Noodle's Special Traits

I forgotten to mention that Noodle grinds her teeth, or something like that. Now and then, she'll chew like she has stored food in her mouth which makes it sound like she's teeth-grinding. It's darling. There seems to be no rhyme or reason (to us) as to when and why she does this, but like her, it's mesmerizing.

She sat out in the living room with us tonite cat bathing but then decided she wanted to hang out in her condo (or at least, half in/out). She got her bottom trimmed a little, as much as she would allow, and some of her claws trimmed. Right now, she and her brother are lying in bed. We don't want to startle them so we'll take our time joining them.

It is, after all, about the cats. We roll how they want us to roll!

It's a no poop day

It's now been 36 hrs since Noodle's soft poop incident. In fact, she hasn't pooped at all since then. We are anxiously watching her. We even set up a baby monitor in the litter closet so we can listen for her actions when we're sleeping ... since she seems to be a nightowl. Hopefully it will work and wake us up at night. Wouldn't that be a surprise to wake up to?

She stayed up pretty late this morning, hanging out with us and her brother. Although they didn't seem to play as much last night as the previous, they had their moments. She especially likes to run up the stairs on my side of the bed, either walk over me or beside me, to the end of the bed by Dave, claw his feet, then hang over the bed. She then jumps down and starts clawing the boxsprings. So now we have a sheet covering them and got her a scratching mat. Hopefully that will do the trick.

She ate a bit of her caviar. Hopefully she isn't holding out on her hunger "for the good, wet stuff."

We had to run some errands so again, we left the two of them home alone, with complete run of the house. They did well - no pee, poop, or cat hair flying around.

We also got her a catnip banana which she played with some. But the aluminum ball foil seemed to get her attention. The four of us spent some time playing in the bathroom - I have never spent so much time in a bathroom before. Once, she climbed up on the toilet lid and paw'd her unsuspecting brother. Too funny!

She's still resting, half in/half out of her condo. Maybe that is her way of slowly migrating and joining us in the living room. All in good time, I'm sure (hope).

There was play and then there was ...

True to her nature as we knew it for the past week, Noodle spent last evening hanging out with us in the living room, including sitting fur to fur with Bag on the couch. Later she leapt up and must have accidentally poked him with her rear claws, because he hissed at her/me like he had never before. Dave grabbed and cuddled with him but he was still growling while I cuddled with her to let her know she wasn't at fault.

So throughout the evening, we were nervous that they would remember this incident. Somehow though, it seemed to cause us anxiety and them none at all because they started up their usual nightly routine of cat and mouse, the hunter and the hunted.

So all night long, the sounds of chasing and taunting went on and on. Amazingly we got a few hours of sleep, along with some playful clawing to the feet and boxsprings.

At 5 or so this morning, we heard Noodle in the main litterbox so Dave got the lucky chore of checking. A few minutes later, he called for "assistance." Turns out Noodle had soft poop - the first we had experienced since she'd arrived but had been warned about - and it was all over her bottom. While I didn't see it (for better or worse), Dave said it was like "mashed potato texture." I guess it's a good thing that I've never been keen to mashed potato in the first place.

After what seemed like an eternity wiping her little bottom with wet wipes (I'm sure it felt longer for her), we decided to run her bottom under the sink. The stench was still strong and we weren't quite sure if we had gotten it all. Plus, the poor thing was squirming and we didn't want to hurt her bottom with too much wiping.

She didn't care for the bathing but it was quick. We cuddled with her to let her know she didn't do anything wrong. Soon, she was back at it with her brother. The smell was still with us but it was probably deeply entrenched in our nasal passage now. It takes me back to the days of diapering my littlest cousins. That was fun ... except that they eventually grew up and now wipe their own bottoms.

A bit afterwards though, she was back in the litterbox, and so was Dave. Again, although there wasn't much this time, there was nevertheless enough to smear all over the butt. One more wipe and we three headed for the sink again. I'd like to think we are coming down with a system but in the moment, I sure was thinking ... good thing this happened on a weekend.

Same as before, she later picked up with her brother. Around 9 or so (which seemed late for her), she settled down in her condo, where she's been pretty much the entire day. She did have several visitors whom she tolerated in her friendly way but she was eager to head back to her abode.

We made our list of Noodle-friendly supplies to establish some sort of system. And it's obvious that we'll leave her safe room intact with her litterbox, food, water, and condo there for now, until her poop hardens and we can get her back on track. We even picked up a set of baby monitor to listen in on the litterbox (Dave and I were in really unfamiliar territory in the baby aisle - we had no idea which monitor went where.)

So it was only these two soft poop incidents (so far). I hope that she isn't sick. We'll be sure to keep her on her hard food, although it kills me to see her not eating it (but will devour the canned food).

Dave just retrieved her and the 4 of us are sitting here on the couch watching "Battlestar Galactica" (old school) - good times, good times!

Our baby!

All we have to say is, she is such a doll! She was meant to be, has completed our family, and is the most adorable girl ever!

Noodle, the Nightowl

So Noodle continues to sleep during the day, and be active at night. Despite repeated and what we hope are soothing attempts to bring her out during the day while we're home, she plays with us for awhile and then scurries back to the bathroom. Last night though, she did sleep with us in the bed for about 3 hours right around our heads. In fact, she cat bathed Dave's head again for awhile.

I remember she left to join her brother around 230 or so, and I came out to sleep on the couch around 530am. There was some chasing, peeing, pooping, and eating. They both joined me on the couch for a bit, too.

Around 9 or so, she decided she needed to sleep in her condo, and away she went. Dave later got 2 more kitty stairs but she was more interested in her sleep. We'll be continuing to make our house Noodle-friendly.

We ran some errands today and left them alone. That was the first time. They appeared to have done well, since both were sleeping when we returned and there weren't signs of a cat fight. In fact, Bag seems more desirous of food than anything throughout today.

She's been sleeping off and on tonight, but is now sitting with Bag and me on the couch. (Bag likes to have a towel to sit on.) She is getting her nightly petting in this photo and Bag woke up long enough to take it. It's almost 9pm, so perhaps she is ready to wake up and start her day.

Noodle's First Thanksgiving

Noodle spent most of Thanksgiving napping. She didn't care too much that we tried to move her cat condo into the living room from the bathroom. We would move it a few inches at a time, but she kept going back to the same spot in the bathroom. That will show us for messing with her!

She explored the laundry room a bit but we didn't spend much time in there since we didn't want her getting through the cracks.

At about 8, Dave brought her into the living room and onto the couch. Bag was sleeping on my lap but that didn't matter to her because she climbed over him and sat on my chest. For the next hour, she got alot of petting but she also cat bathed my arms, palms, neck, and face. I think I'm a little red from all that.

Afterwards, she climbed down her kitty stairs (good girl!) off the couch, and scurried back to the bathroom where she proceeded to eat her Wellness food. She hung out by the bathroom door for a bit, and later came back out. She walked past Bag, and they just sniffed. I thought she was going to go back to her safe room but she climbed back up on the stairs and is now back on the couch with us.

So far she's been a nightowl. She's quiet during the day and evening but when night time rolls around, she's playful ... when of course, we're sleeping! But that doesn't matter, we'll work on her schedule!

and the Gate Came Down!

It seemed to us that it's now time to take down her safe room, or most of it. Dave took down the towel and behold - the gate! We had left the gate wide open last night anyway for free movement. It's all packed up and the house is getting back to normal (but not really). She seemed fine without the gate but her condo, litter box, food, and water are still in the bathroom.

This is amazing. We are so glad this day has arrived. Little by little, she seems to be comfortable in the house.

Later this morning we tried to move her and her cat condo out into the living room. She was not having it though. She scurried back to the bathroom. I guess we will try again later, perhaps when she and Bag are active.

It's all on her good time.

Later today, we'll all have our Thanksgiving dinner together.