We Talk to the Animals

Wow is all I can say. Stephanie Brown is good! I will try to keep this as short as possible but we talked to Rox, Niko and Leo. Y'all know I have memory issues so I will be recalling things as the days go by but this is as good as I can do for now. :D

When I called her, she was not by the phone so I got the answering machine. I called Jenn and was like omg she's not there! and talked to her for a few minutes, when Jesica points out that the cats suddenly got agitated. Sure enough, about 30 seconds later my phone rang.

She started laughing almost immediately, which cracked me up. Turns out Rox and Niko have been having lots of discussions about whether or not I meant it that another cat was coming. She said the first time I told them they flat-out didn't believe me. The second time I told them, they started to question it and have been wondering if it was really true. "The laid-back one is interested to meet him, but the other one is.......not" LOL Naturally, I did not tell her or anyone that I had talked to them twice other than maybe Jenn, but that would be it. Everyone else thinks I'm crazy LOL I ended up talking to them twice, because I got the distinct impression they weren't listening to me the first time. Soooooo 2 mins into the conversation and she's already hit one big thing. She said when she told them he was really coming that they were both like "She was serious?!" HAHAHA Now those are my cats. She said they weren't sure when I told them because "I'm like that" perhaps a reference to the multiple times I've considered bringing another cat into the house that I've seen on the board. I wonder if they heard me in my head or if I actually talked about it. It's always heavy on my mind when I see one needing a home. She told them he was coming because he really needed a home and that I wasn't just doing it just because. I meant to ask her if they knew that is why THEY were in the house but I'll write that one down for next time.

We then got to Niko, which got rather lengthy as apparently he had much to explain.

Niko He's a big fraidy cat. This has not been revealed before, but me and Jes knew it. His aggression is his way of acting out his fears. This is due to his childhood dumps and not something I can do anything about. He is going to be scared forever. I listened, but did not quite understand why that is a good thing.. but apparently it is not unhealthy. He will try and give Leo a chance, but he is not going to promise anything. He did not believe for quite some time that we were his forever home. He is starting to understand that he is here forever, but he may never truly let go of the thought that he might get dumped again. :( She said we are always trying to fix things so we don't understand that it's normal for cats. Niko is very sad about the loss of Spot ("the cat that died recently"), they were close she said. I said which one. She said which one was he closer to? I said "neither" and she said that's not right. They had great respect for one another, and that it was the one that was here when he got here. He thought it was too soon for Leo to come to the house, because he still misses Spot. I knew he was grieving hard over Spot when he would howl at the door for hours, but I did not realize it was still that painful to him or that they were actually close.

Leo Leo is a gentleman, and very concerned that he will upset the household, but very relieved to have a household so he will be on his best behavior. His diabetes is making him feel bad, but he really likes his food. He has been told by "them", and understands, that he is not staying where he is right now, and he's good with that, though comfortable where he is. He thinks he has been outside most of his life, and was once regularly fed by a lady with dark hair, petite but not skinny, when he lived in an alley. He doesn't know her name, but she moved away. I got the impression from what she was saying that he really cared for her. I did not ask her how he got declawed because we were rapidly running out of time after our 15 minute talk with Niko. Leo thinks his name suits him and rather likes it. She said he was polite, regal and gentlemanly and felt that he might do well in our household. She also heavily recommended I introduce him slowly to Rox and Niko since Niko was so apprehensive.

Leo is not 9, he thinks he is closer to 7! He has some teeth issues but they do not seem to be a focus to him, due to the diabetes being more disruptive. She suspects they may not be that big of a problem after he gets his nutritional levels up.

Roxanne The "laid-back one" is seemingly chatty (LMAO) and had some things to convey. She will be interested in Leo, but "we'll have to see". See if he can follow "the rules". I laughed and said "like she does" when it dawned on me that she meant HER rules, which got Stephanie laughing pretty well. That just confirmed my suspicion that Miss Foxanne is Alpha in my house. Niko is misunderstood by humans, he is very playful, and she is good with that, she likes to play, but she really is kept on her toes by him. He has never had anyone stand up to him she said, and that's why he is like he is.

So I asked Stephanie what about Roxanne's death cries and she fell out laughing. Seems I'm being played. Hmmph. She said Roxanne knows she can get a reaction out of me and get me to come get him off her so that's why she does it. She recommended next time they play "I Will Kill You Dead" that I look over and tell Roxanne to stand up for herself and to handle it. LOL She has a cavity on her upper left premolar but her funny clicking noise she always makes when she's chewing on me is actually her attention getter noise. I thought that was hilarious because the needle sharp teeth usually do a great job of getting my attention. She said she had the feeling that Rox had soft teeth and they may pose a problem for her lifetime. She also thinks that might improve as Rox's nutrition level continues to improve, which led me to wonder about what the poor cat was eating when she lived where she lived before being turned in to animal control. I did not have time to ask though.

They can hear me talking to them in their heads, but the real question is "are they listening?" which I took to mean they are often tuning me out LOL. No real surprise there. She referred to it as selective listening.

I asked her which of the two cats had just vomited and what was wrong with them. She immediately answered that Niko had, and that he had a hairball. I said I wasn't sure who had done it because I had found Rox covering it up and she said "Oh yeah, that's because she is Miss Priss and she likes everything just so". Y'all should have seen Missy Boo's ears when I repeated that to Jenn later. LOL Flat as a pancake.

So during the conversation the two cats were tearing around the house, then sitting there watching me, then tearing around the house, then sitting there watching me. Niko was up and down and all over the place trying to find a comfortable place to sit. After the conversation was the WEIRDEST night. First, the two cats were all over me and Jesica. They wanted to play, they wanted pets and lovin's.. but we had to finally leave and get Jesica's hair cut. So we get back and they are all over us again, especially Niko. Then I was sitting there on the floor and Niko and Roxanne were sitting about 3 feet from me, when Niko does his patented back flop right in front of Roxanne. He looked like he was about to reach up and assault her, but she sat up and started bathing him. It was very cute.. until he decides he's gonna wrap his arms around her neck and bunny kick her to death. She bit his foot and continued bathing him. He went after he jugular, she freed herself and bit his foot again. He went still and she went back to bathing him. Then he tried to bathe her. She bit his foot again! This foot biting thing went on for about 1/2 hour! He laid there on his back in front of her and she kept going after that foot and he kept flicking his tail and in between all that there was bathing going on. THEN Niko starts washing Roxie's forehead, so she's sitting there with her head tipped down and he's washing her face and it was the coolest thing ever.. until she bit his foot again. Me and Jes were about to explode from trying not to laugh out loud at them.

Here's what I think: Niko was showing his respect for her because she stuck up for him to the animal communicator. I have never seen him behave submissively towards her before and it was the strangest thing!

I cannot wait to talk to her again. She nailed my cats, and their attitudes, behaviors and quirks. I feel very sure that I made the right move getting ahold of her before bringing Leo in. She was great to talk to. :)