Cats All Around

I have decided that if I have to be reincarnated as an animal, I want to come back as someone's bottle feed kitten. What a cushy life!

The older ones are at the able-to-learn-to-drink-from-a-bowl-but-still-want-a-bottle stage, where they pull the "I'm sta--a--arving" act when you try to get them to lap formula from a bowl instead of sucking on a bottle. They are also somewhat imperfectly litter trained.

All of them are running around the kitchen now, so we do the kitten shuffle, a walk that involves not lifting the feet from the floor much at all, so if we do accidentally step on something, it is usually just that we caught the tip of a paw or tail under the edge of a shoe. You should also never move without looking down, as they tend to fall asleep snuggled between your feet when you stand at the sink or stove for a few minutes.

The two litters have taken well to each other, and tumble and play and flop on each other when they sleep. I have their litter pan in a cardboard box turned on its side, used to help block one end of the kitchen, and their "sleeping den," a box with their blanket, also on its side at the other end.

David, a/k/a Chunker, the biggest of all the kittens, is not happy at all with being boxed in. He wants out, to wherever "out" happens to be. He is very determined and persistent in his attempts to get past any and every barricade. A Grady in training, it seems. He also is the big strong he-man of the bunch, very friendly unless you pick him up from behind or startle him, when he will jump, arch, spit, hiss and generally prepare to sell his little life dearly. Yesterday he prepared to defend himself to the death against the dishwasher, which was making threatening noises in his estimation.

Tsula, the smallest of the older litter, is still the least pretty Siamese type I've ever seen, though she is getting better. She managed, despite our best attempts, to get behind the refrigerator the other day, and stayed there a couple of hours. Sweetie was frantic, though I told him she had to be back there and would come out when she got hungry enough.

He was all for moving the fridge, but since I had done that the day before to clean behind it, and found unidentifiable decaying objects back there, along with dust bunnies that had grown fangs and fought back, I was reluctant in case I find I had missed something.

Bigger Girl finally moved the other fridge barricade, the one Tsula had not gotten through, and found her curled up right next to it. I have since wedged something even tighter in there, and since Chunker knocked it down on his own head trying to climb it, none have gone near it. I hope it knocked a bit of sense in his head.

Frostfur is the other girl in the colorpoint litter, and while her fur is not as soft as Oreo's at the shelter, it is thick and soft for her type. She is beautiful and about twice the size of her sister.

Of the 4 smaller kittens, only one has a name so far, and that is the boy, Raab Himself. Screechiest cry for a kitten I have ever heard, very loud and obnoxious. #2 Son is very proud, as he intends to "train" David and Raab in what he calls "the way of my kittens." I'm not sure what all he does in his training, as he takes them in his room a good bit, but his kittens always turn out to be very friendly and yet "manly," if that makes sense. His also always prove to be the most entertaining somehow. Just like him, I suppose.

We have moved the adult cat food bowls, and I want the change in location to be permanent, because they were too easily knocked over in their kitchen placement before. This means the cats only have to come through the kitchen to get to the litter box in the hall, and as much as I want to I cannot move it. There really is no convenient place in a house for a litter box, I don't care how big or small the place.

So yesterday when Hope came back to her old feeding place, even after eating at the new one several times (she is our "special" cat), she met the kittens and sniffed a bit, without hissing. Kida, our wheezing Siamese came in to greet them, too, and didn't hiss at the colorpoints. The marble tabbies she gave a wider berth. I think she recognizes kin.

I haven't seen any interaction between kittens and either Horizon or Little Girlie, nor do I expect to. They are both notoriously shy, and are seldom seen even going to eat or use the box. They only feel safe in a bedroom.

But Badlands Blackie came in and sniffed curiously, and then moved on into the hall toward his box. So far, the adult cats are not acting out their displeasure at the invasion of their territory, which is good. Their usual methods involve loud middle of the night cat fights and "forgetting" where the litter box is, using beds instead. This time, they just don't seem upset. Maybe they are getting used to the fact that kittens come and go, but the 5 of them are forever.


Today is

According to Hoyle Day

Day of Loose Talk -- Fairy Calendar

Feast of Augustus -- Old Roman Calendar

Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist

First Day of Thoth -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (first day of the Egyptian Calendar)

More Herbs, Less Salt Day

National Sarcoidosis Awareness Day (Sarcoidosis involves inflammation that produces tiny lumps of cells in various organs in your body. Just so you can be aware. Now one more thing for us to worry about.)

National Whiskey Sour Day

Notting Hill Carnival -- Notting Hill, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, through tomorrow

Slovak National Uprising Anniversary -- Slovakia

St. Sabina's day (Patron Saint of Housewives)



Birthdays Today

Michael Jackson, 1958
Elliot Gould, 1938
John McCain, 1936
Richard Attenborough, 1923
Charlie "Bird" Parker, 1920
Isabel Sanford, 1917
Ingrid Bergman, 1915
Preston Sturges, 1898


Today in History

Era of Diocletian (Martyrs), the last major time of persecution for the early Christian churches, begins with Gen. Gaius Aurelius V Diocletianus Jovius becoming emperor of Rome, 284
Japan mints its first copper coins, 708
The last Incan King of Peru, Atahualpa, is executed by order of Francisco Pizarro, 1533
The first Indian "reservation" is formed by the New Jersey Legislature, 1758
Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction, 1831
The United Kingdom legislates the abolition of slavery in its empire, 1833
Treaty of Nanking signing ends the First Opium War, 1842
The first motorcycle is patented in Germany by Gottlieb Daimler, 1885
The chef of a visiting Chinese Ambassador invents "chop suey" in NYC, 1896
The Goodyear tire company is founded, 1898
The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers, 1907
Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California, 1911
The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, 1949
Speedy Gonzales makes his debut, 1953
The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, 1966
Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party, 1991
Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast, 2005