Ollie

Ollie

Ollie came to live with us in 2000. A woman my husband works with had a pair of Maine Coon cats, and was breeding them. Unfortunately (or fortunately for us) she didn't sell one of the kittens fast enough, and he became sexually mature. He mated with his mother. Ollie was one of the kittens that was a result of that mating. She could not sell them, so she offered one of the kittens to us. We went to go look at them in May. My hubby fell in love with Ollie. We brought him home in June, under the condition that if Emerald tried to eat him, we would be able to bring him back. We both had wanted a Maine Coon, so we did everything to make the transition as smooth as possible for Em.

Since Emerald has always lived with small animals, including Tobin a rabbit. I decided to put the kitten in the rabbit cage. That first introduction was interesting. She walked up to the cage, a bit confused since it was a rabbit cage, but it smelled like kitten. There was a bit of hissing, but I reminded Em that we don't hiss at animals in cages. She looked at me a little confused, but continued to sit there. We left him in the cage for a few days, then started letting him out on a limited basis. Eventually there was no containing him. He was a total bundle of energy and love. He would jump on Em's back, and she just took it. He was very friendly and open for the first year of his life, but then he became a reckluse. He became a one person cat, and that one person was 'daddy'.

When I started fostering kittens, he LOVED it. The last weeks the kittens would be here, I would let them run around the house for a bit of exercise. Ollie thought they were big cat toys. He absolutely LOVED Jack, until Jack came home neutered. He got quite pissy, and even acted out at me. After a week or so of that he calmed down, and they used to chase each other through out the house. With the addition of Eli and Muffin, he's become a tense and confused kitty. We are working on reminding him how much he's loved, and making sure every one knows he's second in the pecking order.

Update: Well, he was getting more and more sullen.. taking his frustrations out on anyone who was around. I did my best to play with him separately and make sure he knew he wasn't being replaced, and that started to work, but the major turning point was when he lashed out at me, so I got out the bunny cage he started his time out in here, and put him in that over night, in full view of all the other kitties. The isolation really altered him. He started to actually play with the other kitties instead of attacking them, and he would come up to me and ask to be petted... something he hadn't done since he was a kitten. The weird thing is, he does it a lot now.. and for some reason it bugs me.. he's supposed to be "daddy's" kitty.. He's not too in to being cuddled.. holding him is right out.. but he'll sit next to you and ask to have his chin rubbed.. and if your not doing it right.... watch out.. lol

Update: 2/14/04 - Well, despite all the work, ollie is still a grump gus. Actually, I should just say he's not into sharing.. anything.. including his airspace. beware the kitty that gets to close to him if he's not in the mood, and beware any kitty that is in his escape route as well. But, he's much better than he was, so hopefully with some more work he'll get better. The Herbologist at work recommended some herbs to try to help him with this, and unfortunately they don't seem to be working. *shrug* I've also officially determined he's not a Maine Coon. I could hold out hope for a couple of years after getting him, as they often don't come into their full size for 3 years. Ollie is now almost 5, and is still quite 'petit'. In fact, the vet thinks he might actually be overweight. Oh well. Maybe next time around I'll be able to get a Maine Coon..

I also had Ollie retested for FIP titers. Since Jack came back negative I was very hopeful. Ollie however is not negative.. but he is a lot less positive than he was. The titer test is such a weird thing.. 1:32 to 1:64 is considered negative. the next reading is 1:128, then 1:256 then 1:512 then 1:1024 and up from there I guess. Ollie's original positive was 512. we then tested again in six weeks, and his next titer level was the 1024. His reading from earlier this week was 256. So he's a lot less positive than he's ever been! Hopefully soon he'll be totally negative.