And thus, she became our 7th cat

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Previous threads here and here

For those of you who have been around a while, you may remember the domestic long-hair stray kitty who came around our house repeatedly and eventually my wife put her up in our porch during the harshest part of the winter. Seeing as we already had 6 cats, keeping her was simply not an option in my mind.

Keeping her is not an option we have six already in this 1000 sq foot 2-bedroom ranch, with one of them diabetic and another getting older (14).

So we shall see. Not sure we where go from here....

From the beginning, many of you said things like:

I vote she moves into the house. What is one more if you have 6?

Taco knew exactly what she was doing. Scoped you and your menagerie out the last time… she’s here to join the family!

She has adopted you and your wife. Congratulations on your new cat.

Also...she's definitely your new cat, not sure why you deluded yourself into there being options!

So...in the end, she moved in. We renamed her Coko and she is living in the finished and heated basement for now and is not yet integrated into our multi-cat household but she is not aggressive towards the other cats. Just seems to want to play with them. We have done controlled introductions and it went well.

Here she is in her happy spot on the basement beanbag

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Oh Kyle This makes me so happy ! I'm glad the introductions are going well, she just wants to play with your other kitties Aww . Is she going to be an indoor cat from now on or does she still look to go out. Coko sure is a beautiful girl. She looks so healthy. You and your wife have dine an amazing job with her .

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Hi Diane! Thanks for chiming in, I knew you would appreciate the update.

She is 100% an indoor kitty now. With this warmer weather we are having, she has looked out the porch door into the yard a couple times as if she kind of wants to go back out but nothing more than a look.

We let her out into the porch/breezeway area every day and she spends most of the day there, she loves it there. Recently, a stray came around and she went nuts smacking at the window, hissing and howling. Which means she has absolutely accepted our home as her home, to be defended against interlopers! A good sign I think.

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

Previous threads here and here

For those of you who have been around a while, you may remember the domestic long-hair stray kitty who came around our house repeatedly and eventually my wife put her up in our porch during the harshest part of the winter. Seeing as we already had 6 cats, keeping her was simply not an option in my mind.





From the beginning, many of you said things like:










So...in the end, she moved in. We renamed her Coko and she is living in the finished and heated basement for now and is not yet integrated into our multi-cat household but she is not aggressive towards the other cats. Just seems to want to play with them. We have done controlled introductions and it went well.

Here she is in her happy spot on the basement beanbag

View attachment 66674

She knew what she was doing

 

[Melinda and Kitkat]

That beautiful girl had you pegged from day Dot! Coko is such a great name, and wonderful news she has found you and your wife... such a comfortable loving new home. Just good stuff all round Kyle!

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

What a beauty! So very glad she has found her forever home.
My husband always used to say he was sure there was a sign up for cats near us saying ….’looking for a new home…come this way’
Areyou sure there isn’t a sign near you saying the same thing…looks like you have another hopeful kitty.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Hi Diane! Thanks for chiming in, I knew you would appreciate the update.

She is 100% an indoor kitty now. With this warmer weather we are having, she has looked out the porch door into the yard a couple times as if she kind of wants to go back out but nothing more than a look.

We let her out into the porch/breezeway area every day and she spends most of the day there, she loves it there. Recently, a stray came around and she went nuts smacking at the window, hissing and howling. Which means she has absolutely accepted our home as her home, to be defended against interlopers! A good sign I think.

Sounds great Kyle , she must be in heaven on the porch/breezeway loving life

 

[JL and Chip]

Good for you, Kyle. Despite your protestations to the contrary, the universe puts in your path what is meant to be.

Welcome home, Coco!

 

[Kahluasmom]

Yay!!!!!

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

What a sweet face!
Ah yes, the advice of others, well meaning or not who have never stepped once inside your home. It was not a good time for us, Andrew had just died when my sister asked if we could take my niece's cats. I heard my cat hating BIL in the background "So what, they already have so many cats" as if we were a roadside zoo and cats were some maintenance free object like a rock. Maybe she'll end up like my Leroy, 23 years with all his teeth and just one minor emergency.
Live long and poop well

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

What a beauty! So very glad she has found her forever home.
My husband always used to say he was sure there was a sign up for cats near us saying ….’looking for a new home…come this way’
Areyou sure there isn’t a sign near you saying the same thing…looks like you have another hopeful kitty.

we call him Ollie. I should not have referred to him as a stray -- we are quite familiar with him, he is SUPER friendly and is actually the first stray to ever be a "regular" at our house. But we did some research and it turns out he is not exactly a stray but lives a couple blocks away -- he is just an outdoor cat who roams the neighborhood.

he will come around hopeful for a handout but is picky and not usually very hungry. If you put out something he is not a fan of he'll just leave it and move on to the next stop on his handout rounds, lol.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Kyle you need to put up a sign saying no vacancy's

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

Am I missing something?
It was Coko, now it's Ollie and she is a he? Whatever the case Kyle I know by now you're a person of compassion and common sense and this cat will do well whatever the case. I won't hazard some ethereal guess as to why it showed up at your door. We've had five show up on our deck for more than one night, maybe because it's the last house on the block. We fostered Bob and Silvio until we found their owners, kept Sam and the other two we thought might be feral were just ultra street smart and rightfully mistrusting.
Not sure about 'No Vacancy'. We came home from a funeral years ago and I put a huge PostIt on the front door that just said NO! It worked for three days.

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Am I missing something?
It was Coko, now it's Ollie and she is a he?

Sorry, it's a little confusing. Ollie is our name for a neighborhood cat that has a home but roams around during the day stopping at various houses looking for a handout. Recently, Coko saw him outside and went nuts hissing and snarling and doing her war cry.

 

[Lanna_Cartier]

I just wanted to pop in to say, I love this story, congratulations on your new family member! Nothing makes me happier than stories of cats adopting reluctant humans.

 

[Noah & me (GA)]

went nuts hissing and snarling

The two I mentioned that "we thought might be feral" were like that to our cats. Before we learned his name we called Atticus 'Mr. Nasty' because he didn't want water or snacks and if you stuck a finger out the door there would be blood. What scared him was when OC (Orange cat) showed up, the alpha male of the neighborhood.
Our boys just gave them a passing glance, whatever buddy.
Oh good Lord, Mr. Nasty knows we're home!

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Coko enjoying the sunny weather we are having

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

What a beautiful kitty!

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Even her paws are fluffy!

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Here is a recent picture of Coko on the porch with Chester. He shows such restraint -- she will FLY at him, box the #$% out of his ears then run away. He just kind of squints his eyes, puts his ears back a little, and waits it out.

You can see in this picture she is about to give him a smack or two. He seems to barely notice sometimes which is great. As we have been having them spend more and more time together (always supervised) she is swatting at him less and less and just recently didnt do it at all when I let him out to join her. She just ran up to him, sniffed noses, and then walked away.


Progress!!

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Update! We continue working to integrate Coko into our established multi-cat household. As of a few weeks ago, we are letting her roam free in the house with the other cats, supervised. It has been working out pretty well so far! She absolutely loves being allowed out of the basement area into the main living space. Here she is up on the cat shelf happy as can be:

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Boy is she a beauty Kyle, I'm so glad to hear you are letting her roam free in the house and that she loves it and it's going well.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Looks like she owns the place! And loving it!