Ollie integration update

Since Ollie is currently busy having a stare down with Howdy, I've got the keyboard. :)

He is doing well. There are still the occasional sneezes, but these seem to be caused by something external...like when he's grooming or involved playing or has up close and personal contact with the catnip sock. He may not sneeze all day, or he may sneeze once or twice when he's doing something. So, I'm not worrying about that. There's no eye drainage, either.

My only real concern is he's regurgitating food. I know why. He's a cat who is used to eating like a cat...a nibble here...a nibble there. Because Howdy inhales all her food (and anyone elses), I've been trying to move him over to a schedule approaching hers. I knew it would take longer than two weeks, but apparently I'm going to fast because for the last two days, he's regurgitated food after almost every feeding. Not all of it, but enough to where I'm going to try another approach.

He's been eating out of a stainless bowl for the last two weeks, but since he's started having problems, I've moved him over to a pie tin to see if having it spread out some will help. He's kept two feedings down, but two isn't a great sample size, so if this doesn't work, I'll move back to the stainless bowl but put ping pong balls in it to slow him down. I'm just going to have to experiment here.

Ollie has also had the last few days to explore the house. He's pretty much out and about for an hour or so in the morning, then in the afternoon and then in the evening. I've been keeping him separate from Howdy, but there have been a couple of inadvertent bumps when they'd come around a door and run into each other.

Predictably, Howdy is hissing and spitting and just generally being a pill. Today, though, there's been quite a bit of time spent only a few feet from each other, and as long as I'm there to distract her, things are pretty calm.

For the last 15 minutes or so, Ollie has been up behind me on the bed, and Howdy has been staring at him from the living room door. A couple of minutes ago, she moved into the bedroom to get a closer look, and Ollie is doing his best to not make much eye contact. He chatters every now and then, but he's pretty much laid in one place and just pretended to be cool. I know it's just eating him up, though, because he really wants to be friends.

I'm not seeing anything here that makes me think Howdy won't give in and be friendly. She's pretty much acting the way she did when I first brought her into the house, and after several days, she was fine with Savoy and they ended up being good friends. I don't expect anything really different. She just has to get the bitchiness out of her system.

Ollie is also doing pretty well with the dogs. Mainly he ignores them, which is pretty much the best way of dealing with them. They acknowledge he's here, and Skeeter as tried a couple of times to chase him (his way of playing), but Ollie isn't ready for that and he lets him know. Provided it's normal activity, though, everyone seems good on that front.

I suspect tomorrow Ollie will be back to the keyboard to talk about his impressions of Howdy (hopefully he won't be TOO candid *g*).