This one is a little out of order, but since I gave some background as to how we got to this state, I thought it should be presented early... Here is the original note from 8/21/2008:
Heres Lucky on the left...
Having three cats is such a treat, even though I worry that we are drifting into becoming the cat lady on the block. I think we have it under control though. Our three cats give us an endless display of individual personalities, flowing interactions, mood changes and interactions with us. Its come at a cost though, since Marley, who never thought of himself as a cat, and (for a cat) was pretty interactive with us. Lucky and Powder Puff we "rescued" from a life on the streets after they adopted us whenever we were outside and were just the sweetest things. They also were largely inseparable when we saw them outside.
We first picked up Lucky since he was so scrawny, and although he looked like he was only about 6 months old, it was visually obvious that he hadnt been neutered. Local neighbors all thought the cats belonged to someone else, so with increasing interpersonal contact and occasional contact with Marley, we felt we should be sure they were healthy and fixed. We did the same with Powder Puff a month later
Our original intent was that after the convalescent period inside, they would go back to living outside and we could rest assured that they were healthy and could continue contact with them. They had different ideas.
When we would give them the opportunity to go out, by opening the glass door they were staring out, they would sit down and look at us as if to say "No thanks, we know what its like out there, and we rather just watch."
During this period, they both remained stuck with us, demanding lots of love, and just learning about and playing in their new home. Marley would just follow them around warily keeping his eye on everything they did, but avoiding contact with them. Powder Puff would try to rub up against him and he would jump back and raise a paw ready to strike.
Times have changed.
All three cats are pretty independant of us, and other than at food times, dont have anywhere near the need to get love from us, although they have begun to once again appreciate it if we spend some time with them when they are not otherwise engaged.
Lucky is all over the place, eating voraciously, crashing for a nap afterwards, then attacking and wrestling Marley, and Powder Puff when she is game, or if she is not, keeping up a chase and attack campaign against her. He loves to go out, and stays out longer than the other two. Powder Puff is still jumpy, but likes quiet time with us the best, has a little sprite in her and will instigate fights with Lucky when she wants to be chased or thinks she can strike and get away.
Marley remains the most sedate, although his original fear of fighting with Lucky has completely disappeared. He will wrestle and fight as much as Lucky wants, and we have skirmishes all day long. Marley has always been pretty vocal, and has a number of trills and squeaks and high pitched sounds that make him unique (as far as we know) in the cat world. Interestingly both Lucky (first) and now Powder Puff have started using the same vocalizations in pretty much the same way Marley does. So now its real hard for us to figure out who is talking most of the time.
Yesterday we got quite worried about Lucky though. For the first time, he didnt eat, merely sniffing at food but not eating. I tried several different things since I know how vital food is to him, but he just wasnt interested. He was acting lethargic, and let Mary Ann pet him and stroke his stomach. Since we have seen them tearing up throw rugs and the like, we worried that he had gotten fibers in him that were not good. I decided to let them out fairly early to burn off energy. Lucky was in and out a few times, but didnt seem much better. Then sometime in the afternoon he didnt come back. We worried about him, but after all he had spent 2 years outside on his own, so we thought he would be okay. It got late and still no Lucky. It got dark and still no Lucky, and he didnt respond to calls. It got windy and still no Lucky. Suddenly it began to pour rain from the sky, and Lucky appeared at the door, came in and acted if nothing ws out of the ordinary. None of the cats ate very much last night.
But this morning we have our boy back. Although the Marley alarm clock had me awake it hadnt gotten me out of bed. However, while he was on the bed contemplating how to interrupt his current "snooze" setting, he was hit by a surprise attack from Lucky. A quck tussle ensued, and while I decided i didnt want to get in the middle of it to get them off the bed, they rolled over onto my leg and I got a couple of minor scratches on the leg and I decided to get up. When I sat up all fighting ended and all three cats went into fixed focus on me. I felt I was Elvis (in the fat years) wearing a glittered white body suit on stage with adoring fans hanging on my every move. Suffice it to say that things are back to normal. Fighting in the morning, acute attentiveness as to the feeding ritual, and now sleeping off an orgy of eating means that our boy Lucky is back.
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