On the drive home I saw a large cloud that looked like an elephant. Thanks to the marvels of modern communication devices, I took a picture of it with my phone before it blew into another shape. The wind was quite brisk and was trying to help me change lanes sometimes.
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| It's a racing elephant. See, it's streamlined! |
So I get home, and I smell of all the cats at Ginger's house. All my stuff I took with me smells of her place and her cats.
Apricot's reaction was sort of in the middle. He was very interested in these new smells. Intensely interested, to the point where he didn't want his usual "come home cuddle." (Much to my disappointment.)
He didn't show any signs of aggressive displeasure, like backing off or hissing. He did prefer that I stop bothering him so he could investigate in peace, even waiting until I left the kitchen before going back in and sniffing more.
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| Something smells funny |
Now he is on the top of the highest cat tree where he often goes to rest or think when he's been challenged by an event, so I think he's up there assimilating things and thinking them over.
This was the goal, after all. I wanted to introduce the scents so they would be not completely unfamiliar when the kittens come home. I will go visit one more time before they come home, so he'll smell them again without meeting them. And next time I go visit I plan to take the washcloths that I brought to her house this time (they had Apricot scent on them from him sleeping on them) and rub each kitten down with one, and let him smell those individually, instead of the mass "FELINE" scent he got today.
I'm not really looking forward to the integration process. I'm looking forward to after that, when everybody is (hopefully) happy together!
...
Ah ha. I finally put two and two together and realized what's got Apricot so spooked (I mean, he's only mildly spooked since he's not under the headboard, but still). He was mostly interested in the stuff that stayed in my car the whole time. I couldn't figure it out until I remembered I'd accidentally left my car window down.
The car was in their garage (an extremely large place!) where there is also a breeding cage for Luke and his current paramour. Luke is an intact male. They have a distinctive scent and I don't mean the spraying the walls scent. It's just a smell that is strong enough that I can smell it. Which means it's entirely reasonable that it got onto the stuff in the car through the open window.
An intact male of Luke's age and size is a danger to a young cat such as Apricot would have been when Apricot was roaming loose, before the shelter. I'm sure he learned that lesson (stay away from the older, unfixed male cats) quite early on. So for my stuff to come back smelling of an intact male would have been quite disturbing.
With that viewpoint in mind, it's amazing Apricot responded as calmly as he did.
...
Ah ha. I finally put two and two together and realized what's got Apricot so spooked (I mean, he's only mildly spooked since he's not under the headboard, but still). He was mostly interested in the stuff that stayed in my car the whole time. I couldn't figure it out until I remembered I'd accidentally left my car window down.
The car was in their garage (an extremely large place!) where there is also a breeding cage for Luke and his current paramour. Luke is an intact male. They have a distinctive scent and I don't mean the spraying the walls scent. It's just a smell that is strong enough that I can smell it. Which means it's entirely reasonable that it got onto the stuff in the car through the open window.
An intact male of Luke's age and size is a danger to a young cat such as Apricot would have been when Apricot was roaming loose, before the shelter. I'm sure he learned that lesson (stay away from the older, unfixed male cats) quite early on. So for my stuff to come back smelling of an intact male would have been quite disturbing.
With that viewpoint in mind, it's amazing Apricot responded as calmly as he did.
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