Shuffling Kittens
There are four cats in my house at the moment: Jack Black, his sister Cate Blanchett, Tina Fey (from another colony), and Jodie Foster (from another other colony).
Jack, Cate, and Tina came into my care on 7 July.
Jack Day 1: Loves everyone and everything; accepted pats and being picked up so readily that we simply picked him up and put him in the carrier. Had some minor injuries and dirty paws.
Cate Day 1: Terrified but polite—she hissed a lot and needed careful handling but didn’t scratch or bite.
Tina Day 1: Was comforted by pats immediately; clearly very human-oriented.
I put the siblings into the shower in the quarantine room (aka my ensuite) and Tina into the rest of the ensuite. That way, they could see and smell each other but couldn’t hurt each other. When I was in there, I could open the shower door and observe their early interactions. They were interested in each other without being aggressive, so I was confident they’d be able to be put together in one group very soon.
Cate jumped over the shower wall into Tina’s ‘half’ of the quarantine room—twice—so yes indeed, they were quickly able to be treated as one group. Once they were wormed, I moved them to the cat room.
Tina is desperate for pats, but quite neurotic. She tends to writhe and roll around when getting patted, because she wants MORE.
Cate is dignified. She likes it when I dangle toys for her, and she likes it when pats happen… but she doesn’t seek them out. She’s a surprisingly good hugger for all that (one of those cats that melts into your arms), and beautifully soft.
I took way too long to realise that Jack’s minor injuries were actually 90%-healed ringworm. I began aggressive treatment immediately (after 2-3 days he shouldn’t be infectious). Tina got ringworm from him (and so did I) so I treated her aggressively too (and myself). Cate never got ringworm—probably because none of the friendly trio are super snuggly with each other.
On 27 July Jodie Foster came into my care, and it was immediately clear that she was very clever, and very angry, and very determined to escape. Knowing I was in for a difficult time (but feeling relaxed about it, as we could neuter and release her back to her colony in Sydney if needed), I tried to worm her BEFORE releasing her from the carrier into the quarantine room… but she did the ‘act meek and then break out with incredible speed’ thing and I failed.
I knew she emerged from her hiding place when the door was closed because I could see she’d eaten food etc… but she NEVER emerged if I was near. After a week or so, I could sometimes hear her moving around. But if I opened the quarantine room door she’d always flee, and if I approached her hiding spot she’d growl, spit, snarl, and even try to attack (without emerging from the hiding place ie her range was very limited so I was at least able to change her food, water, and litter).
I tried several techniques for socialising Jodie: I patted her with a wooden spoon (to get her used to gentle touch without shredding my arm) and considered it progress when she attacked the spoon slightly less vigorously. I brought Jack in to visit her, which mostly involved Jack eating her food, using her litter tray (possibly an aggressive move but possibly just another communication method), sniffing at her briefly and then curling up to purr in my lap. I figured Jack was doing excellent pro-human modelling, while also getting the two of them used to each other by degrees. I eventually bought a type of ‘tube’ cat treat that I’ve seen win over many a feral kitten on FaceBook reels. And yes, she definitely liked the treat a lot, and even accepted it from my hand (through the mesh gate or from the greatest possible distance).
Somewhere in there, Jodie escaped into my room one day and had to be caught and returned to the quarantine room. That was NOT a good experience for her, but at least I was finally able to put worm meds on her. I usually release cats from quarantine once the worm meds have had time to work, but with Jodie’s intelligence and hatred, I knew I might never see her again if she had a bigger area in which to hide. So she stayed in the quarantine room. She bit and clawed her way through three sides of the flyscreen, destroying it utterly. Impressive and tragic. I felt bad for keeping her in quarantine, and kept the gate open as much as possible so she could at least see out. That eased her boredom a little, and also meant she had many hours of observing humans doing human things (ie not trying to kill her) which I hoped would ease her fear.
Jack continued to be extremely friendly; Tina and Cate continued to be neurotic but pattable.
I’ve found with shy cats that they improve a lot when I put them in my bedroom rather than the cat room. Perhaps seeing me come in and out fifteen times a day makes me less scary. (And when they see me sleep a lot, they know I’m not a terrifying monster.)
And perhaps Jodie would benefit from seeing more kittens clearly comfortable with my presence.
So! The friendly trio moved into my bedroom, and I would often have the gate in place so Jodie could observe me and them.
Then Jodie developed ringworm. I think I gave it to her, despite never touching her (ringworm is truly an amazing and pernicious thing).
So.
Jodie has to stay in quarantine until she’s treated for ringworm (but I still couldn’t physically touch her, let alone make her drink medicine).
Cate needs to be protected from ringworm. Tina and Jack are still being treated (it’s a 5-week medical course) so they have a measure of safety. Jack is very friendly with Jodie; Cate is mildly interested; Tina is curious but hesitant.
Our bedroom is extremely crowded.
I moved Cate and Jack into the cat room, keeping Tina in my bedroom and Jodie in the quarantine room.
Cate appeared pleased but Jack started meowing a lot because he wasn’t getting as much human contact (he typically gets a pat every time I come in and out of the master bedroom).
So I moved Jack back in with Tina in my room.
Then Cate started meowing, because she missed her brother.
So today I’ll move Jack in with Cate while I attempt to medicate Jodie’s ringworm (probably through food, which is why Jack needs to go away so he doesn’t eat it all). Then I’ll move Jack back into my room (so he doesn’t meow all day) and move Tina into the cat room with Cate so Cate doesn’t meow all day.
Will this arrangement work? Maybe!
I just need a few good days to be able to release Jodie… IF I can get Jodie to consume the ringworm medication.
As of last night, Jodie suddenly started accepting and enjoying pats from me! So if it wasn’t for the ringworm, I could get her out of quarantine right now. Now that I can pat her, everything has changed and I’m cautiously optimistic I can get a full dose of medication into her today (and tomorrow, and for 5 days after that).
The cat shuffling continues!
This kind of complicated problem solving is fascinating to me… which is good, as it happens a lot!
Felicity Banks 
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