Luke is a kitten who was spotted wandering around our community.
The initial idea was to feed Luke outside as long as he desired to come around because he was so thin. The problem is in that rainy
season has begun and (from past experiences) we knew that a lot of food would end up wasted in frequent storms.
Luke was a bit skittish, but warmed up to Ray rather quickly. Luke, being thin and friendly, appeared to have been someone's cat.
He had not been neutered however and was wandering our neighborhood. An outside male can quickly create a lot of little homeless
kittens - and more kittens, in this economy, is a bad idea.
Luke was brought inside and isolated (for potential health risks). An appointment had been made to have him neutered and given a
complete health check. Luke was given a clean bill of health and was brought back to his private suite to recover from his operation.
Just a few days later, he was able to start meeting the other kitties. He sleeps in his private suite in the evening so that he has
privacy and the other cats get a break from his wild little kitten behavior. During the day, he spends the entire day with the other
cats.
We expect that Luke will be able to fully roam around the house with the house cats (the house and office cats do not typically
mingle with each other, even though we now have a door between the house and office) within a few weeks - day and night.
Yes, we did the research and "Release the Kraken!" refers to any one of a few variations on the theme of a sea monster being let
loose. In our case, Luke was given the nick name The Kraken for our "releasing" him from his private suite in the morning.
As part of his becoming acquainted with the other cats in the house, he has to spend the evening in a private suite with food, water
and his own litter box. In the morning, after everyone is waking up, the door is opened and the little man comes out to visit with all his
friends.
The room is left open all day so that the cats can wander around in there while he is wandering around the entire house. This allows
the cats to get used to each other and the private, night time, accommodations allow all of the other cats to have some peace from
this kitten (who plays too much with them during the night).
With that, Luke has been blending in quickly with the other cats.
As an update, Luke has indeed fully integrated with the house cats. There is a lot of playing because Luke is still a kitten, but he is
making friends with all the house cats!
