Sassy cats — Welcome Gus!

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Blurry but the best I could do without terrifying him.

If you read last week’s post, you know that Gracie found a “friend” on a feline dating website. He moved in quickly and as things go, he and Gracie are besties.

Whenever a new cat comes here to live, they stay in the cat room for a few days to acclimate to a new environment. There are other cats here they may or may not like and funny smelling humans to get used to. He chose to spent most of the first three days in the closet.

Gracie was having none of that. She went in the first day and spent a lot of time with him. Just sitting nearby to help him to feel at home. (Yes I was surprised. She didn’t give Sasha that warm a welcome!)

Happy on his cat tree. You can see his eyes are good here.

Sasha is unsure of him. He smells manly (testosterone?) and she’s not sure what to think of that. Will he eat her food? Steal her toys? Will he give her the adoration she is used to? So much unknown. To show her superiority, she caught a mouse (yes another in the house). I was able to intercept it before she presented it to him.

Morgan as always said “whatev!” She is the perfect cat. Always has been and always will be.

The new guy is named Gus. He’s three years old and has been at the shelter since he was eight weeks old. It was time for him to have his own home.

Noshing with Morgan and Sasha on a fresh pot of cat grass.

After he was here a few days he developed a weeping eye. Since I already have two one-eyed cats, I went into overdrive. I found a new (to me) vet that would allow me to come in with him. He’s scared enough about life without something old and familiar (that would be me) around. They think it’s a herpes infection but we’ll see. He didn’t have all the usual symptoms – just weepy and mucous-y eyes with sensitivity to light.

The worst part is the eye drops. He gets five drops a day in each eye. We didn’t have enough time to thoroughly bond. He thinks I reek of deception and I do. While I’m being all sweet, I’m maneuvering him into a burrito for eye drops. They may sting as he makes a fuss but I think they are helping. We have another week to go. I fear he may go back on the dating site to find a house without deceptive humans that take him to the vet.

Poor sweet Gus. Welcome to our family. It’s never easy!

96 thoughts on “Sassy cats — Welcome Gus!”

  1. Gus, you are so very handsome. You look like my first cat that found adult me: Mac. I miss having a ginger boy! You are so so lucky. FINALLY. Why the heck were you at the shelter so long?!

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  2. How wonderful to add to the clowder! I guess the shelter helped him to accept other cats as a general rule. I hope that helps him integrate with the others at your home. You may be feeling bad about the eye drop deception, but I think he’s happy to have the lap, the quiet home, the cat grass, and other goodies. He may see the eye drops as the price you pay for having a wonderful home, and the price is low!

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  4. Oh, welcome Gus! You’re hit the big time ( and after so long a stay trying to find just the right place – you did good)
    Hopefully the eye goop is stress related and quickly resolved….for staff’s sake, too (SO hard to treat them when they act like it’s torture…the guilt.)
    A handsome addition (certainly worthy of a mouse….does he know mouse? AH, someone to instruct….resident cats love that!)
    HAppy paw waves to all ( and a soft cheek pat)

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  5. Welcome Gus, I can’t imagine how great it would be to finally be adopted! Bless you! TnT both have runny eyes and they sneeze etc. Vet said likely herpes flair up from stress (which could be a thunderstorm etc) and to sprinkle lysine on the food. Neither minded the taste if it had one. Might be worth asking about? Easier than eye drops too. Trinity was always pretty good about drops. Tyler acts like you put battery acid in his eye even if it’s just saline. We just pure lycine capsules, open and sprinkle. Looking forward to the new shinanigans

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    • Thanks for the tip. I don’t want to have to do the drops again. Battery acid, yep! He has been good but I have to make a burrito out of a towel so he doesn’t scratch me to death. Vet said probably herpes from stress too. Two of my cats lost an eye to herpes so I’m vigilant. He has until Thursday morning for eye drops.

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  17. Poor Gus. Three years in a shelter is nuts! I wonder why no one adopted such a handsome dude all that time. Well, Gus hit the jackpot when you brought him home. His eye problem will resolve and he will start to fit right in. I predict that we will soon be reading about the adorable antics of Gus and the girls really soon.

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    • I’ve asked that question too. He’s not so shy that he hid when people came to the shelter. There are cats there that long and longer but I think they came as adults. Some of them came when their owner had to go into a home. He was brought there after being found homeless and with some health issues.

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  20. Three years in a shelter is a long time. I hope this eye thing is just a glitch, and hopefully he will learn to associate you and the drops with pain relief. Dogs are smart, so cats must be too as they’re beloved pets.
    I hope he doesn’t have to go back, because wouldn’t that be a first for you? You’ve said before that cats come to ‘visit’ and stay.

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  29. Three years in a shelter?! Oh, Gus-gus! Thank goodness you are home and it’s a good one.

    The cats with herpes I know are worse when stressed–one vet told an owner that the neighborhood cats coming into her yard and staring through the windows were “bullying” her cat and making it worse!

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    • He was fine when he got here. I read up and herpes is common and in the background. However it kicks up when a cat is stressed. Originally he came to the shelter when he was found at 8 weeks old with face sores, infected ears and loaded with fleas. Poor boy has been through a lot. He has some minor scars on his face. Gracie thinks it makes him look “manly.” Old war wounds. So attractive in a man.

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  30. The cat whisperer strikes again. 😁 Poor Gus. Three years is a long to be at a shelter and have to acclimate to a new home, and now the eye drops. If anyone can do it, it’s my favorite cat whisperer. Wishing the best for Gus and his new family.

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    • He’s really a very sweet cat. Spending not a lot of time with humans, he’s skittish but very interested in what’s going on. Having to give him eye drops has set us back a little on bonding but that will pass.

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  35. I have a bit of a weeping eye going on myself after reading Gus has an official welcome. Of course I knew he had a home with you. How wonderful Gus is a part of the Sassy Cat family, Kate. I look forward to getting to know him better. All will be fine, I can just feel it♥

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  36. Oh he’s so handsome – I see success in dealing with the weepy eye and in finding his place among the other occupants! Bless you for giving this guy a home OUT of the shelter……LIVE LONG AND PROSPER Gus!

    Hugs, Pam and Teddy too

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