It's been a while since I've provided an update on the progress here at Shadowood. As always, the complexity of the feline psyche creates equally complex dynamics and relationships in our cat-heavy household. Nothing is ever stagnant here.
Though Phantom spends all day every day with full access to the living areas of the house, he is not yet what I consider to be fully integrated because I have not yet given him basement access. Basement access equates with graduation day in this household. Although Phantom has come far in his relationships with Feather and Footsie, I don't believe he has come quite far enough to handle their advances in the basement away from my immediate intervention. He's getting there, though.
Feather and Footsie both still like to chase Phantom when they think they can get away with it, and I have caught Footsie on several occasions in typical "breeding position", straddling Phantom's back while maintaining a bite-hold on the back of his neck. Often this behavior sends Phantom under the bed for refuge, but more and more often he is re-emerging almost immediately to come back into the living areas. Feather and Footsie are also getting better about allowing Phantom to leave the bedroom unmolested, and Phantom is getting braver about moving past them, esp. when I'm nearby to keep the Bad Boys in check. Much of each day now finds Feather and Footsie napping or otherwise altogether ignoring Phantom's movements around the house.
Phantom, though not yet brave enough to actively engage in play with the Bad Boys, has decided that he wants to indulge his own inner Bad Boy by picking on the other cats, primarily Billy and Mew. Poor Mew is now hissing and running from both Feather and Phantom, though he doesn't really take Phantom's advances all that seriously at this point. Phantom may get himself into trouble if he keeps trying to push his luck, however. He made the ill-fated mistake of launching himself onto the back of our 24 lb Lion King last week. Noddy jumped back and glared at him in utter amazement, as did I. Phantom's lucky he didn't actually bite Noddy during that mock attack. If he had, he would have made a serious enemy of my big boy. As it is, Noddy seems inclined to overlook the incident as a case of harmless insanity on Phantom's part.
I'm not getting off so easy where Phantom is concerned. As his inner Bad Boy emerges and he longs for some real rough and tumble Tomcat play, I am his "safe" playmate of choice. He knows I won't hurt him, so he has absolutely no qualms about hurting me. He purrs and purrs and BITES HARD AND HOLDS ON! I have to keep prying his mouth open to get him off me before he breaks skin. I would rather disallow this behavior, but I'm fairly certain that if I don't let him take his play aggression out on me, he'll take it out on Mew and Billy and anyone else he can get up the nerve to attack. At least with me, he can get it out of his system without degrading his relationships with the rest of the family. Hopefully Phantom will eventually develop the same sort of playful relationships with Feather and Footsie that they have with each other. Then the Mouseketeers can joyfully beat the tar out of each other and give me a break!
On a less violent note, Phantom came into the office while I was in here for the first time yesterday to see what I was doing. He's been checking out the office and spare bedroom quite a bit over the last few days, but never while I was in either room. He's pretty good about holding his ground while I'm walking in and out of the livingroom now, but he's still easily spooked when he encounters me anywhere else. He'll always be a spooky boy, which is fine. Ferals survive by spooking from any perceived threat. It's an instinct that will diminish over time but never disappear.
And now for the pictorial portion of this installment ...
Phantom and Raggie. Phantom appreciates Raggie's aged, quiet presence. He will often make a point of napping snuggled against or very close to Raggie, though Raggie probably doesn't even realize he's there most of the time.
