Sunday, March 15, 2015

New Addition

We have a new addition to the family.  Meet Eise (a Dutch name, pronounced "eyeszuh" in English), our new four-legged feline friend.



Eise is a rescue.  We have been looking for a while and while a couple of cats in the local shelters appealled to us, none stuck out like this one did.  We were scouting online on Marktplaats (akin to Kijiji) and a lady had posted that this cat was kicked out by the previous owners, under 2 years, that he was very sweet and looking for a new home.  We exchanged a few emails and went to visit.

She had been caring for the cat the best she could but has a few of her own so wasn't able to take him on permanently.  The previous owners were abusive and discarded cats/animals as soon as they got bored with them (I guess they've been called-on by the authorities before for this) and Sir Orange here was kicked outside.  She fed him when possible and brought him in when her other cats were outside.  She was right; he had a really sweet temperament, despite being scared as hell around new people.  He had a face you just wanted to squish (well I did, anyways).  We decided to take him home.

Poor thing was petrified, rightly so.  There was a bit of a kerfuffle when he first got in the house (glass almost smashed, water everywhere, I'll leave the rest of it up to your imagination) but once we quarantined him to the bathroom he became a lot more calm.  While limp and mostly unreactive, he did let you put him in your lap and pet him.  Noises terrified him (the people who had him yelled at their animals - a lot).  He had an aversion to men (I could go near him or pick him up but W. couldn't and the previous lady also noticed he ran away when her husband in the room).  He stayed in there a couple days to get a bit more comfortable then he was actually the one to let us know when he was ready to explore more.  So, we introducted him to a room or section of a house, 24 hours at a time.  He's definitely required patience (but we're not complaining).

We've had him less than 2 weeks now and he's really starting to come into his own.  He's relaxed a lot more but some noises still spook him.  Even random ones, like the when the downstairs neighbour is outside.  He eats like a fiend and hasn't gotten used to the thought of having food guaranteed and delivered to him twice a day.  Often asks for more during the day, but I'm hoping that'll stop in time.  He's also been pissing on the area rug and I can't determine if it's behavioural, medical or spraying.  If you catch him right before he does it and tell him no and he needs to go downstairs (where his litter box is), he does.  His vet visit is this coming Tuesday so he'll get fixed, vaccinated and chipped (for a fraction of the cost in Canada!).

 Starting to get more comfortable being with us.


He's such a soft fuzzball. Loves napping on your lap.


He's such a lap cat.  Loves attention and scratches.  Especially his nose :)  W. and his dad built him a post to jump up on/scratching post yesterday.  He used the scratching part at the bottom right away, but is not yet too keen on heights.  We think we need to cover the platforms to give traction and that'll help.
We found the wooden tree post outside and brought it in. Total project: €25. 

Well, expect more stories and pictures of Eise :)
Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

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