Ok so it’s really just one cat, (OK, really just one kitten) and a bat house that doesn’t have any bats in it YET, but I couldn’t pass up the chance for a rhyming blog post name 🙂

Getting a cat has been on my want list for several years now but Lee is super sensitive to ammonia and in such a small space I never could talk him into it. But when we moved into a house it was at the top of my list with the caveat that the litter box would be in my office. Finding a kitten turned out to be very easy though and ultimately, I chose a shelter that didn’t have a ton of weird adoption rules. I know it’s important that shelter animals go to good homes, but I wasn’t interested in signing my name in blood or having a home inspection to get one. Thankfully I found an old school shelter where with a minimum of hassle we could get a cat.

I initially wanted one about four months old because I thought that would be young enough to get along with Jack but also old enough to hold her own. Unfortunately, I also wanted a female (they make better mousers) and the only ones they had were 13 weeks old. I ended up with a really cute one though and she snuggled with me all the way home. To be safe Lee went in first and took Jack for a walk while I brought the kitten in. As soon as we got close to the door she went crazy. She started squirming and bit me hard in the flesh above the thumb…TWICE! Thankfully I dropped her inside and she immediately ran under the chair.

She was freaked out and I was surprised but I let her be while I set up her food and water and litter box. Then I fetched her from under the couch and held her while Jack came back in. It’s important to note two things. First Jack has been an only child for his entire life and it turns out he’s a bit spoiled. Second he has been smelling stray cats at various RV parks for years and is not a fan. But I held the cat and Lee held the dog and we managed our first introduction. It didn’t go great but nobody got bit so I took the cat into my office for some alone time.

Jack was super unhappy about being left out of the room but I stayed with her and then we left her in there for several hours. She made a home under the chair and pretty much stayed there. For the next couple of days we tried a variety of introductions and even put a hook on my office door so it could be open enough for the cat to go through but not the dog, and the cat and dog could look at each other and smell each other through the crack. That actually seemed to help but I was getting nervous because Monday was a workday and I wasn’t sure how this was all going to go. I couldn’t keep my office door shut all day especially if he was going to sit and whine at it so Lee said it was time for them to work it out on their own.

Thankfully if I was in the room everyone played nice, but I was still worried about when we went to bed. After a couple of somewhat restless nights, I heard a hiss and a yelp and assume that the cat nailed Jack on the nose. Things got better after that and within a week they were doing much better. Now they sleep together and snuggle and even drink out of the same bowl although they occasionally get on each other’s nerves. We made sure we kept Jack third in the pack by feeding him first but also let him know when he’s getting too rough.

Everyone has their own thoughts about how to work these introductions, but I will say it was ALOT more work than I expected. Part of that is overcoming Jack’s high predator instinct and the other was that the kitten was so small I was pretty worried. Now that’s she’s bigger its less of a concern but frankly I will be glad when she is full sized and on more of an equal footing. Oh, and we named her Moxie, which Jack understands and when are looking for her he will search the house with us and often finds her first and bark to let us know he found her. Another thing I have never seen a dog do 🙂

Oh, one last thing, we bought a robot litter box (an off brand, not the $900 one, we’re not Rockefellers) and although it works well the “fragrance” they add to the litter is a bit overwhelming in my office. We are trying unscented cat litter next, but we are also discussing moving the litter box into the hall linen closet. That’s a huge concession for Lee and I appreciate it.

Another thing I really wanted was a bat house. We saw firsthand in Oregon how bats can help with mosquitos and since we had an open field and we are near a water source we’re in a good location. Buying the bat house was pretty easy but the pole was super hard. The ones online are crazy expensive ($120 and up), but they also don’t have them in many local stores. We discussed other options but at 12-20 feet high choices are limited. You can mount them on a building but it’s really not recommended and after a month of looking Lee actually found a telescoping pole for a martin house on clearance for $69!! We picked it up the day we got the cat and a few days later he mounted it next to one of our fence posts in a spot I picked out. This was no small job, and needed a little modifying so they would work together and I really appreciated it.

The good news is it is very sturdy. The bad news is it is unlikely we will get any bats until next spring because we waited too long. Still, it’s up, and a big checkmark off the list and Lee got to do something he had never done before. There has been a lot of that for both of us and since we are no longer throwing money at problems (back to living on a budget!) we are learning how to do things ourselves. Next up is chickens, and if I thought the kitten was hard, wow was that crazy.

Quick Update: The unscented Tidy cat was much better, but my eyes still feel itchy. I am guessing it the dust because as long as I have a fan circulating it doesn’t bother me as much. Definitely want to move the litter box to the utility closet.

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