Welcome to the family

Ryan and I had been wanting to find a companion for Ruckus so that he wouldn't be so lonely. He thinks he's a person, so when ever we go anywhere and he's not invited he gets offended. We'd been conversing with local shelters and rescue organizations, looking for another cat who would be a good fit, possibly even one with a leg/hip injury like him so that they could at least have the mutual appreciation of the heating pads on the armchairs.

After meeting a few candidates (who were all sweet, I hated having to reject any of them, like I'm some millionaire on a dating show), we went to another rescue group and they had a bunch of feral rescue kittens, including some that were born that same morning. We were cooing over the teeny kittens and this gregarious orange tabby kept reaching out of the cage and talking to us - stepping on his sleeping sister to get our attention. He was so funny that we decided we needed to at least meet him. I have a weakness for ginger cats. That's a fact. But I swear that he wasn't adopted for his fur.

The rescue lady, Patty, was very sweet. She told us all about her feral rescue and TNR efforts and about her home kennels, where all of her kitties are raised until they are appropriate for adoption or foster care. She is super knowledgable about all of her cats, because she hand raises them. So she knows their individual personalities and loves each and every one of them. She even gave us her personal guarantee that we would not have any behavior problems for her cats, because she doesn't tolerate bad behavior. So everyone is neutered early and is used to having their nails clipped and flea medicine and using the litter box - no exceptions.

She even - accurately - predicted that this kitty (then known as "Spark Plug", now we call him "Rocket") would never cower or hide under the bed. He's such an outgoing personality that he would just get right in there and make himself at home. And he has! He's been 100% appropriately bowing down to Ruckus, as the elder, and after showing his respect, he runs off to play again.

I had ZERO intention of bringing home a kitten and certainly not that day. But fate pushes your hand and... well, things work out the way they're supposed to. Ryan and I filled out the adoption papers and were accepted and we went home to get our cat carrier and pick up our newest family member.

I wholly expected that the introduction process would take a few weeks - even a month. I had planned to keep Rocket in my office/extra bedroom and let Ruckus acclimate to having someone else in the house. But Rocket was so outgoing that he didn't want to hide. He came right out and wanted to snuggle with Ruckus, who hissed and batted at him.

Now we're in day 4 and they already eat dinner together and every now and then Ruckus decides that the kitten needs to be hissed at, but overall they generally stay just a foot or so away from one another. Rocket already has a handful of favorite toys, including this weird fuzzy guy (we call him Monster) that he looooooves to chase and carry around in his mouth, all the while growling at him. I guess the lowest guy on the totem pole has to have SOMEONE to boss around! I took a video of him growling, just because it was so funny to see him do it the first time.

Rocket is allowed to play in the house when we're around (he still needs a lot of monitoring) but he sleeps in his own room at night. I've been laying down with him before I go to bed and sneak out after he's asleep. He usually sleeps for a few hours and then Ryan lets him out again to play for a while, then he takes him to bed and Ryan sleeps with him for a couple of hours. Rocket wakes up around noon, then he comes out to play for a few hours, then sleeps again - rinse and repeat.

All in all, the family is adjusting nicely and we're pleased as can be with the newest member of the family.