u/InSooShunt

In Po news, I have decided to keep him separate from the other cats until he can be tested for FeLV. (I know that should've been a given, but as the other cats haven't been tested, it wasn't.) It’ll be a bit before I can do it, so I’ll be rotating cats for a while to allow him plenty of time out of his room to play and just… breathe. He’s adapting to the rest of the house. Couple of times, he literally tried to climb the walls. Never seen that before. He napped with me after, lol. Deep breath and we’ll see how it goes. Po’s first stop out is still to the door where the other cats stay while he is out.

In Cairo news, was finally able to take him in for persistent diarrhea. He did fine, allowed physical exam. Was stressed but no freak-outs. Big improvement. He hid for an hour when we got home and was pretty tuckered out, but fine. So...

The Good—DNA parasite test was negative, so no giardia, etc.

The Bad—that means something else is wrong

The Ugly—they gave me the same exact meds (panacur and metronidazole) they would have given me had the test come back positive

I get it, truly. But when you’re on a tight budget and having to choose between tests/procedures, it’s just so frustrating that they won’t give meds without the test, but then go ahead and prescribe the same meds anyway, regardless of test result. Like, if they were planning to give those meds no matter the outcome, I could have used the fecal test money to test for FIV/FeLV instead. ARGH. UGH. *&#$*@!

Anyway. Should I post a vid of me trying to pill and squirt liquid meds down a FF kittyboy’s gullet? Based on my last attempt (a month ago), should be a banger. I’m not documenting it for social media, mind. I’m documenting so, when if the panacur goes everywhere EXCEPT down Cairo’s hatch, I have proof to give to the vet as to why I need more doses than what was prescribed. Watch them suggest a suppository next. 🙄

The short, short version:  Total lap cat, prison blues, a super stretchy bladder, claws vs. door, diarrhea and fun with litter, room escape and voluntary return, Popo the Explorer, this little kitty had roast beef, accidental dominant male face-offs but no carnage, another meeting (because I’m an optimistic idiot) that didn’t go quite so well, and an (intended) application of the brakes.

The long, long version:

Day 2:

10am, Gave my son lap cuddles! (This is the same boy Animal Welfare returned for being antisocial!) (The cat, not my son.)

11am – 8pm  He meow-yowled in spurts. Mostly just wanted company, but… 2 of the vocal bursts came when he heard the other cats. (One minor tiff, one major disagreement.) I’m not sure if he wanted to join the fray, break it up, or just rubberneck.

8pm, we’re at the 36 hour mark with one poo and just the one pee. This boy must have a bladder the size of a watermelon (as opposed to my grape—I’m seriously jealous).

Day 3:

5am, clawing the hell outta the door, think he wants out?

7am, another mammoth pee plus diarrhea, some of which got on the floor (of which I’m not posting a pic, you’re welcome) and he has dug half the litter out trying to cover it. Shopping list: litter mat. Sigh.

8am, Escape from Alcatraz. He navigated the sharks (namely Cairo), ran downstairs and flattened himself under the couch. SIGH.

8:45am, broke back into Alcatraz and hid behind the bin. Poor Po. Change is hard.

9a – 9p  I twice sequestered the other cats so Po could explore. Second outting, he and Minnie even played SPUD (swiping paws under door) for a few minutes. Tempted him back into his room with some Arby’s (I know, I know, but I was out of churu and didn’t want to open a new can of wet food or tuna and activate the whole clowder).

Day 4:

Out (on purpose) a couple of times. He and Cairo had another accidental meeting. Cai was looking a bit too intense, so I blocked. All good.

7pm, a Major Oopsie. Evening feeding and Po escaped again. I let things play out (stupid, I know). Minnie and Luci hissed but kept their distance. Po ate, then explored a bit. But then…

Calliope started rubbing on his pickle. (Yeah, I know, lol, but seriously….)

Po locked in and I tried to intervene but he jumped on her before I could block. She screamed bloody murder, he bolted and accidentally jumped on Cairo who poofed and gave chase, leading Po to squawk and run under my bed, with Cairo in hot pursuit, causing Elphie to protest the intrusion into her space, while Calliope, Luci and Minnie got tangled up fleeing downstairs. 10 seconds of total madness.

After a brief stalemate, Elphie exited stage left. Cairo exited stage right—granted, to try and get a better angle on Po—and was plucked up and put in the bathroom. Po returned to his room. And that was that. Everyone was fine.

Anyhoo, obviously need to pump the brakes. I got overconfident and hopeful and… yeah. My bad. Day 5 will be back to feeding on opposite sides of closed door. Reset. Let’s try this again, SLOWLY and CAREFULLY, shall we?

(Aaand 6:30am saw him get out again after feeding, even with me being careful. Ran right into Calliope. But since she was nowhere near his pickle, no issue, other than her being wary. Still, gonna be tough, keeping him in when he wants out.)

Po stared at us all through dinner Thurs, so I went out and bought some Advantage II and applied it while he ate a treat. He stayed outside for the night, ate breakfast and treats with the FFs without issue.

8am, was brought in.

Since I wanted him in a specific room, I just carried him in. Well, sort of. (We won’t talk about how he panicked, flipped out of my hands, ran around, tried to get behind the TV, got picked back up and was THEN deposited in the designated room.)  LOL

He let out one big, long yowl, then hid. I sat in the room for a few minutes but left so he wouldn’t feel pressured. I left dry food midday but he did not emerge. (The thunderstorm that rolled through probably didn’t help—other animals don’t seem to enjoy those as much as we humans do.)

7pm, I brought wet food and stayed.

7:30pm, he came out to eat. At first, every noise sent him back under the desk behind the bin. But each time he was scared under, it took him less and less time to come back out.

8pm, alternated b/w looking out the window and coming to me for pets. Churu with the assist.

9pm, lap cat! I’ve sat with him for hours outside, but this was a first. No litter box use yet.

11pm, I headed to bed with Po pawing at his door and giving these pitiful mews. Buckle up.

5am, he was waiting at the door for food, lots of pets and lap visits, no hiding at all. Smelled Elphie through the door, went to the litter box and had the longest pee I’ve ever seen a cat take. Phew!

7am, was hiding when I went in, but immediately came out to his name.

8am, triggered by anxious kitty hissing at one of the FFs and started meowing at his door. He's very curious about the other cats. Can't intro b/c I want to monitor sores on his paws and make sure it isn't ringworm.

Overall, a successful 1^(st) 24 hours inside, I believe.  Fingers crossed for Day 2! Thank you to everyone who gave me the reassurance to be able to try this.

I’ll try to keep a long story short:

I socialized and TNR’d a colony of 17 over the course of 5-6 months (Nov 2025-April 2026). 13 were kept by Animal Welfare and adopted out. 4 were returned.

I already had 3 indoor senior female cats. In April, I brought in two of the male FFs, then brought in the female in May.

Current total indoor:  6

Poseidon is the only remaining outdoor cat. He is a territorial male, fought a lot with other non-colony cats. The only cat he really kept company with was a young female who was adopted. He followed that girl everywhere. I took away his family. :(

He didn’t trust me after his TNR but has slowly warmed up. Now, rears up like a horse for pets, meows to be let in, spends most days and nights right outside the door. He’s lonely.

So, I’m gonna try to bring him in? There’s a vet nearby that allows walk-ins for flea / dewormer. Don’t know if I can get him in the carrier. Better to just use Advantage II and take care of the worms in a couple of weeks? Plus, my pet funds, after all this, are completely depleted. I won’t be able to take him in for a full workup. I know intro into house without a clean bill of health is risky, but already made that mistake with the first three, two of which have medical issues, so….

If I proceed, he’ll be in a room by himself for a bit. But how do I do the introduction / reintroduction with 6 other cats??? I don’t even know if this is possible.

Even after neuter, he still fights (usually has scratches on nose and ears), still sprays. He never fought with the cats I brought in, but he wasn’t exactly a member of the pack, either.

Has anyone tried integrating a territorial adult FF cat into a large cat family before? Should I even try this?  TIA

P.S.  Anyone else think Po might be Cairo’s daddy? Can a blue mackerel tabby/white sire a brown classic tabby/white? Those Punnett squares were never my strong suit.

Final image = remaining watchlist

My original ‘20s watchlist had about 20 films total. Pathetic. I solicited help and ended up with a list of around 150 films. I’m working on the 1940s right now but would still like to watch a '20s Silent every couple of weeks to hit 100 by the end of the year.

Trouble is, it took me forever to decide on Faust to make it to 90. I suffer from choice paralysis like you wouldn’t believe.

Please help me choose the final ten for the year? It’ll help if I have set films I’m scheduled to watch. Something to look forward to without the burden of choice.

I’m posting what I’ve already seen (alphabetical order, faves marked) if anyone is interested. I am, of course, open to any and all suggestions beyond what I already have. I’ll put everything on the master list. I just really need help with 10 excellent choices to hit my milestone. Thank you!

Cats from my TNR family.