Life With Kitten

The last time I had a kitten in the house was back in the late 1990's, when we adopted Betsy and her daughter, Rascal. Betsy had been someone's pet who was drummed out of the house. She took up residence in the wood pile of a former neighbor and had Rascal. We "met" her when she defended her territory from Shakespeare. She was a very loving cat.

Rascal, being born "in the wild", was feral when we came to know her. Through the summer, we worked with her to get her used to people and then to living in the house. We knew she had adopted us when I took Carole to school one day and then set out to do errands. Rascal got out and I wasn't about to chase her down. When I came back, at around noon, a neighbor said she heard a cat meowing at the back door to be let in. I opened the door and Rascal shot into the house, dashing under the bed. She stayed there until dinner, but, when she finished dinner, she went back under the bed. I didn't see her for two days outside of feedings. After that, she came inside when I called.

She had energy, but because a lot of her "kittenhood" was spent outside, we didn't see the bouncing off the wall that kittens do. So, it's come a something of a shock to me how much energy Hamlet has. This was driven home in October when there was an enormous crash in the living room.

Behold the remnants of a black cat candle holder. He was so scared of the noise and what my reaction would be, he went into the home office and huddled under the cedar chest for a couple hours. This really shattered so I wound up washing the floor, letting it dry and then going over it with packing tape to make sure all the shards had been picked up.

Since then, more things have fallen. I thought I had "kitten proofed" my house but now that he's bigger, he can jump higher. He knows "No" so I can point at him and sternly say it. I wasn't upset about losing this candle holder. I have quite a few. The onus really is on me for not looking around and thinking, "What would a kitten like to knock off because stuff falling is fascinating?"

Beverage:  Orange Juice

Deb

How Was Your Summer, Part 6

I might have had a lot on my mind at the end of June, beginning of July. But helping Becky find a forever home for the waif in the bathroom was never far away. I posted and reposted the photos. I sent inquiries to no-kill shelters in the east and southeast Virginia area. All were full of kittens. They empathized, but no one was willing to take a kitten. Then a co-worker of Becky's came forward.

She would provide the kitten with a home. Her son had seen the photos and was in love. They would come get the girl the week before I was slated to come to Virginia on vacation. I was thrilled. Then it all fell apart.

I'm not privy to why it fell apart; it just did. We were back to square one. Becky was devastated. "I don't know what to do. It can't live in my bathroom. At some point, Zia (one of her dogs), is going to figure out how to get the door open and I fear Zia will kill her. And there's the whole allergy thing." I looked around my house. I have two girls I adore. Was my house and my heart and life big enough for a kitten? I decided it was and I offered to take the kitten if no one came forward.

Becky pushed everyone at the hospital where she worked. She showed countless people the photos. No one wanted her. So, the day after I arrived, she and Jon came to Carole and Larry's to play games and to bring this little gal, who I was taking home with me. I couldn't come up with a girl's name. I struggled and struggled. I always told myself that if I ever got to name a female cat again, she would be called "Rosalind", after the main character in Shakespeare's As You Like It, one of my favorite plays. But, as I drove east, it just didn't sit right. I finally settled on "Esme", for "Esme Weatherwax", a character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I don't really like Esme, but nothing seemed quite right.

"The naming of cats is a difficult matter. It isn't just one of your holiday games." --T.S. Eliot; Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. 

We put the kitten in my bedroom with food, water and her litter box. The bedroom was about twice the size of the bathroom, plus, there were windows she could look out. She warmed up to me almost instantly and spent half of the night sleeping either on or next to me. We let her come out of the room, supervised, the next day. Carole's cats were unimpressed, except for Jacen and Jaina. Jaina was upset and hissed, growled and spit at the kitten when it came out of the room. Jacen, on the other hand, was really excited to meet Esme and the two of them chased each other, tumbling around on the carpet under the bed. Becky had done a very good job of socialization. There was one problem. This was not a girl. This was a boy.

We had a huge laugh. In Becky's defense, she'd never cared for kittens so had no idea what to look for, shall we say. Well, that changes the naming convention, doesn't it. Esme Weatherwax went right out the window. Immediately, I knew what his name would be, "Hamlet". I don't know why; I just knew. My first cat had been named "Shakespeare". This felt right.

On Monday, July 18th, I left Virginia at 5 in the morning with a kitten under the passenger seat of the car. That's where he stayed the entire trip home, coming out only to use the litter box and to have food and water. When I stopped for food myself, I would check on him. He was quite the trooper. The next day, he went to the vet.

Becky had mentioned she supplemented the wet and dry food with milk supplement for kittens for the first couple of weeks he lived with her. My vet was impressed. He seemed healthy. She felt he was around 4 months old which would be consistent with his size and needing milk supplement when Becky found him. We drew blood to check for feline leukemia. He had ear mites, which was to be expected and he also had fleas. I wound up having to treat everyone for fleas from July through last month. But other than those issues, he's a healthy kitten.

He spent the rest of July and most of August living in the office. I would go in and play with him but contact with the girls was minimal. I would put him in my bedroom and leave the door open so the girls could go into that room and smell his scent. After being in the office for a month, I let him out when I was home. Over Labor Day, I let him out at night, too. No one was allowed into the basement through the month of September, something Pilchard was not pleased with. My rationale was that he needed to learn his name and to come when I called. There are so many hiding places in the basement. One step at a time. He was spayed in September, getting the rest of his shots at that time, too.

There was a lot of hissing, yowling and growling. I opened the basement up in mid-October and allowed Hamlet to go outside during the end of October, when we had some wonderfully warm afternoons and weekends.

But have I made the right decision? Mija and Pilchard are not happy.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

How Was Your Summer, Part 5

This story begins in May. My friend, Becky, who lives in Richmond, Virginia, came home one night during a rain storm. She parked and started to run into her house, but was stopped in her tracks by the most pitiful meow she's ever heard. Investigating, she found a kitten in the culvert near her house, trying to stay up out of the water. Angry that someone would dump a kitten in the first place and then double angry they would do that during heavy rains, she fished it out of the culvert and took it to her neighbor next door. This lady is, unfortunately, a cat hoarder. The woman was very dismissive and told Becky to leave the kitten, with food, in a cat carrier on her font porch. "Momma cat will come looking for it."

Becky checked in but it was clear that, after 2 days a) momma cat wasn't coming and b) the woman wasn't feeding the kitten. Outraged, Becky took it and the carrier into her spare bathroom. She gave it a warm towel and immediately ran to the pet store for food and litter.

When she got her settled in the bathroom, she posted the above photo on her Facebook page.

The poor thing was terrified.

It wouldn't eat and it clearly didn't want to have anything to do with Becky. She is allergic to cats, as is her husband, Jon. They have 3 rescue dogs and the dogs were going nuts over the smell of a cat in the house. She knew she needed to get this kitten socialized to have any chance of finding it a home.

It finally ate the day after it was brought into the bathroom. She came home and checked on it and the food was gone. She had used the litter box, too. But this whole idea of a human was not something she was excited about, particularly, as this human smelled like a dog. Becky persevered and, by day 6, she was coming out of the carrier when Becky was around, to eat.

There was initial interest in the kitten. People who know Becky know she is going to do right by an animal. She kept the carrier clean and she made sure there was fresh food and water daily. The big thing was socializing the kitten to humans. One of the dogs barged into the room and the kitten fled under a shelf unit.

It took 30 minutes to get her out.

Eventually, the kitten warmed up to Becky and to Jon, but he's much more allergic to cats than Becky is and he could only be with the kitten to play for 30 minutes once a day.

She was an inquisitive ball of fluff, friendly and active and clearly fond of exploring and of Becky. The first home fell through. A second one came forward, but it, too, fell through. Becky started calling humane societies and shelters in the Richmond area. There are no-kill shelters but they were at capacity with kittens and a friend told her not to take the kitten to the Richmond Animal Shelter. They may advertise as no-kill, but they will probably put the kitten down because they have no space. How could anyone resist such a face?

I thought about it. I did what I could from Illinois; reposting and offering to bring the kitten back to Illinois if someone was interested. Finally, a colleague of Becky's saw the post, showed her son who fell in love with this gal. She was going to have a "furr-ever" home.

Or so we thought.

Beverage:  Belhaven Oatmeal Stout

Deb

An Overload of Squee

WARNING! Cuteness alert.

We could, perhaps, file this under "Don't go to the pet store when there's an adoption event going on." That's, maybe, good advice because you never know what you'll bring home, in addition to the Frontline Flea and Tick repellent which was the real reason you went to the pet store in the first place.

Aren't they adorable? Meet Jaina and Jacen. No no. They aren't living with me. Carole and Larry adopted them.

They are not from the same litter but had been fostered together so it was asked if they could be kept together. Carole said there were a number of black kittens and cats. People were cooing over them, but no one seemed to be adopting.

Larry has never been around kittens. All the cats he's ever known have been adults. Other than Tobey, all the cats Carole has known, we had from when they were a year or less old.

There were some anxious moments. How would Faux and Tobey react? There was some hissing, but things have gone remarkably well.

I read where adding kittens to a household of adult cats is better than trying to integrate adult cats into established adult cat homes. That should not deter anyone from adopting if they already have an adult cat. I've often wondered if my girls would like a kitten. An adult cat would be problematic. Pilchard pees outside the box enough as it is. Any stress, anything she doesn't like and she registers it by peeing outside the box. I think the addition of a kitten, while maybe a good idea eventually, would cause her to pee other places outside of the box and I don't want to deal with that.

Carole and Larry got a cat tree.

That's not so much a tree as an apartment building. There are so many levels and places for everyone to lie down and not be in each other's space. Notice Faux on the floor to the lower left. "Meh. I'll not have anything to do with this."

Yeah, about that.

They have the room to provide a good home to more cats. Would that I was closer. There is something energizing about kittens. And, in case you're wondering, the names are Han Solo and Princess Leia's children's names.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb

Jessie and Deb go to IKEA

Subtitled: FIELD TRIP!!

There it is, IKEA in suburban Schaumburg, Illinois. For the few readers who might not know, IKEA is a Swedish company, started right after WWII by a guy who tried to put a chair into his car and couldn't because of the legs. Don't believe me? Check out this blog post. It's one of Jessie's favorite stores. I'm okay with it. I find some of their furniture to be cheap in construction, but there is no doubt that it is transportable. Plus, as you can see from where we had to walk to get to the store, and no, I didn't make Jess drive to the far reaches of the parking lot just so I could get a photo; this is where we parked. IKEA is popular. The easily transportable concept means that college students or others who have to rely on public transportation can come to IKEA and get a table and chairs and carry it home on the bus.

Jessie was looking at all kinds of things. She needed a chest of drawers. She needed a new computer desk. She wants a slim table for her front hallway on which to drop mail, keys, her purse, the contents of her pockets when she gets home. We hadn't spent time together in ages so I just wanted to go along to chat. But I would like a new chair for my home office...

I got to meet Momo, her new kitten. It's been 12 years since I played with a kitten. They have a lot of energy. Betsy would not be amused. I won't get Betsy a kitten. It was hot, too. It got up to 93 last Sunday. My Jeep has air conditioning, really, it does. See the photo below. But Jess was not amused by my AC and said, "We are NOT taking your car" so we went in her car.

IKEA is three floors of schtuff (the technical term). You take escalators to the top floor and work your way down. We looked at dressers. We looked at computer desks. We looked at tables. She needed place mats. Oh look! Spoons! For some reason, I'm losing my teaspoons. I bought a package of 6 teaspoons for $4.95. They aren't the greatest and I'll be putting teaspoons on my Christmas list, but they are okay. (Not iced tea spoons with the long handles, regular teaspoons and I'd like a package of 6 or 8 please and thank you.)

We wandered about and Jessie got a thingee (again, technical term) that tilts your lap top up to help keep it cool. And then we found the office chairs. I almost got the one

I'm sitting in here. This one was leather and had arms. It was $50. Actually, it was that fake leather. Then I sat in this one.

It was a hard choice. The left one does not have arms. But the chair I currently use does not have arms. The armless chair was $79.99. The fake leather is $30 cheaper. The fake leather came in white and black. The armless comes only in black. The armless has a taller back and that back fabric is mesh so it will breathe. The leather will be sticky in the summer. The armless chair's seat is covered in fabric which can be removed to wash. If I wanted arms, I could get arms for another $20. Both were very comfortable and could be raised to the height I need to keep my feet more or less flat on the floor, which is where your office chair should be for good posture. It was hard to choose because I don't have a lot of money, but I went with the armless chair.

After making that very important decision, we headed to the cafe to have lunch. Yes, IKEA has a cafe serving a limited amount of food. I got a turkey and swiss cheese flatbread wrap and chocolate cake. Jessie got their "mashed potatoes to die for" and chocolate cake.

Jessie decided to buy a small circular table to go on the patio to her apartment. After eating, it was time to get our purchases. You go down to the first floor and wander about this massive warehouse looking for the aisle number and bin number where your item is stored. We found my chair and found her table and went to check out. They have self-service check outs which do make things faster although, if you're paying by credit card, it was a bit confusing.

Now comes the really hard part, getting it to the car. There is a loading dock area but it's always full with cars waiting. My chair wasn't that heavy so I picked it up and we walked to the car. RAWR! I can carry this.

Now we have to get it in the car. But that's the beauty, if you will, of IKEA furniture. It's supposed to fit in pretty much any conveyance you can bring to their store. Now, granted, if you're coming by bus and there are busses that have IKEA on their route, you can't take home a table top the size Jessie wants for her new desk. You could very easily carry this chair on the bus with you.

See? It fit. My chair side ways with Jessie's new table on top. We were airing out the car, as much as you can when it's 93 with a very hot wind blowing from the south. We hopped in the car and drove back to Jessie's apartment. I had to leave right away as I had promised Carole I'd be home to play Dungeons and Dragons with her and the group. I did wind up being 15 minutes late because I had to get gas.

Currently, the chair sits, still in its box, in my kitchen. I will assemble it this weekend. Yes, that is a blog post.

This is the long post I promised, complete with photos. It was a fun time. Now where did I put the screwdriver?

Beverage: Blackberry tea

Deb