Lucy Sparkles Scratch-n-Sniff

 

One year ago today we brought Lucy Sparkles Scratch-n-Sniff home from the Humane Society. Read here about her adoption and the reason we chose to adopt this sweet little lady. Her adoptiversary is easy to remember because it is also my youngest brother Sam's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM).

We are so in love with this sweet cat. She  is a one in a million type of creature. She is engaged and playful. Growing up in a house with kids and dogs and another cat she is also quite confident. She is such a character! We laugh at her antics on a daily basis. At night she often snuggles up behind my knees and ends her night up on the top bunk in the girls' room to wake Cordelia. 

She has forged her own relationship with our older cat Ophelia. We are so happy that Ophelia seems to have come out of her depression (from losing our Siamese cat Mia). She is interested in Lucy, though she has zero interest in playing with a kitten, that job falls to the dogs. Bumblebee and Betty Sprinkles both play with her on a daily basis, racing through the house barking and romping. It is, however, the relationship between Betty and Lucy that is the most endearing. They play and snuggle and seek each other out. 

Take a moment to look over a few pics from the past year with Lucy.

Lucy Update

I promised you an update on out newly adopted kitten, Lucy. So let's start at the beginning shall we?

Last week we brought her home at kind of a weird time. Our house's normal stasis was a bit disrupted as we were watching my parent's dog for the week. 

So we initially set Lucy up in a kennel in the guest room for the first night. We wanted her to have a safe place while she got used to the scents and sounds of our home. We left her kennel open all day, just keeping her in there overnight. The other animals were not allowed in that room.

Next we introduced both cats to each other's scents and then to each other. Opehlia, our older cat, did some hissing, but with no real conviction. Lucy was too sweet. She was calm and purred and seemed totally at ease with the situation.

Meanwhile we, humans, were all falling in love with her sweet and fun personality. She is always happy to purr and play.

So after the second night we moved the kennel to the studio, our basement. We moved Ophelia there as well. The basement  laundry room is where the cat box and food is kept, behind a doggie gate. Seemed like a good starting point for Lucy to get a lay of the land. For a short while we kept Lucy in the kennel while we got a feel for how Ophelia was doing. We certainly didn't want a cat fight. 

Slowly, as we felt confident that both cats were pretty calm, we let Lucy out. She had her kennel open to retreat to if she felt the need. We also put her in the kennel one last night to ensure that all was safe and harmonious between the cats.

Over the last few days both cats have hung out in the basement. Ophelia seems to have regained her interest in the world. She has been totally entertained by Lucy and they are absolutely forming a positive relationship. Now, they will sleep next to each other! Good stuff is happening!

Finally, my parents returned from their trip yesterday and took their dog back home. We were ready to introduce our dogs Betty and Bumblebee to Lucy. Well, we had let them see and smell her over the course of the week, but now we opened up the basement so cats and dogs could freely roam. We know our dogs well enough to know that they pose little threat to Lucy, but we are still watching closely to ensure that all parties are safe and comfortable.

Lucy is totally bold and calm. She has good sense, but also doesn't let the dogs scare her. The dogs are obnoxious about smelling her and crowding her space for the moment, but soon things will settle in and all will be harmonious I am sure!

About Loss and Lucy

A little over a year ago we said goodbye to our beloved cat Mia (read here) and it hurt deeply, if you are an animal lover you certainly understand. While we were very sad, there was one of us who was hurting more, our other cat Ophelia. She went through a mourning period that lasted months, she would mournfully meow in the way that she always did when she was looking for Mia, the two were exceptionally close.  She became withdrawn and isolated herself. Once Ophelia seemed to settle into the fact that Mia was no longer with us she settled into a deep and lasting depression. She does very little and shows very little interest in most everything.

Eric and I have been trouble-shooting for ages trying to get Ophelia back in action. Yes, she is an older cat, but she is in excellent health so there is no reason for her general malaise...beyond depression. We took her to the vet and he ruled out possible health concerns that could be at the root of her behavior shift. We have tried to keep her more engaged and we have tried new ways of stimulating her, but nothing has really worked. We were pretty sure we were not going to get another cat as there is obviously no replacing a relationship like those two had with each other.

Then, we stumbled upon a few articles that made us think that perhaps a second cat might actually help her. First, let me start by saying that I do not recommend this as a move for every person with a depressed cat, some cats prefer a more solitary style---but not Ophelia. She is not a loner, which made her mood all the more heart wrenching for us. So we decided to take a leap of faith and after some discussion we decided to get another cat.

We were looking for a kitten. Generally we don't adopt kittens or puppies as those tend to find homes more easily than older cats, but as we are already dealing with an older cat our research led us to believe a younger cat would be more easily accepted by Ophelia. We found her at the Humane Society a tiny kitten-- part Siamese (familiar, but not too much like Mia) with startling blue eyes. She was sweet and playful without being intense about it, she wasn't terrified by the girls which was a plus. So we went for it and brought her home yesterday afternoon.







Meet Lucy Scratch-N-Sniff Sparkles Wimmer, mostly just Lucy.

We are going slowly, the cats have only met while Lucy is in a very large dog kennel, otherwise she is free roaming in the guest room while she learns about her litter box (perfect so far) and gets used to the sounds and smells of our loud and busy house. The initial meeting between cats went well, Lucy was totally calm and Ophelia was nervous, but interested---more interested than she has been in anything for over a year. We want them to get used to the smell of another cat. We want their introductions to be peaceful. Cats don't bond in minutes the way dogs sometimes seem to, they take their time and we want to foster a relationship between these two girls and let them become friendly, if not friends. Hopefully Ophelia will remember that she isn't alone and some young blood will help her to feel more like herself. That last sentence made it sound like Ophelia is a cat vampire, she's not.



No matter what we have given another living creature a home in which she will be cared for until the end of her life. Welcome to the family Lucy.

Oh and if you are wondering, Cordelia and Elise are sooooo far beyond excited that I am pretty sure their brains melted a little bit. They are kind and gentle and Lucy is already crazy about them!