My Ragdoll Cat Adventures Blog Post 5

27th March 2022

What Happened Next?

Definitely by day two of their arrival Tom and Jack had settled in well. They started following me around everywhere and of course knew straight away I was their source of food so they got very excited if I went into the kitchen! They had absolutely voracious appetites! I was actually worried about how much they were eating. I was feeding them about four times with small sachets or tins of wet food and a couple of bowls of dry food. I was constantly filling up the dry food as they scoffed it so fast! Knowing when the mealtimes were, they were yowling about half an hour before and pestering me. I actually messaged the breeder as I was sure I was overfeeding them but reassured me it was totally normal and that they were having a huge growth spurt at that age ( three months old) and if they were crying for food I should just give them some more wet food. And that is what I did. 

As well as eating, they were very active and wanted to play and run around. I indulged them with A LOT of toys (still do actually) and I was always trying out new toys on them to see what they liked. It’s funny their different personalities which were obvious even then. Jack is much more for jumping, stalking and chasing and his favourite toys then and now are bouncy balls and his feather wand toys. He liked chewing the feathers as well which worried me a bit but I was assured by another cat expert that their digestive system is capable of handling feathers and it didn’t seem to cause any harm but I would say probably best not to let them eat multicoloured feathers just in case! 

Tom is much quieter and laid back; he tended to watch Jack and sometimes join in or just sit back and observe. He prefers cat nip chewy toys and plastic spring coils he can knock around on the floor. I had set up some cardboard boxes with holes cut out around the house as well and they loved to hide in them. In fact any cardboard box I had available they liked to jump into (still do). 

Then they also liked sleeping a lot  the first few months. Probably at least six hours a day on and off. I think just like little children they tire themselves out with playing and running around (and following me everywhere) that they conk out and fall asleep. 

After a week of sleeping on the sofa and keeping them downstairs, I slowly let them explore the rest of the house at their own pace. It was so cute watching them go upstairs for the first time, carefully climbing up the stairs. Tom was the bolder one and he explored all the rooms with interest. Jack however, had a bit of a freak out and hid under my spare room bed and when I tried to reassure him he hissed at me. So I sat there for a while and kept an eye on him and I eventually fell asleep and when I woke up they were both next to me snuggled up.

Eventually, Jack was fine with the upstairs environment and not long after that first introduction to it, they had loads of fun running up and down the stairs (and scratching the carpet) and I just kept hoping I would not trip over them and break my neck.

In my next post I will talk some more about those first few months and our developing relationships and routines and I will also tell you about some of the things that did not go according to plan…..