Gideon, Week One

Gideon is over all, a pretty neat little guy so far. I've found that I like him even more than I thought I would. He is very people-living, confident, easy-going, and sweet.

That said, the past week has been exhausting. It's been especially challenging to be sure we are catering to both Gideon's needs, and our three dogs during week days when we are gone from 8-4:30. Gideon has been taking it well and is not a complainer, but as we've been conditioning him to sleep during the day, he's become less of a good sleeper at night despite us trying to play with him as much and as hard as possible 3-4 times a day, sometimes for an hour at a time. He doesn't seem to mind being on his own too much, fortunately.

He's also been a decent eater and is happy eating the variety of foods I prepare for him. Our ultimate plan in the future is to have him on more or less 100% raw food, but we have around 40 cans of cat food to use up between craigslist bargains and the breeder, so we're working on those first. We'll keep the cans and will use them as meal portions and keep them frozen, thawing a few at a time. In the meantime, he enjoys most any type of food, from dry treats to cubed raw chicken breast, and is doing great on all of them. I think he also enjoys the variety!

Gideon is also a champion at using his box. One of the more endearing things about him is how he likes to sing a song while he poos; the noises he makes (very quiet mews and quiet mumbled chirping) are particularly cute.

So far, he has met our dogs through a baby gate in his doorway and has gradually become more and more accustomed to where he initiates games with them. Our pyr mix LOVES this; she play bows, and he responds by sprinting a lap around the room before coming back to her and tapping her paw again to re-start the cycle. He tries the same game with our male greyhound, but he totally ignores him and just takes naps by the gate (probably just because I'm there and he wants to be near me). Gideon also enjoys showing off in front of the dogs, pouncing and leaping after his wand toys with an audience, as well as grooming their feet if they are in reach. We're hoping by this weekend, they can finally meet with the barrier lifted (so Gideon can retreat to his room by fitting under the gate, but no dogs can follow).

Once he can be fully integrated into the household, he'll only need to be confined when unsupervised, so we hope anyway. I imagine he might become a bit more complainy to be confined once he's tasted the freedom of the house and finally gotten to play with Ahri like they've both been eager to.   But I'm awfully excited to not need to cater to our zoo so separately as well and would like to be able to spend time with all my animals at the same time without feeling the need to compromise as much!