Welcome back to Whisker Wednesday! There’s a good chance you’re here because you want to know more about Floofenstein. But, if you’re new, I’m sharing our newest family member’s story from how he joined us until he has fully integrated into the clowder.
Last time, I left off at Floof’s second spa day, cleaning him up after his misadventure.
May 7 – June 24
It’s been a while since my last Floofenstein update, and this is the final part of his “initiation” series. My next update will be once he’s fully integrated into the household, and I’m not sure how long that will take.
Health
Let’s start with the most important information. Floofenstein has no adverse health effects from his misadventure. He neither contracted FeLV nor parasites! I was 99.9% sure of the former, but it’s good go have confirmation.
These results only lead to two main immediate changes. When Floofers is out of the bathroom, I leave the door open now so our other cats can explore his space and his scent. And, to help with getting them to think of him as part of the clowder, I “transplanted” Floof’s poo to the other litter boxes so that his scent mixes with everyone else’s.
However, with a “clean” bill of health — not including FIV — we can move onto phase 2 of integrating him into the clowder.
Integration
While on the topic of integration, there are definite signs that the bridges Floofenstein burned by pouncing on everyone are being rebuilt. Ritz has initiated three “nosings” so far, and has sniffed various areas (neck, tail, etc.). Dante has almost nosed Floof, and has sniffed his tail multiple times.
Granted, all of this has been around wet food time when Floofers is at least partially distracted. And Athena has no interest in being friends. She’d likely be happiest if he just completely ignores her.
Until the boys show a bit less fear around him, Floofenstein will mostly stay on his leash while he’s out. I don’t want to burn those bridges again.
He purrs!
You may have seen my post on Instagram that Floofenstein doesn’t purr. Well, that has changed. We found out on May 18 that he purrs, but only in his throat. So, it was virtually silent and didn’t reverberate through his body.
Over the past few weeks, Jim was convinced Floof’s purr was getting stronger. When I listened closely, I was just barely able to hear it. Jim, though, swore he could feel the purr rumbles near Floof’s shoulder blades.
On Saturday (June 21), we got the proof. While it doesn’t rumble through his body as much as our other cats’ purrs, we both heard a proper purr out of Floofers for the first time. I guess he just needed to find his purr again.
Playtime
In other happy news, Floofenstein has also started playing more. He thinks the red dot — AKA laser toy — is nice, but annoying. Mr. Rope, though, is tons of fun to chase and chew.
While I will probably regret this sentiment later, I look forward to seeing what his zoomies are like.
Dinner dance
I have to say, Floofers is the most food-motivated cat I’ve ever met. And that’s saying something given Ritz has long been known as a walking stomach. That said, Floofenstein has an adorable dinner dance as he waits for his wet food.
As I walk from the counter to his eating spot, Floof’s eyes remain locked on his dish. He’s run into walls, the other cats, and chairs during this period, because he will not take his eyes off of the bowl. On top of that, his paws tippy-tap — he takes tiny steps 2-3 times faster than usual to get to his spot. Then, once in his spot, he will “dance” in place until I set down his bowl. Then he attacks. It’s cute.
Leash and harness
As I’ve said in previous posts, Floof is perfectly comfortable in a harness. He’s not particularly happy that we found one he can’t escape from, but otherwise, it doesn’t bother him.
What I’ve discovered, though, is that he will walk on his leash about 85-90% of the time, following me when I make kissy noises. I’m hoping that he’ll keep this behavior when we aren’t at home. I’m still hoping that we can take him on trips to PetSmart and the King Street Cats crochet bed sales.
Thanks for sticking with me for this intro series on Floofenstein. As I mentioned at the start of this post, my next Floof update will be when he is fully integrated into the family — out of his bathroom 24/7 — or after his September 16th check-up, whichever comes first.
If you don’t want to wait that long for information about him, then keep an eye on my Instagram. I regularly post pictures of him.
Have you enjoyed these posts on Floofenstein? How long do you think it will take until he’s fully integrated into the family? Let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
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