When you first brought your cat home

what did s/he do?

Chakolate...

Doc immediately jumped out of the carrier and started surveying. At that
time, I was in a heavily mouse-infested apartment, and he must have
thought he'd died and gone to heaven. For the first few weeks, I'd hear
him all night long, running up and down the apartment, hunting. He must
have eaten two or three mice a night, and never brought me anything until
he'd been there about three weeks. Even then, it was only half a mousy
trophy, not the whole thing.

Then we moved into a nice, clean apartment and he was bored and lonesome,
so he started hunting me. We had some difficult times until I found out
that he just needed a cat of his own, so I got him Pi.

Doc was most interested in the carrier that held Pi, and waited patiently
for me to open it up. When I did, Pi came out, hissed once at Doc, then
ignored him and started to explore. Doc, that mighty hunter, meekly
followed Pi around while Pi was exploring.

They're not best buds or anything, but they do occasionally groom each
other and when it's cold they snuggle up to sleep. I wish it were more,
but it's enough.

Karen AKA Kajikit...

I love everyone's kitty tales...

Scouty and Silver were about six months old when we got them from the
shelter, and they were very insecure. The first thing they did when we
let them out of their cardboard carrier was to run and hide under our
bed. I thought they'd be there for a long time, but a few hours later,
out poked a pair of little paws to bat at our feet. The first photo
I've got of them is of two paws pushing out the bedskirt to get at the
feather-on-a-stick :) By the next morning they'd made themselves right
at home and since we didn't have any other cats they had the run of
the apartment.

I rescued Tessie from the carpark at our apartment building and put
her into the carrier, and the very first thing she did was to hiss at
Scouty and Silver! I put her into the craftroom and opened the carrier
door and she explored her new territory and climbed into my arms to
smurgle, totally ignoring the hisses and snarls coming from the other
side of the door (Scouty and Silver weren't the least bit pleased to
have an interloper in their home...)
Tessie was okay about being shut up for a few days, but then she
started to mew pitifully and to scratch at the closed door, and then
she progressed to flinging herself against it and yowling!

David Stevenson...

Minke watched Nanki Poo using the catflap and then just went out after
him.

That was the very last and final time he ever showed any sign of
having brains.

Jeanne Hedge...

6-month-old Tribble (RB) stepped confidently out of the carrier and
went exploring.

A year later, 6-month-old Natasha arrived, stepped timidly out of the
carrier and didn't get a chance to go exploring. She was almost
immediately knocked over by the now-18-month-old Tribble, who
proceeded to hold her down with one leg and give her a bath.

Right up to the time Trib made his last visit to TED (which ultimately
led to his trip to the Bridge), Tasha would walk over to him, duck her
head down in front of him, and he'd wash her for as long as she'd put
up with it.

Marina...

Aww. Nikki would go and stand in front of Frank and just wait. Frank
would always start grooming her obediently.

Jeanne Hedge, as directed by Natasha

============
http://www.jhedge.com

Steve Touchstone...

Little Bit was my first cat since I joined and retired from the Army
After 20 years. She was skinny and very pregnant at the time, and
there was an ice storm going on. She was on the porch yelling to be
let inside where it was warm, so I let her in and told her she could
stay until it warmed up or I found her home, just as long as she
didn't bother my cockatiels. She made herself at home immediately,
totally ignoring the birds. Wasn't long before I had a new litter box,
toys, cat food etc. About the time it warmed up she had her babies in
the bedroom closet, so I agreed she could stay until I found her
family or they were old enough to go to new homes. Never did find
anyone who claimed her, but did find homes for all the kittens except
Sammy. Every so often I remind her and Sam that as soon as Sammy is
old enough they're going to new homes - so Sammy says she's still a
kitten - just one that's going on six years old.

Rocky (RB) was next, but his first night indoors has two stories. For
those who don't know, Rocky was a feral who I fed/looked after for
three or four years before he agreed to become an official part of the
family. His first time indoors over night, he was still more than half
wild. I lured him inside with food and he FREAKED when I closed the
door. He spent the night in the bathroom, screaming old night that he
had been trapped by a horrible hoomin. Next morning, after an epic
struggle, I carted him off to TED to be treated for a horribly swollen
abscess. After I got him home from TED he disappeared and wouldn't
have anything to do with me for a couple weeks. The second time, a
couple years later, went much better. By that time he had become a
family member. He spent much of his time inside, going out when I went
to bed. Then one night when opened the door to let him out he decided
it was a might chilly out, so he spent the night on the recliner.

Spotty, my latest arrival, came complete with her four kittens. Again,
I had no plans of letting her in, not only didn't I want or need any
more cats, she was fiercely protective of her kittens and didn't get
along with the others. And, once again, Mother Nature intervened. This
time pouring rain made me decide to let her and the kittens inside
(after locking Little Bit and Sammy in the bedroom). I hauled them all
in to TED. Spotty was too thin, ear mites, and had an abcess from a
bite wound. The kittens had colds and weepy eyes. The kittens were old
enough that they were already weaned. TED found homes for three of the
kittens, keeping two for himself and giving one to a client for had
recently lost her long time companion. The fourth went to one of my
coworkers. Spotty's ears took quite a while to clear up My search for
a new home for her became half hearted. By the time she was declared
healthy she was getting along better with LB and Sammy and the search
ended.

Cheryl...

Shamrock was a foster cat of mine - I had just made room for one
more (a little stripey boy had been adopted) and I went to
Annapolis PetSmart to pick up my next. He was much older than the 6
months they told me he was. But very talkative, very outgoing, and
very beat up. They said he'd been in a cat fight, and that's why he
had sores all over him. Well, they were wrong (allergies). He went
to into the downstairs seclusion area with the other fosters I had,
and Shadow was my only resident cat. Shamrock hated the adoption
shows so much, to the point he worked himself up into a frenzy, and
it was kitten season and he was a big black and white boy no one
really even looked at, so he decided he wanted to live here.

Bonnie was trapped as a feral and spent her first 2 weeks in a
bathroom, and the next 2 months in a cage being socialized. She's a
sweetie now, but I still can't approach her in any way. She has to
do the approaching.

Rhett and Scarlett were among a litter of four abandoned 5 week old
kits by their stray mom, and they spent their first month with
their rescuer with their litter mates. Their third month of life
was spent in my house in the "kitten room" with a screen door on it
so Bonnie and Shamrock could get used to having them here. After
that month they took over the place. :)

(Inspired by Tak in the Lapnox thread)

Dan M...

Amelia had been a lonely little girl in her cage at the adoption center,
and was craving human attention. We brought her into our bedroom, set up a
litter box and food and water, then let her out to explore with Cleo and
DD locked out of the bedroom. She immediately came out of her carrier,
jumped up on the bed, onto Nancy's dresser, onto my dresser, explored the
bathroom in minute detail, then spent several minutes trying to reach a
paw under the bedroom door, sensing there were other kitties on the other
side of the door.

Since we didn't hear any hostile sounds coming from the other two, we
opened the bedroom door and let them meet. Cleo gave Amelia a hiss, then
sniffed her face. DD gave her a sniff, then washed her face. From that day
on, those 3 had no problems getting along together.

It was on her second day with us that Amelia was on top of my dresser when
I opened the top drawer. She immediately climbed into the drawer, and has
been a "drawering" kitty since then.

About her third day with us Amelia figured out how to get on top of the
entertainment center in the bedroom. That lead to her discovery that she
could fly! She would leap off the top of the entertainment center to the
shelves under the window, or onto the bed, or onto the nearest available
human. Up to this point we had not decided on her final name, but seeing
her love of flight Nancy decided that her name had to be "Amelia, the
Flying Adventuress".

Kumani and Tyche didn't do much because they were three week old bits.
Pipped and squee'd mostly, drank milk out of a bottle, slept in a box,
tried to walk by churning their little legs. Imprinted on Dylan as
their natural mother.

Smokey was just bewildered at going from living in the forest in the
morning to being a high rise apartment boy by evening. He was a little
low and shy, but very curious, and confused. He'd stare at the
ceiling, double-take. Sniff and paw at the rug. Tried to jump through
the window onto the balcony, hit his head. Tried to stalk the images
on TV, get confused when he couldn't pounce them from behind. Cried to
get into the garbage pail, couldn't believe the dishes of catfood were
okay for him to eat. AND we had company over and he was lovebugging on
everyone for reassurance.

Nocturne disappeared under the bed for a day and a half to evaluate if
we were worthy of her presence. Dylan was rather upset by the diss and
spent most of that first evening watching her under the bed. She would
purr, but she wouldn't come out. Not until her judgement was complete
:) (Helluva thing to put a first-time catslave through!)

Jo Firey...

We always put a newcomer in a room alone with the necessities and a closed
door for the first 24 hours. After that it depends on how eager they are to
come out. We will go in a sit and let them come to us.

That way everyone gets used to each others smells and sounds.