Re: Meet My Girlies
Thanks for the responses guys.
The first night between Doris and Milly went pretty good. I usually will let Doris stay up late with me (I'm up all hours of the night), but last night I put her in the cage because Milly wanted to be in her cage as well, and I didn't think it was a good idea to give Millicent the impression that Doris was going to run free while she was going to stay locked up.
Doris spent the night in her cage and Milly spent the night in the travel cage I bought for introductions.
I went into the store looking for a companion for Doris and I came out with two things. A true friend for Doris who it is fairly apparent will teach her a little ratty respect, and someone who desperately needs love and care.
After looking at her in the store it was fairly obvious she had not been cared for well. I can hear her sneezing and she has a cough, and she is getting on in age. I call her Millicent the Mighty because she is not fat, but much bigger than Doris. Doris is about eight months old and judging by her size, and the look about her, Milly is probably over the year and a half mark and has birthed a few litters. She seems well socialised but she is more inclined to spend time in the cage. She was brought into the pet store by someone who either didn't want her anymore, or simply couldn't keep her anymore. I am sure she will come out more often as she gets used to me and Doris. Last night she slept in a little fold of blanket and I stroked her while reading before I went to sleep and before the girls went back to their cages.
If anyone can give advice on what to do about Milly's respiratory problem I would really appreciate it. I am aware that she should see a vet soon but if there are over-the-counter medications that I can buy her to treat her at home I wouldn't mind hearing about those also. Even if it is a chronic age condition anything that will help her with the discomfort would be appreciated.
On to introductions! When I bought Milly I took one look at her and thought - this old war horse is going to toss Doris on her wee butt, oh boy. She nipped my fingers through the bars (she has done this just once, never since, and I have put my fingers to her cage many times to show her fingers are for kissing and treats do not go through cage bars), but she did not seem to mind being picked up too much though it is more difficult to pick her up than it is Doris because of her size.
To my surprise, when I brought Milly home last night, there were no confrontations between the two girls. I put a little extra virgin olive oil behind each of their ears so they both smelled similar and put them both in the bath tub to say hello. Well! They were neither of them very inclined to say hello, but to get out of the bath tub. Instead of getting introduced they both put all of their efforts into jumping out of the tub, so I took them out and decided to introduce them on my bed. There wasn't any real confrontation, but I was surprised to find Doris immediately took charge instead of the much larger Mrs. Bulstrode (Another nickname for Millicent, who is named after the very large Millicent Bulstrode in the Harry Potter books). She climbed all over Millicent, attempted to go for rides on her back, put her paws on her face, nicked food from her (I had to steal a pellet back from her so she wouldn't hide it under my bed and the fuss of screeching at me she kicked up was amazing. She is reeeealllyyyy not used to not getting her way). So this went on for about as long as Doris and Milly were together last night. There was no direct confrontation, just Doris bounding about and making a big show of being in charge.
The first outright confrontation came just about an hour ago, around 6:00 am (I went to bed early so I've been awake since 5:00), when Doris was once again batting Milly about the ears and being a little brat. When Milly first came here she hurt her paw (I am really not sure how. I just noticed her squeaking and licking her hand, her paw appeared to be bleeding slightly. Whatever it was she took care of it herself and she will now put the paw on the ground and walk around without any trouble, although I am still hesitant to touch her paw), and I think Doris must have nipped it or bumped it or something because Milly gave her the lashing of a lifetime. It lasted about two seconds. They were both sitting on top of the nest box together, there was some squeaking, and Doris was tossed to the floor on her butt. The look of "SHOCK HORROR!" on her face was too much and I burst out laughing. She sat there for a moment on her butt looking horrified and promptly took off like a rocket.
She now treats Mrs. Bulstrode with much more respect, though I can see that there may be a few more lessons in respect to your elders before there is any hierarchy between them defined. Millicent is by no means a bully or ill-natured, but it is apparent to me that she will not be shown up by any whippersnapper.
I don't have any pictures of Milly right now and I won't tempt her out to be photographed because she is happily snoozing in the nest box. I'll definitely post some soon.
