AnimalCare

Since Ginger has become a super-alpha sprayer in the house now, I thought there might be times we need to put him in Bunny’s Place.

It would also be good if Ginger can be accepted by the Cow Clan.

So, Ginger had a supervised orientation today.

He was making a lot of noise while I was inside Bunny’s Room, so I opened the grille and an “exchange” happened – Ginger came in and Pole went out! It was almost like a “prisoner swap” but of course nobody is a prisoner here.

Indy was the first (and only) cat who was on the offensive.

Ginger was smart enough to jump up onto the wooden chair next to me while Indy made his war cries.

Indy was clearly fed-up by Ginger’s presence and he could not get to Ginger, so he made his protest known by biting me on the hand. Then he flipped on the floor and bit his own paw repeatedly. He was letting off steam.

He soon settled down.

Cow was asleep and not bothered by all the goings-on. He did look up (he was totally aware of what was going on, of course). But he decided he didn’t need to react.

Ginger also settled down.

I put Ginger down on the floor and Indy seemed civil now.

Smelling…

Indy tried to bite Ginger ear, but Ginger protested.

Side by side.

I let Ginger back out and Pole back inside. Prisoner swap! Haha…

Can Indy be friends with Ginger?

Now, Indy is on the same chair that Ginger sat on and poking me repeatedly with his paw.

Indy is a very possessive cat, so his acceptance of Ginger is definitely going to take some time.

And there’s Cow and Bunny to contend with as well. It’s no easy feat.

Ginger has a jealousy streak. He was very jealous of all the attention that Zurik had and now, he is jealous of Tabs.

Tabs loves to sit at the window in our bedroom every morning and enjoy the scenery, then she will take a long nap there. But Ginger is jealous so he too goes up and sprays on the bed (usually my pillow will be the victim). As a result of this, we often have to close the bedroom door thus Tabs cannot have her favourite spot (unless someone is home to keep an eye on Ginger and stop him from going upstairs).

Ginger has the whole patio to himself, but it’s just not enough for him.

Tabs and Heidi sometimes sit on this deck chair, so Ginger sprays on it too.

Ginger also sprays on our living room cushions. He wants the whole house to himself. Looks like all our males are very alpha.

Tabs has to take a nap in the kitchen today.

Heidi still follows out to the park for taiji and gets her half-boiled egg yolk every day. This has become her routine.

Then, she takes a long morning nap.

I’ve kept all of Zurik’s favourite places intact.

This is his favourite box-house, right in front of Bunny’s room. He’ll wait for me here if I’m inside the room.

His blanket on top of the piano.

I remember the numerous times I’ve had to balance myself, one leg on the piano stool and the other on the piano itself, to feed him his medicines so that I don’t have to take him down. Zurik had no problems jumping up onto the piano top.

And there’s another box-house here and of course, on the counter where he guards my taiji sword.

And he used to love curling up sleeping in this box-bed. It fitted him very well and he would look so comfortable in it.

I still find myself silently calling out for Zurik every time we come home from somewhere. “Zuzu” was my nickname for him.

Every time we took him to the vet’s, after he had gone into the carrier, I will tell him, “I promise I will bring you back, ok? Don’t worry.” And he would go confidently to the vet’s and back home, without making a single sound.

And every time we went out from the house, I’d say to him, “We will be back soon, Zuzu. We are just going out for awhile.” When we returned, I will look for him to let him know we were back, as promised.

I’m not ready to remove all his box-houses, his box-bed and everything in his favourite places yet.

I still miss him a lot.

His quiet presence has indeed left a huge gaping hole in our lives.