Hi everyone.
 
Everyone is doing fine.  Snowball is adjusting very well (except that
she's still got a bite that can rip the flesh off of you - I've got the
cuts all over my face to prove it).  I never noticed how far along the
other two have come in the past few months until we added Snowball.  I
can see how attached they are to us and how carefree she is yet.  They
run to greet us.  In the morning they come over for their kisses.  She's
in her own world.  Hopefully in a few more weeks she'll take to us some
more.
 
Here's my problem.  I'm wondering if Salt could be a little upset about
this addition.  She shows now sign of dislike for the new one.  She
plays with her, cuddles with her, and ever protects her when Pepper gets
too rough.  All three of them get along great.  Salt shows no signs of
stress from adding Snowball to the family.  However, last night Salt
began digging at her litter box.  Not just play-digging, but emptying
the litter (and it wasn't freshly cleaned either - plenty of droppings
to discourage her) from the tray all over the room.  She's almost 6
months old and has never done this before.  Sometimes when I'd change
the litter all together, she'd run over while I poured new litter and
burrowed her way through the pan, but NEVER while it was smeared with
stuff.  All of this took place around midnight, which for them is 2
hours past their bedtime.  She woke me up and needless to say I was mad.
 So I reached in the cage and picked her up by the back of her neck
(scruffed?) and smacked her nose and yelled NO.  She started whimpering
and immediately I felt like MOMMY DEAREST!  My heart sank.  So I had a
little talk with her about digging and then I sat up with her and tried
keeping her up for about a half an hour to play.  She didn't really want
to play and just laid on the floor.  But if I put her back in her cage,
she immediately went to the litter box.  The other two were sound
asleep.  This is the second time she did this.  The night before she
woke up at 4am to dig in the litter.  And during the day, I've noticed
that she won't play with Snowball if Pepper is with her.  Only will she
play if its one on one with either of the other two.  If the other two
are playing, Salt will just kind of mosey around, plopping down in the
middle of the room.  We'll go pick her up and snuggle with her and it
usually doesn't last more than a minute and she bounces right back.
This is just really strange behavior for her.  We haven't been
neglecting any of them.  Salt has always been our "sensitive" one
(affectionate), so we've actually been cuddling her probably even more
since adding Snowball.  Pepper never was one to sit still in our arms,
but we've been showing her special attention too.  We spend time
seperately with each and time with all three playing.  Do you think it
could be because of adding Snowball?
 
Michelle
[Posted in FML issue 1035]