Tuesday, August 09, 2005, 18:24
A New Home
One of the kittens from down in the barn (the gray kitten that I think is going to be long-haired because her hair is starting to grow longer already and she has tufts in her ears) went to her new home this morning.
A lady called last night about the kitties because she had seen my flyer in the grocery store. They'd had two cats, she said, but when her son moved to an apartment a few weeks ago, he took one of the cats with him. The remaining cat, a young neutered tom, was very lonely and needed another kitty friend, she said.
"I just love cats, and if my husband would let me, I'd have 10 of them!" she said.
"Would this be an inside cat?" I said.
"Yes," she said. "My cats stay inside. We live too close to the road, and I want them to stay safe."
Sounds like my kind of person, and certainly a person who would provide a good home for one of the kittens in the barn.
The lady came over this morning with two of her children, a girl of about 9 and a boy who looked to be 7 or so.
The girl liked the gray kitten. The boy liked the little tom cat with a white tip on his tail. I tried to talk them into taking *both* kittens but was unsuccessful (darn!).
The kids discussed it between themselves, did a couple of sessions of "paper-scissors-rock" and eventually settled on the gray female kitten.
In the meantime, the little tom with the white tip was in the kitty carrier. Neither kitten had been in the kitty carrier before, and at first, they were sure they didn't like it. I brought the kitty carrier up to the basement, and one of my kittens from last year, Juliette, who is a cousin to these kittens, came in the house with me. She hopped up on the table, chirped at the kittens, and they immediately settled down. It was as if she was telling them "it's okay" -- and they believed her, apparently.
After the mother and her children and the gray kitten left for home, I took the little tom back down to the barn and let him out of the kitty carrier. A while later, I went back to the barn to put some fly spray on my horse and to give the kitties more food. The little tom came out of the kitty carrier, stretching and yawning. He had decided the kitty carrier was a good place to nap, and in fact, his remaining sister came for some food and ended up playing in the kitty carrier with her brother!
I am always amazed that the wild black momma kitty's kittens are friendly and sensible by nature. She is a hissing,spitting, growling wild-cat, but yet, her kittens don't seem to pick up on that from her (thank goodness).
Now all I have to do is find homes for the other two kittens. I have noticed that even though the kittens are 3 months old, they are still nursing their mother once in a while -- and I am *hoping* that means she won't come into heat soon, which will mean that I won't have another litter of kittens to find homes for this fall.
LeAnn R. Ralph
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Monday, August 08, 2005, 21:39
Another Milestone
Baby Sophie has passed another milestone! Last week I moved her out of her "nest box" (a Rubbermaid-type container) and into the cubbyhole underneath the coat closet where we normally keep shoes and boots. I moved the shoes and boots out of the cubbyhole and installed a small "sleeping box" -- along with a kitten-sized litter box and some toys.
Sophie regularly uses her litter box, and when she isn't sleeping in her box (on the heating pad, of course), she plays with her toys. I let her out of the cubbyhole whenever she is insisting that she would like to come out and get something to eat. She is still living on kitten formula, but she has added canned kitty food to her diet. When she has gotten something to eat, she runs around the house and plays. All kinds of things have become "Sophie toys." She thinks it's fun to attack the table leg. And my foot. And the telephone cord.
Sophie also has a small blue teddy bear (about six inches long) that she rolls around with and plays with in the way that she would play with another kitten. She bites the teddy bear and kicks it with her hind feet. The teddy bear make a good playmate for her because he "rolls with the punches," so to speak. She also has a jute-covered ball that rattles. She likes to kick the ball and bite at it, and she is starting to roll it around.
One of Sophie's favorite toys is a strip of the waxy-type paper that contains rolls of stamps or address labels. The current strip of paper is from my address labels. She pushes it around with her front feet, chases it, pats it, bites at it.
When Sophie is out playing, I have to be very careful she does not get under my feet. At this age, she is too small to realize I could step on her and that she could get hurt. She is also very fast. One second she is on one side of the house, and in two shakes of a lamb's tail, she has crossed the dining room and the kitchen and is right under my feet.
Sophie plays for an hour or two, returns to me several times for more formula or more kitty food, and then she plays some more until she is tired. When Sophie is ready to go to sleep, she puts her paws up on my leg and wants to come up in my lap. Then she sits and grooms for a while, and pretty soon, her eyes start drooping closed and her head is nodding. At this point, I put her in her sleeping box, on the heating pad, where she curls up with Mr. Effelant for a good long nap.
What a life, huh? A warm, safe place to sleep. All the food she could possibly want. Toys to play with. People and other kitties to play with (the adult cats don't really play with her -- they run away from her when she comes after them).
I found Sophie three weeks ago on Tuesday. And what a difference between the nearly dead kitten I brought home then and the way she is now.
Keep up the good work, Sophie! What's next?
(I'm hoping she will soon learn to drink water and to eat dry kitten chow.)
LeAnn R. Ralph
P.S. If you're looking for a good book to read, you've come to the right place. Ordering is easy! Fill out the order form. Click send.