Ella & Bubba

Bubba has expanded his horizons and no more feels confined to my office, as he is exploring the rest of the house. Having not seen him for a few hours, I went looking and found him upstairs, on our bed, looking out the window. I think he's up there getting to know my wife now.

 

When you've got a good cat, you'll never go hungry. Ella is a provider.

 

Oh no, I went around back and intercepted, thanking her profusely for the wonderful gift while throwing it over the fence onto the neighbor's lawn. Of course, I'd rather she not bring me such things, and particularly when it comes to birds and chipmunks, I'd rather she not kill them at all, but she's so proud when she presents us with something that I can't help but praising her for it. Anything else would confuse her. At least, she brings me such things far less often now than she did a few years ago, and this is the first time she's brought a snake. In fact, this is only the second snake I've seen since I moved to Maine.

 

Okay, Bubba has had his follow-up visit with the vet and has a clean bill of health. He has gained more than a pound in the last week which, at his age and size, means that one-third of his total body weight was added in the last week. He's been eating everything I put in front of him and he has also gone from Meow Mix to premium cat foods. That said, he's not at all fat. He's just a growing boy. Tonight, for the first time, he won't be going in a cage when I go to bed, and he will be eating at the same feeding station as Ella. He seems to have figured that out because that's where he went while I was preparing his food today.

Ella and Bubba were playing together for a little while last night, and she sometimes doesn't even hiss at him.

 

That's pretty much what I expect, @Beth Gallagher. When I take him out of his cage before I'm ready to get up, getting back to sleep is difficult because it's playtime for him.

 

As expected, it was hard getting to sleep because Bubba viewed it as playtime. Eventually, he realized that being out of the cage brought other options with it, so he spent the latter part of the night getting into who knows what around the house.

 

I have been letting Bubba outside under supervision off and on, just so he is familiar with our backyard in the event that he should escape. I don't plan on letting him outdoors on his own until he has grown. This morning, Ella wanted out so I opened the backdoor. Bubba went trotting out behind her, and Ella turned and hissed loudly scaring Bubba back in the house. Then Ella went after a strange cat who was in the yard so I don't know if she was angry because Bubba was going out or warning him away from possible danger. I'll assume the latter because the two have been getting along pretty well the past couple of days. Ella still puts him in his place from time to time, particularly when he gets too exuberant, but they both hung out together downstairs rather than sleeping in our bedroom last night. When I got up, they were lying on adjacent platforms on one of the cat trees.

 

Let's see, since last time...

1. Ella brought another snake. It might have been the same one. No noticeable damage.
2. Bubba got his head caught in the chain-link fence. I was out there with him but it happened pretty fast. He panicked, as you might imagine, but I was able to free him without damage - that is, except to my arm and hand, as he was biting and scratching me while I was trying to free him.
3. Bubba fended off another cat who came in the yard. I had left food for Ella in the library, which was open, and I guess the other cat was going to help herself. But Bubba stood in the doorway in his best Halloween cat pose, hissing up a storm. The cat probably belongs to a neighbor because she is a beautiful gray cat, maybe a few years old, and does not look at all unkempt.
4. Although there have been a few fleeting playful moments, Ella still hisses at Bubba more than she plays with him. To her defense, Bubba deserves it most of the time. He chose the in-your-face approach to feline relations.