Detente???

Rusty has now been integrated into family life. He has virtues--he uses his litter box and he loves his scratching posts. He is very gentle, but we also believe he is a bit passive/aggressive. He seems to make a point to sleep in all Ding Ding's favorite places, and particularly problematic is that he sleeps on the bed with us. Nothing to be done about it unless we banish Dingers, too. We fall asleep; he insinuates himself. Things are relatively quiet--no hissing, a little swatting (Dingers not Rusty). All fingers crossed for a good outcome.

Introducing Rusty

With this posting Rusty Staub makes his official debut on the blat. You can see he's already shedding on the furniture, which had really not been an issue when Dingers was an only cat.

A little too big to be comfortable

When she was little Ding Ding loved to lie on my shoulders. As she got bigger this became less comfortable for both of us. Still, every once in a while she thinks she'd like to try those shoulders again. Here she is with Rog--who is none too pleased since he's trying to grade papers.

Ding Ding Returns!

Ding Ding regrets her long absence from the blogosphere, but she is a very busy cat--so just suck it up. Dingers finally met Henry over July 4th, and nothing horrible happened to either baby or cat. So that's good. But now a new challenge lurks in the form of Rusty Staub, an orange male cat who first arrived on the scene about two months ago as a pretty pathetic stray.

We began feeding him, because he was obviously hungry, and finally won his trust. At which point I lured him into a travel container, and we took him to the animal shelter. He's now back with us, minus some basic male equipment (although he doesn't seem to hold that against us). I am hoping this is not a gigantic mistake, but we are still in the getting to know you phase. Rusty lives in his fortress of solitude, otherwise known as the guest bedroom, while he acclimatizes to his new situation--and Ding Ding tries to wrap her brain around the fact that she is no longer an only cat. Pictures of Rusty and Ding Ding to follow. Dingers is complaining that this blat is beginning to look more like a blab, what with all the baby pictures.