Loki's Rescue Story (how to introduce cats)

Some of you may be wanting to know a little more about the cats since we Pupdate a lot and Freya hogs the limelight often.

So I would like to share with you all the story of how Loki came into our lives. Let me take you back a few years, it was summer and the bloke was at work (a pretty normal day by all accounts). Suddenly a dirty little ball of fur shoots under his work van. After a bit of kerfuffle, in which one person got quite scratched up, the little kitten was scooped out and calmed down. So I get a phone call explaining this situation, we already have a cat Godric so its a gamble but fate does seem to be nudging us to rescue this poor little kitten.

He was covered in dirt, skinny, thirsty and more than a little scared. We naturally took him to the vets to check if he was chipped and looked for posters or missing notices but none were found and a scan showed he wasn't chipped. He was a such cute little goozgog that we couldn't believe he wasn't lost. However through his behavior quirks a likely picture formed of just why such a cute little kitten was scared and alone under a van. Firstly he was fully toilet trained which is odd for a kitten of 12ish months, so he had to have been domestic and taught well by mum-cat/humans. He also has to this day an intense fear of being walked anywhere in a box. (He does not mind car trips, we think because he was rescued and brought home in a van, so only good memories). That coupled with the fact that he was a complete terrorist of a kitten who seemed a little wary of humans at first, seems to indicate that he was in fact taken in a box to the middle of nowhere and dumped. He had been on the streets for a fortnight bare minimum according to the vet and other than fleas, ear-mites and his obvious malnourished state he was pretty healthy and lucky to be so.

So we set about socializing him with Godric. Loki had been thrown out and we vowed to give him a forever home. Now socializing cats is a rather lengthy process. Be prepared for it to take at least 3-4 months before the cats will even tolerate each other and they may never get to be in the same social group. First off Loki lived in a separate room in the house. This is best to do at the start so cats can get used to each others smell without having direct sight or confrontation. We also decided to use a bonding 'cheat' that we call the 'love-cloth' which is a slightly damp flannel (luke-warm for comfort) that you then use to groom the established cat before grooming the new cat, so the established cats scent mixes with the new cats scent, then you groom them each with the 'love-cloth' again to create a group scent, for a little added impact once we were done with the cats it got rubbed all over furniture to make the rooms more welcoming and smell of the new group scent. This trick can also work by using the same brush to groom each cat and can also work when introducing a dog into the mix. Also worth noting is that if the cats start fighting again these tricks can also help then. To cats scent is everything!

After a while we ready to move onto supervised play dates. It's important at this stage to get the cats playing together over common interests (string and the 'red dot' seem to work well) and giving each a lot of praise and treats so that they associate the other with fun and good times.

When they can be trusted contact can be gradually opened up more and more until they can be left unsupervised together.

Some key things to look for that mean they are in the same social group ie friends are; mutual grooming (if they clean each other this is a really positive thing) and co-sleeping (the closer the sleep the more they like each other).

Naturally we were delighted when these things happened a lot faster than we thought they would and Godric finally started to hardcore protest his little brother living in a different room, not stopping trying to scratch down the door or his meows of distaste until he was let out. After three weeks we had cracked it. We were shocked but super happy and very proud of Godric who became big-brother-mum and really looked after Loki. 

So Loki and Godric became brothers and Loki himself was nursed back to full health. He has now grown into a handsome, cheeky, loving little devil and we are couldn't be more proud of how far he has come from the tiny, hungry ball of fur we rescued. Sometimes I miss him being so small and cute but its worth it seeing how happy he is now. I hope the tips help you and that you liked seeing where this chaps story began. Thanks for reading and here is hoping we have many more stories to share. I want to leave you with a pic of Loki as he is all grown up, he is even bigger than Godric now!

LEGS! (Akward Teen) -Pupdate

So Freya is almost 6 months old as of this Pupdate, which means she has now entered into her teenage-ish stage of growth. Much like humans large dogs tend to go through this incredibly awkward period where they don't really have full control over their rapidly lengthening limbs.   

Freya is no exception. She has been skidding and flopping and generally gangly-ing her way around in her normal nut-bar fashion. I would love to be able to get you a picture of just how mindblowingly-long this dogs legs are but she isn't still long enough to get a proper shot of them. Take my word for it her legs are huge and she hasn't quite grasped full control of them quite yet. She skids into tables, walls, the cats, doors etc. Which is sometimes funny to watch, sometimes a little scary.

Also one super noticeable thing are her Golden Retriever features starting to kick in now. She has got tufts of the long curly fur starting and her tail is forming into the object destroying nightmare that adult Golden tails are. Also facially she is growing into her adult look and she is growing beautiful, although its a little sad to see the cute give way to it, you can see she is a very good looking girl.

In terms of personality Freya is a very unique dog in the fact that she is extremely found of hugs. Most dogs don't like to be hugged at all. It isn't advisable to hug (or let your kids hug dogs) as most dogs hate them, feeling threatened by them. This dog however actively seeks out hugs and despite her ever expanding size would love nothing better than to be on your lap. She is super loving and wants to be around people all the time as close as she can get.

She is starting to get better at playing on her own but regularly asks for belly rubs. Also she is a little goofy now and then and seems to be developing a sense of humour along with her stubborn streak.

Here are a few pics of her that show her character.

We also actually managed to save one of her baby teeth, which is super rare as dogs are designed to eat them! You can see her adult teeth now and that winning 'golden smile' her breed is so famous for. I think it is a cheeky smile full of attitude! Thanks for tuning in for Pupdates, keep tuning in for more!