried it was pretty much the same routine. i think he's really going to be ok with this. And I have this vision of him being like the cat I saw on youtube who just looooved to get his teeth brushed. Here's a link to that video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HTYRYvhP8Y

Getting Along

Mr Whiskers and Ms Patches have some really beautiful moments and then some tumultuous exchanges, probably not unlike any relationship. Mr Whiskers kind of pushes her out of the way when he wants my full attention--I mean completely out of the room. In trying to decide if I should adopt them out together i consulted with my TTouch Mentor, a wonderful animal trainer and supporter, Mary Bruce (see http://taviandfriends.org/). She said I may be able to alter this behavior but I have to catch them in the act. So I try to redirect Mr Whiskers, or I hold him at his chest and say "leave Ms patches alone, she belongs here." I try to do some simultaneous  slides on them while they are there together.

It is pretty typical for him to push her off my bed after a while. So today, I had to remind him a few times. Then he surprised me. He came over to her on my bed, and lay next to her. This is usually a prelude to putting his arm over her shoulder, a kind of dominance move. But instead, he started to clean himself. Then Ms Patches started to clean herself.

Then after about 5 minutes of this they curled up and fell asleep. So sweet! The first time I've seen them sleep so close. Now I'm not naive enough to think they will be perfectly happy from now on, but I think their relationship is developing very nicely. Thanks Mary!





When I came back from work they were in my office, sleeping together again, on the sofa. Sweet.

Ms Patches Grooms Mr Whiskers

So, these two appear to be getting along very well now. They still have their moments. I'll hear them brawling and have to separate them--time out, so to speak--but they always come back together. Mr Whiskers is like a football player, strong and solid. I can feel this when I pet him, the way he leans with force into my hand. He butts her with his head when she goes by, in a gentle but clear way.

Twice now, I've been sitting with them and Ms Patches started to groom him--so sweet she is. Patches is very dainty and I think his strong advances scare her. What is so touching is that she always comes back.

Here she's grooming once again. (Clearest photos I can get with my iphone.)

he leans in to accomodate

Then he rolls back to "embrace".

This is too much for Ms P, who vanishes.

I continue to observe because I am not sure whether to work to have them adopted together or separately. I do think cats enjoy company even if it is not the perfect match. For example, my mother's and my cat are not the best of friends, but I notice they look for each other. And when they rest I see all three Mia, my dog, Cuddles, and Scooter rest together--especially during a storm.

P.S. When Whiskers and Patches brawl upstairs, Mia hides under the kitchen table and Scooter and Cuddles cry to be let outside...quite the scene.

Ms Patches Loves to Play

Ms Patches is such a joyful cat. She learned to play from her kittens. She used to watch them from a safe place in the 244 West 10th apt. This was before she was comfortable with people. I thought once they left she would hide under the bed, but to my surprise she leapt out and started pushing the balls with the bells around, batting at string, chasing feathers.

Also, as the kittens were leaving, she went into heat. Although it was an unfortunate turn of events in one way, it allowed us an "in" with her, as she would let almost anyone pet her. I tried many different strategies to calm her. The idea was to wait until she went out of heat to spay her, some vets will disagree with this, but this is what I was told at first. But she never went out of heat. I waited longer than i perhaps should have and learned a lesson along the way, BUT it allowed me the opportunity to get closer to Patches, because the touches seemed to be somewhat soothing. I usually started out by letting the back of my hand slide along her body as she passed by.  Gradually I was able to stroke along her ears, her neck, did some small circles on her neck, and did circles with opposite hands, simultaneously (called the "turtle" in TTouch) on her thighs. This became a bonding time.

It was mostly an extremely stressful time, because I knew she was uncomfortable, but we came through this period all the wiser. I'm guessing by her behavior that Patches learned that humans can be "ok" and even preferable to be around (as opposed to not being around) and I learned that sometimes you have to spay a cat when it's in heat. You just have to go to someone who is very experienced.
And so now I have one very, very playful torty female. I think playing is a very good exercise for the cats. And it can be bonding.

She loves to play mole rat. This game was first taught to me by my ex-husband Curt. We first played this with Mia. She's not really into it any more, but Patches can't get enough of it. You move something under a blanket, like the stick, and she'll follow it. The only down side to this game is that your cat might want to play this game with your toes when you are trying to go to sleep. I strongly recommend not getting this game started on your bed, OR sleep with a thick blanket.

Patches also likes to chase things. She'll chase a ball or treats and sometimes she even catches them with her paws. I think her favorite is the feather on the stick. She'll play with this for hours.

She sometimes upsets Mr Whiskers with her zooming around, chasing imaginary objects, or tiny things she finds to push around, like paper clips, but she has a way spreading cheer with her antics.

Settling In

So happy to be able to say that things are settling down. The stress of moving affected us all and knowing how cats hate change I would say they did pretty well through it all. Mr Whiskers decided to move down to the second floor and I was happy for this, though this was where all the renovation was taking place. It was too hot up there--no air conditioning--and we've been having record setting heat waves. (There is an attic fan which is heavenly on cool nights.) The fact that he is venturing down, means he is getting more comfortable with us. His first time down was very cute because he meuwed his whole way down. He crept low and carefully, but steadily. It was kind of like he was saying, "I'm coming down, ok? ...Is this really ok? I'm almost down, ok? I'm down, ok?"  I thought it was a bit comical because I would think if you were creeping you would want to be really quiet. I think he's down to stay. He does have the third floor to retreat to if things get too busy on this floor.

 I only had to separate Mr Whiskers and Ms Patches a couple of nights--this was because they started brawling just after I turned the lights out to go to sleep. And because it began after I closed my eyes, I was never exactly sure what they were spatting about. This was disturbing because initially they got along fine. Even began eating together (dishes side-by-side). Once I heard the brawling, I thought the romance was defiinitely over (if you are new to their story you can get their history at the "Mr Whiskers and TTouch" posting). I had the feeling Mr Whiskers was trying to take over my room and this was where Ms Patches was getting used to sleeping. I as too exhausted to to do any observations, so Mr Whiskers slept on the third floor with a fan and lots of water. I had consulted with a vet who said that cats have the ability to adjust to extreme weather. He did do alright with the heat--he was fine in the morning--hungry and love-seeking as ever. And he and Ms Patches ate together peacefully.

 Also in the heat, Mia comes up to the second floor seeking the coolness of the bathroom floor (pushing her way past the room divider I place at the top of the stairs to give the 4 cats their separate space.) So then Mia and Mr Whiskers ended up having a confrontation. I never usually sleep so deeply that I don't hear Mia coming upstairs, but evidently there was a very heated moment between them--sorry Mom!! I owe ya.  Sooo, now there is a barricade at the bottom of the stairs leading to the second floor as well as the room divider at the top of the stairs.  It is quite an event going up and down the stairs in this household at night. I've heard some people let their animals move about freely and figure it our on their own, but I'd rather control the interactions to have experiences be as positive as possible and avoid as many spats as possible. Also, Scooter, my mother's cat, sprays and we like to keep this at a minimum, for our own sanity. Keeping the foster cats upstairs, hopefully lessens his anxiety about other cats in his territory.

Once in a while Ms Patches, who has boundless curiosity, makes her way down the stairs and so I give all the cats treats and do reintroductions. When I get a bit more settled in, I will give them a little more time to interact. Ms Patches seems the most affable of all the animals. She just loves to explore.

I'm realizing that all of this doesn't really sound like settling in, so now I will get to that part. Right now, for example, we are having a rain storm. Mia hides up here in the bathroom (gets some calming touches--complete body strokes called Noah's March--these really help). I've placed a gate across my bedroom door. Ms Patches is sleeping on the bed, Mr Whiskers on the cedar chest, and Mia is happy and feeling safe in the bathroom. The only thing I don't like about this arrangement is that I have to bring the kitty litter into the bedroom. Plus I don't like keeping my long-time canine buddy out of my room, but I tell him and Cuddles it's just a phase...we all have to be patient. And I think they are.

Here's (finally) an example of settling in:
Mr Whiskers, who usually only let me pet his head, is now allowing me to touch his whole body--head through tail. I can only do slides, no circular touches (TTouch reference). So I tried to introduce a brush once again. Up til now he hated anything but my hand or along feather near him, but now he likes the brush (wire brush that holds the hair and I use a long toothed metal tick comb to remove it.) I let him smell it to begin with. Then held it and let him come towards it. Then slid it along his cheek a little, waited. He began to push against it, which is a sign he liked it--yeay!

But he did want to know why I wasn't using my hand. See him sliding his face onto my hand>>>






Before you know it, he's allowing me to move along his whole upper body. Mr Whiskers sheds quite a bit, so this is wonderful to be able to brush him. And I've heard it is very good for the skin and coat.

Felines and Moving

It's been many days since an update because of the move...so many boxes!!! A bit overwhelming dealing with the move physically and emotionally--leaving my home of 9 years...well 7 years living there and 2 years visiting working--it was my hideaway in the West Village. my home.
Now it's gone.
I'm helping mom out with the family home. I'm not actually sure how much help I am since I've managed to fill it up with felines. It could be worse, I recently spoke with a writer who had 22 cats. We only have 4--so that's like nothing, except if you met these 4, plus Mia. They have a way of more than filling the space. Mr Whiskers has taken over the third floor, he allows Ms Patches to visit when he's in the mood. He has these demanding meows that scare the downstairs cats and force me upstairs to feed and pet him. Ms Patches has taken over the whole 2nd floor--two bedrooms and one room being renovated for my office (really her room if you ask her). And the other three run the first floor--a good one to be on, since the kitchen is there and the opportunity to go outside, which Cuddle and Scooter take much advantage of.


And I found myself asking why this timing?? Why did I have to have all these cats when I have this big move?? It's enough work keeping them all fed and their rooms and boxes clean. It finally dawned on me that this moving thing being a big life shift, one of the three highest stressors in life, these guys are possibly here to help me deal, to give extra love through this time. If I let them. (Or drive me crazy, but i'm not going there.) They all adore being pet and I have begun to use the time as meditation. It's a kind of petting meditation.


Now for the felines side of things,  they have had to deal with all the hubbub and they are doing pretty well. Mr Whiskers kept to his third floor hideout and Ms Patches kept her eye on me to make sure her room renovations met with her approval. 

I had to be extremely careful with the plastering and paint because it is very toxic. But Ms P is very good at navigating around things. She has a boundless curiosity. She really cracked me up the way she kept appearing when I least expected her. I would look down to put a rag in the bucket, for example, and there she was, watching intently.


Cuddles and Scooter stayed out of the way downstairs and Mia showed up every once in a while to make sure we all knew she belonged. We're still in process of getting settled in, and it's so hot we're all taking it very slow, but that's another story.

One Step Forward, One Step Backward

Not sure why this happened, but Mr Whiskers started getting spooked and wacking me when I tried to touch him. Things were going so well. Perhaps because things are a little tense around here. I'm getting ready to let go of my apt on West 10th...so I guess I may have to change the name of the blog...I got the feather out and started using the feather again with Mr Whiskers and he was more comfortable. He let me slide over his whole body with the feather, then he sighed, stretched out, and rested on his side. So I feel there is hope.

If I thought I was overwhelmed before, ha! that was nothing. So now besides taking care of 5 animals I'm painting the rooms at my mother's that I'll be moving into and sorting through things, getting rid of stuff, reorganizing. It will be the first time in about 15 years that all my belongings will be in one place. Hopefully all the animals will not get too stressed. It is probably a good thing to have to stop and take care of them, pet them, use the touches....calming, centering. Thank God for my mother who helps with feeding and my friend Ellen who helped paint!

Ms Patches has begun to come up to visit, but it wasn't the smashing reunion I hoped it might be. It was rather anticlimactic. She was more interested in him than he in her. He was more concerned that she might eat his food, so he chased her out. But there was one brief sweet encounter where they appeared to rub noses. Sort of like "hello, yes, I remember, now scram." I think he's very happy with his third floor space, windows, toys and cat climber.

You can see below by her ears that Ms Patches is a bit nervous about entering. She's such a sweet spirit, though. Rather than hiding after being chased or being aggressive or combative in return, she sits at the doorway to the room and waits. Almost like she's waiting for him to remember or get used to her. We'll see...