Beans Update

[kt_luvs_kitties]

Any undate on Beans? Is he still adjusting well and being good for you? How are his ears looking, and has his diarrhea subsided? Sorry Lizzie, I just had to ask!

[Lizzie]

Thanks for asking. First of all, I should let everyone know that I renamed Beans. His name is now Surya. I was afraid that he'd been named for his disability because when he's startled he jumps like a jumping bean. I wanted to name him for his golden eyes and Surya is the Hindu sun god.

Surya overall is doing very well. He wants to play with Darcy and Cattulus, the two 7-month-olds, and moves towards them often. They are very nice to him, they don't smack him when he gets close, but they are so used to playing together and don't know how to include him, so they just dash off. I know that Belle would give him a good head wash if he was able to curl up near her, but he doesn't get really close to any of the other cats except Raven, a very shy but naughty FIV+ boy. They've slept on the same comforter together. When he wants a cuddle on the bed with me, he sits at the side of it and then rears up on his hind legs. The bed is rather high so he can't jump up, though he does jump down (which makes me cringe). I try to keep the others away while I'm cuddling him on the bed but it always ends up with several of them storming forward, Surya growling and snapping and then getting down. It's early days yet. No-one is being mean to him and he's stopped hissing.

I do have a serious problem in that he won't go down the hall to the litter boxes to poop. He goes in the kitchen, under the table, in the front hall, etc. I believe it is because the distance to the boxes is greater than he wants to travel, and with his bowel irritation, he's more likely to need to go a.s.a.p. I'm figuring out what to do. If he enjoyed being in one of the bedrooms that are set up as sitting rooms, as many of the other cats do, then he'd have litter boxes very close by. But he likes being in the large open plan area and I don't want litter boxes by the kitchen. I can't move him downstairs because those cats would be mean to him. I'll probably end up putting litter boxes in the front hall. I can partially screen them with something so it isn't the first thing people see when I open the front door. I've put a pile of empty boxes in the car from our copy center, and I'll ring the kitchen area with them so he can't get in there. Cleaning up very wet poop from the legs of a mahogony pastry table at midnight is not something I want to have to do again.