I thought it was about time I updated this thread.
On March 13, six months to the day when Eleanor arrived, all three cats sat on or next to me on the same sofa at the same time.
Not just sat, they slept.
This is not to say that all is now sweetness and light – there are times when the swearing and fisticuffs is like living in an episode of Shameless
– but overall, James, Christopher and Eleanor have now come to an accommodation.
James has definitely asserted himself as senior/alpha cat – she hisses at him, he hisses back, she (usually) shrugs and backs off. Sometimes she waggles her stump at him first; she is certainly an alpha cat in waiting.
Eleanor does manage to scare the bejasus out of Christopher – she makes a move towards him, he runs off and of course that gives her something to chase. On the other hand, they are quite happy to eat next to each other and do have the occasional nose-touch.
Eleanor’s coat has now grown out fully and the "pepper and salt" effect is much less obvious; she also now has proper trousers and a fully-fluffed tail. She’s a lot less food-obsessed than she was and is starting to learn some manners when it comes to sharing out Dreamies.
It's been an "interesting" six months, what with the room-juggling, litter tray arrangements and making sure that each of them had "personal time" with me and there were a few times when I wondered if taking on a third cat was such a good idea.
But, as I told the boys a couple of months ago, she's here to stay and you'll just have to work it out between you. And so far, they are.
