Dante has the guts and gumption of a true champion. He has adjusted remarkably fast. He roams the house incessantly. We are amazed at how much he “chirps”, and in love with the way he comes up on your chest for affection, brushing up against your face and kissing/licking us all over. He stares out the windows at great length, to study the woodpeckers and bright red cardinals at their feeders. He is a kook, and we love him for it.Artie is adjusting much slower but we know that some cats just adapt slower. He has not explored the actual living spaces much, and chooses to hide out in the basement. We brought him back upstairs into our bedroom last night so he could sleep with us. He did come out from under the bed and join me about midnight, and he was very happy to receive gentle pets and loving soft words. He roamed the bedroom, used his box, and even ate dry food.
They are both VERY freaked out by the mirror on our dresser and the full mirror on the back of our bedroom door. As soon as Artie saw this in the morning, he reverted back to heavy duty fear. We let him back out to visit the rest of the house, and Dante stayed by his side every second. This time, he did explore the living area a bit. Then trooped downstairs to assume his position tucked and safe. Sigh. We are in high hopes that he will slowly begin to explore, most likely tonight when it is dark. Dante is missing his buddy, but knows where he is and I think is being quite patient with him.
As far as our senior female cat Cocoa, she is doing well. It is clear that the trick with Dante is being vocal. When he comes on strong, or gets directly in her face, he refuses to back down unless she growls. Then he instantly backs off to study her.
She is not interacting with him much at this point, but her eyes are no longer dilated in fear, and she even attempts to play with her own crunchy balls after watching him play with his. She only growls when he comes within a foot of her, otherwise, she just watches him with curiosity. I suspect, if things continue at this pace (with Artie coming back upstairs to enjoy his new world) that she will be a bit grumpy for 3 -4 weeks, and then she’ll relax.