(03-31-2015, 05:50 AM)BobCat Wrote: Wow, your two older cats sound like they are still having a good time! I like to hear that they are still active. Unfortunately, we have never had a cat reach the age of 24. Are your cats only indoors?
Indoors right now, but most of their lives they were indoor-outdoor. I lost a cat, probably to a fox, a year and a half ago so and, since (being older) they weren't going outdoors much anyhow, I decided to leave the cat door closed. The younger one has never been outdoors on her own.
I've had four cats live into their twenties, one of the others being the mom of the two older ones I have now, who got cancer at 23. For their age, they are pretty active, and Ella (the younger one) is very good with them, in that she plays with them an their ability level. One of the older ones is very thin and fragile, but the other is not at all so.
Ella doesn't challenge them, which is nice. The exceptions to this is when they try to take her food, or when they try to take the one sleeping place that she has claimed for her own. She mostly sleeps up high, where they are unable to climb, but she has one enclosure that she claimed a while back. It is a carpeted cat enclosure that I have had for years, and neither of the older ones showed the least bit of interest in. Now that Ella has been sleeping there, one of them keeps going in there when Ella is away, and Ella will slap at her until she leaves. It's funny, because Ella will do that even when she doesn't want to be in there herself. It's like she's saying, "That is mine! Get out of there!" Which is probably the case, since she has never taken one of their heated beds.
(03-31-2015, 05:50 AM)BobCat Wrote: If a box has flaps, we will prop one side up for the "castle appearance. I like the idea of cutting the slits for paw slapping! Think I will give it a try. Our older cat (14 yrs old) is the queen of the house and our younger cat can get quite submissive when told to back off; nevertheless, I think they would have great fun.
One of my older ones is the alpha female too, and Ella makes quite a show of being submissive. After losing the other older cat that we had, Cutie and Lydia (the two older ones) would barely get out of their beds. Although they never particularly like the other cat, her absence seemed to give them nothing to live for.
When we got Ella, they hated her at first, but Ella was the perfect diplomat. Watching her make friends with them was very interesting, and it is nice to see the older ones playing with her now.
