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Welcome to the Devons!

5K views 170 replies 18 participants last post by  dobebug 
#1 ·
They are here, and they are fantastic! Photos for those who wanted them. It's incredibly hard to get good photos of cats, especially kittens! Matilda was zooming all over, and Gus Gus kept trying to crawl in my lap, so....here's what you get!

Matilda is a lavender torti, and Gus Gus is a lavender and white. NOT grey! Just so we're accurate :)

DSC_0002 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0007 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0011 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0016 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0018 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0021 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0025 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0028 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0033 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0034 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0039 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0043 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0044 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0050 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr

DSC_0053 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr
 
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#45 ·
I like the leopard spots!! So cute.

I remember the first time (and for a few times after that; she never got completely comfortable in one.) we put a harness on Tish (my previous cat), she lay down on her side and wouldn't get up. Trip is more adventurous--he looked doubtful, but managed, and the first time we took him outside in his harness, he headed for the nearest tree--in a fun-loving sort of way.
 
#46 ·
Kitty update...

All the cats spent about 20 minutes out together last night! It was very successful. We have a gate at the top of our stairs (2 story house), and I had to "double gate" with a second gate behind it, so the kittens couldn't get through it to go downstairs - they are so small the could easily get through the slats of the normal gate. But we put up the double gate, and opened all the upstairs bedroom doors. Everyone was out. There was exploring, only a few hisses. No one wanted to fight. Bebe was quite puzzled by the kittens and their energy, I think :grin2::grin2::grin2: Fenris doesn't care at all, and Siouxsie Sioux climbed to the top of the cat tree to watch them and avoid if possible, LOL. Sypha sat behind the gate on the top stair to watch. She got quite a few pieces of kitten kibble as rewards for being calm. Both kittens approached the gate to check her out. Gus was more okay with her than Matilda, but neither was particularly worried. I'm sure it will be a bit different when she's moving around, but overall, a very good start.

I'd say a most excellent first introduction.
 
#49 ·
He didn't care - he was downstairs. He'll meet them when we start working on dog intros. Maybe this weekend. Sypha couldn't stand being left out of what was going on upstairs, so she kept coming up to the top of the stairs to see what was going on up there :grin2:
 
#52 ·
Kittens are doing very well. They've spent a decent amount of time with the adult cats (in short bursts). Everyone is doing very well together, but we'll continue to take it slow.

They had their first meeting with the dogs yesterday. The dogs were a little too excited. First meeting was in my sewing room, and the dogs couldn't settle down and relax. The kittens weren't overly stressed, but I didn't like how the dogs were winding up. Later we took the kittens to the living room and put them in a crate so they were safe. The dogs had a hard time settling again (NEW! EXCITING!), but after a little while I fed them their dinner in snuffle mats and they totally ignored the kittens at that point. After they ate they were much less interested in the kittens. I ended it soon after, and the plan is to have the kittens down in the crate for dinner time each night so we start building positive associations while they eat and so they aren't very exciting. It's also just taking time to let them get bigger - they are still pretty small and vulnerable. I don't think either dog would intentionally hurt them but I am very, very cautious. When they stop seeing the kittens as very interesting in the crate we can start setting up a lot of gates and try having the kittens out downstairs, and dogs on leash. I don't really want to restrain them, since restraint increases drive, but that will be for safety. But we're not close to that yet.

We'll be doing a lot more time out and mixing with the adult cats upstairs - that's going very well.
 
#53 ·
#56 ·
#59 ·
They do seem to like warmth - some people put them in sweaters. I'm not sure how much they need them, though. I have three heated cat beds in my house year 'round, so they have plenty of spots to get warm!
 
#60 ·
Making progress with the dogs! The dogs still get pretty excited when they first see them, but today they were able to nap on the couch with them! WOO HOOO!!!!! (I know it helped that they had a good off-leash run first :grin2: ) They spent about 30 minutes napping together. There are two Dobermans and two Devons in this photo:

IMG-0107 by Shanoa Delta, on Flickr
 
#64 · (Edited)
Dang it--I had this typed out a few hours ago, but somehow didn't put it up before I went offline. When I came back and looked at this thread a few hours later, there my answer was, unposted. But now nobody will believe that I had already guessed the answer correctly because you've spilled the beans, MC.

Here was my response, just sitting there, in the message box at the bottom of the page:

"I'm thinking there's someone wearing/under a black plaid coat/blanket in front."


Life is so unfair. :smile5:
 
#65 ·
The black/plaid looking thing is actually me in a Nightmare Before Christmas sweatshirt :) I have a black blanket on my lap, and the kittens are on top of me. Sypha is the small thing to the right in the photo - she's the blue lump. You can only see a tiny bit of her butt. The rest of her is under the blanket ;)

Tonight wasn't quite as good, of course...it's always two steps forward, one back. Dogs were more hyped up, so no relaxing with kittens tonight. Lots of treats while they were out, so it went fine, but no one could be calm enough to actually snuggle.
 
#74 ·
#76 ·
Sypha is definitely the one most interested in them. Richter is, too, but he's had to "go through" cats being added to the household before. He's also more...respectful of the "power" of the kittens, lol. They climb the gates, and he's terrified of gates, so he thinks they are pretty powerful! >:) He will nose poke them a little but overall he's pretty respectful.

Sypha came into the house with cats already here. So new kittens are NEW, and these kittens in particular are very playful, with lots of running, lots of darting around, and just overall...terribly interesting. The good thing is that they are also very bold, and not afraid of the dogs. The bigger they get, the less worried I am. They are learning all the spaces they can go to escape. But I just really don't want chasing or harassing, so again...just taking it slow. It's a lot more work than just throwing them all together, but worth it.
 
#78 ·
Thought I'd give another update (and I'll see if I can get you all some new photos later today).

We're now at the point where the kittens are loose in the house when we're home and generally "supervising"...meaning in the house. They get put in their room when we are gone and overnight. I'm thrilled with how everyone is doing. The "pre-existing" cats are doing amazing. I'm still shocked. I'd actually think Bebe ASKED for these kittens. I can't get over how much she likes them, and I thought she'd be the worst with them! I honestly can't believe it. She's been cuddling with them, and it truly blows my mind. Fenris also likes them. Siouxsie Sioux generally ignores them, but she's the "old lady" cat of the house at age 10.

The dogs are doing SO WELL. I'm really glad I've put in the time to do this slowly. I knew Richter would do well, as he's done this before. Sypha has taken more time. These kittens are REALLY exciting. More than most kittens. I've had cats for 20 years as an adult, and my whole life before that, so I'm pretty experienced. Fostered, etc, so I really *know* cats. This breed truly is different. The activity level is very high. And they are BOLD. That's been good, but the activity level has been challenging for Sypha. With a lot of work we're now at a pretty good point. She is still interested in them - and I'm not surprised, since they fly around the room, often actually leap ON her! - but she doesn't chase. She mostly ignores them. Occasionally checks them out, some sniffing, occasionally has to get up and check out what they are doing, but I'm not at all concerned about what she's doing. Richter has a healthy respect for them, since they climb gates. And gates are DOOM. DOOM! :) We don't have gates up anymore, but he remembers ;) He also occasionally checks out what they are doing, but generally isn't interested or watches from the other side of the room.

That's probably longer than anyone wanted to read, but I thought this was worthy of an update.
 
#81 ·
And I can certainly laugh too--the first thing I do with a new puppy in the house is to prop all the babygate up loosely so it anyone touches them they fall down. So all my dogs firmly believe that to touch a baby gate is to find sudden death.

My cats know this...but right now I'm posting ears on two puppy bitches--one is a little red hellion bred by Michelle. She's into everything--pulling on the table cloth, trying to see what's on the table top, the counters and has no fear of the baby gates--tries to plow through them. The other puppy is about the same age, black and was bred by Dee Robison (Deerun). Other than color and breeder they are interchangeable--hellions--both of them.

dobebug
 
#83 ·
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