cats Archives - Page 4 of 5

January 22, 2019January 13, 2019

Butterfly Cat Toy

The kittens received a Christmas gift from their cousins. My dear nephews are experts when it comes to battery-operated toys and of course they (their mom) found something for their furry cousins.

A little motorized butterfly cat toy!

My sister knows the frustration of gifts without batteries and she made sure to put batteries in it before it went under the tree. She also noted that it came with a spare butterfly. Which was a good thing because that first butterfly barely lasted a week. I kept straightening out the wire and picking up little bits of pretend butterfly wings. Once I found the whole contraption flipped over and another time, it was no less than three feet from where it had been. Mr. Man found the whole thing shoved inside of the cat tunnel one morning.

Eventually, Mr. Man changed out the batteries and put on the spare butterfly. Then he got on Amazon to see if he could find replacement butterflies. Fortunately, he did, and they come in a six-pack! The box says, “Recharge Papillons” which sounds so much more fun than “butterfly refills.”

The base of the toy has a little button to turn it on and off. Les chatons have figured this out and will turn their toy on themselves when they are ready for playtime. I’m impressed that the little motor has lasted as long as it has since it has run for hours at a time. And especially because sometimes they will just grind that poor papillon into the carpet and then leave it stuck there.

Anabel really likes when her cat tunnel is lined up with the papillon. She likes to shoot through the tube to preserve the element of surprise for her attacks upon the poor, motorized butterfly. Sometimes she will charge back through the tube after she pounces, other times she leaps to the far end of the tube, turns, and zooms through again.

But by far, the most adorable part about watching Anabel and Sally play with this toy is the way that they take turns. No, I am not exaggerating. Yes, it is hilarious. Sally will sit back and watch while Anabel takes a few passes at the poor thing. Maybe 3-4 times. Then she will take a few steps back and settle in to watch Sally go at it. It’s kind-of like a kitten break dance battle. They get their licks in, then sit back to let the other guy take a few swings at it.

January 15, 2019January 7, 2019

Distraction Duo

Oh these kittens, they make my life better every day. But I’ll tell you what, they are a HUGE distraction! They are THE distraction duo.

As I write this, they are maybe four feet away, getting into things. I hear a thud, and look to see what they’ve knocked over now, and just keep staring because watching them trouble around is so entertaining.

The way that Sally always tries to pick up my pen…

We are just really lucky that he doesn’t have thumbs

When Anabel takes her nap behind my laptop…

How Sally tries to get into the bag of dry cat food – not because there isn’t dry food in his bowl at this very moment, but because it is there, so he feels that he should get into it.

Those times when they run out in front of me, flop over, and ask for belly rubs…how can I resist?

Here comes Anabel, she is going to help my write this post. Maybe if she walks on the keyboard we will wind up with the next great work of English literature? Nope, that did not look like a masterpiece to me.

You know how multitasking was big for a while? I remember sitting at my desk, working on tasks for at least two or three different projects, and replying to every email as soon as it came through, even if I was on the phone. I was so busy, I must have been getting a lot done!

Then it turned into, no one really multitasks, they just switch between tasks. Oh, and that is a really inefficient way to work because your brain isn’t that good at switching tracks. I believe it. And I’ve been working at only working at one thing at a time, really focusing and forcing myself to stay on task. I will set a timer to write and not check my email or my phone during my writing time. But when you’ve got a kitty sitting on the back of your chair, grooming your head, it is tough to stay focused.

One strategy that I’m trying to keep me from getting too off track when they come in flaunting their cuteness at me is that I set aside little bits of time throughout my day to play with them. That time is focused on appreciating them; I don’t try to catch up on Facebook with one hand while Sally gets his belly rubs. Often, my kitten time coincides with their nap time. There are only so many hours in a day and they need to sleep for 18-20 of them, so I can’t really expect that they can be bothered to get up just because I want to play. But if they are up for it we might play with the ribbon on a stick or practice walking on a lead for a few minutes. If they are feeling mellow, it might be a good time for a nail trim or other grooming.

The only thing that I can say for my kitty distractions is that every time it happens my heart feels happy, as opposed to the panic-y, fear feeling that I would get from trying to multitask at work. Some distractions are worth it.

January 8, 2019January 3, 2019

Kitten Road Trip

I had a brilliant plan: take the kittens on a kitten road trip to my mom’s house for Christmas. I would get to have them with me and get to show them off to the family and they are so easy going that I didn’t think that they would be too bothered (of course they would be a bit bothered, they’re cats). Also, since I’m home a lot these days, they are not used to being left alone for long periods of time. They make a big deal when I come home after a couple of hours, I couldn’t bear the thought of how upsetting they would find it to only have a cat sitter just stopping by a couple of times a day.

I had some great ideas about how to prep the kittens for going on a road trip and how to handle them in the car. It’s not unheard of. I found articles on Chewy.com and one on Medium which led me to the official Adventure Cat website! I’m not the only crazy cat lady out there.

I got them both harnesses which we practice wearing around the house. They would be slightly bothered with the harnesses when I put them on, then quickly forget about it and go back to their usual kitten hijinks. Now, it’s not even a big deal at all. Mr. Man is so much more bothered about the harnesses than the kittens ever were. Anabel will pull hers out and bring it to me to put it on her; I know that is because she likes the way that the pink accentuates her pink nose. After a few days of harness practice, I even got Sally to walk on a lead (for treats).

Part two of my brilliant plan was to take them on short car trips around the neighborhood. The last time they had been in the car was when they went to get fixed, I knew that it would be smart to let them know that every car ride does not lead to surgery. Well, I pretty much blew off this part of our prep completely. When I finally did take them on a car ride, they were mildly bothered, but I could tell that it was something that they would be ok with if I had taken the time to get them used to it.

Mr. Man was not on board with my genius idea from the beginning. You would think that he has learned by now that I’m always right and that he should support me. But he was even less ok with this plan than he was with getting these kittens in the first place. And even though he got over that in two seconds, it was clear that he was not going to be swayed so easily this time.

So, Mr. Man stayed home to take care of the kittens and I went by myself to visit my family. Of course, I did spend the entire drive working out what I would do if I had the kittens in the car with me. I think that a kitten road trip is in our future. I just need to be more thorough in my preparations and I’ll have adventure cats in no time! Well, maybe not AdventureCats.org style that go hiking and camp but at least kittens who are emotionally equipped to take a road trip occasionally.

December 18, 2018December 17, 2018

A Tale of Fluffy Tails

On today’s episode of Kitten Tuesday, we will be exploring how fabulously fluffy Anabel’s and Sally’s tails have become. I have to admit that for a while there I was not optimistic that these tails would turn out as spectacular as they have. This is a tale of fluffy tails.

When the kittens first came home, they had little stubby baby kitten tails. Anabel used to chase her tail and it was so short that she couldn’t turn around far enough to catch it. She would spin like a dervish until she tumbled herself over, then she would jump up and go again. It was pretty entertaining. No, I’m not sure how much time I spent watching Anabel chase her tail, but every minute of it was time well spent.

As they grew, their tails began to lengthen, soon the tail to body ratio was pretty much equal. They started wrapping their tails around themselves when they slept. They didn’t have the tail muscles to carry them up yet, Sally’s would make a sort-of half arch when he would try but at least they were proportionate. By September, their tails were getting thicker but were not what I would call fluffy. It is only recently that they have become fabulous.

It is funny because even though from certain angles Anabel and Sally can be hard to tell apart, their tails are so different in shape and texture. Anabel’s is wide and linear,and the coloring is consistent the ticking on her body. She tends to walk with her tail straight off her back which adds to the long line.

Sally’s tail is like a beautiful fluffy plume. He carries it high over his back, especially when he comes running to meet me at the door. It is his beautiful welcome flag. His tail puffs out in the middle and then tapers at the end. The color variation is more pronounced on his tail as well.

December 11, 2018December 11, 2018

Remembering Emma

Many, many years ago, around of this time of year, and pretty much out of nowhere, Mr. Man said to me, “Do you know what you need? You need a kitten.” I was a little surprised. I did? I hadn’t really been thinking about pets. It had been a long, long time since I had a cat. But as I thought about it, I realized that he was right, I DID need a kitten!

So, Mr. Man embarked on a quest to bring me a kitten for Christmas. His first stop was a cat rescue place somewhere in Orange County. He was so upset when he got home, the lady there wouldn’t even TELL him if they had any kittens. They “prefer if you and your fiancé come in together to meet our cats.” The quest continued. One thing we discovered was that December was pretty much the only month of the year that wasn’t “kitten season.”

Finally, we found a nice cat rescue lady who had kittens and would let him come to meet them. He went to the woman’s house; she went to get the kittens and came back with her arms full. He picked up this one sweet little brown tabby who was just staring at him, not squirming or crying like the others and the kitten immediately Velcro-ed herself to him. Since she had attached herself to him, he decided that he may as well take her home. Done deal.

This kitten was a feral rescue, so she hadn’t been socialized to people as a little baby. Even though she was only nine weeks old, the rescue folks had her fixed because they weren’t sure if she would have to be released into a feral cat colony. He got instructions on keeping her confined because there was a good chance that she would just hide from us and we would never see her again. Mr. Man brought her home and set up a kitten room in the bathroom where the only place that she could “hide” from us was behind the toilet (of course we already had all the supplies, you know that I went shopping as soon as we decided that we were doing this). And then I get a call at work. “You aren’t going to believe it! I got you the smartest kitten ever! She went straight to her box and used it!” He was an instant fan.

When I would go into the bathroom to get her and she would hide behind the toilet and cry and purr simultaneously. I would grab her and we would go play and snuggle in the other room. She had perfect tabby markings, her stripes were well defined and symmetrical, and she was very photogenic.

Mr. Man and I were loving on her and trying to decide what her name would be. I suggested maybe something starting with “M” since she had a big “M” on her forehead. “EMMA!” Um, that doesn’t start with “M”, but hey, why not! And that was how our first kitten became known as Emma.

After a few weeks, we started letting her roam the house a bit at a time. She liked to play and hang out with us and was very loveable. She even started sleeping in the bed with us. One night I woke up and I couldn’t move. For a split second, I thought that I may have had a stroke! No. I had a kitten sleeping on my head who had draped herself across my neck. She did not appreciate being disturbed but I sure was relieved that once she was relocated I was no longer paralyzed.

Emma was our only kitty for several years. I’ll tell you about Clementine another day,but suffice it to say, Emma did not love living in a two-cat home. Even though she was older, she outlived Clementine and had the opportunity to be the only cat that she always wanted to be, at least at the end of her life.

December 4, 2018December 4, 2018

Kitten Baby Teeth

Did I tell you that I found kitten baby teeth!

Many years ago, when our very first kitten, Emma was a little baby she was gnawing on my hand (hands are not toys but apparently, they do make good teething tools) when she lost one of her baby teeth. I put it somewhere safe (so safe that I have no idea where).

This year, in late September, I saw something that looked like a piece of thicker-than-usual kitten nail, like someone had ripped the tip of their claw off. When I picked it up, I realized that it was a tooth! I was relieved; it would have been more unusual and a cause for concern if it had been claw. Since they were still recovering from getting fixed, I didn’t get into their mouths to figure out who it came from, but my guess is Anabel. I didn’t want to tell Mr. Man because I found it right after the cone freak-out episode but eventually, I did spill the beans because it was too interesting to keep it a secret.

In mid-October I found a second tooth. I thought that I stepped on a crumb from something (don’t judge) but it was awfully hard. I had to take a photo of it with my phone so that I could blow it up enough to be sure what it was (old eyes, what can I say). It is fascinating but sort-of gross so I’m not going to post it here. This tooth was not a canine (don’t you think that cat’s pointy teeth should be called “felines”?) but the short, jagged teeth that are behind them. It was interesting because it sort-of looked like a three-in-one tooth, there were three distinct zones on the one tooth.

One day in the beginning of November Sally was really mouthy. He was trying to chew on my arm, on anything he could get his mouth on. I went in the other room for a minute and when I came back, I found a tooth on the dining table right where he had been bothering me. Ah ha! No wonder. A few hours later I went into the office to check up on him and found another one on the floor next to where he was napping. The mouthy-ness pretty much stopped immediately, go figure.

Turns out that kittens have 26 baby teeth. With all my hunting, I only managed to collect five of 52. Good thing that they’re not worth anything or I might be feeling disappointed with my effort.

I quite proud of my collection of kitten baby teeth. I’m not sure what to do with them now, but I think I’ll hold on to them at least for a little while.

November 27, 2018November 26, 2018

Kitten Sleep Schedule

Cats sleep a lot. Like up to what, 20 hours a day, right? Not these kittens. I’m not sure they are even sleeping 16 hours a day right now. I don’t know when or why their kitten sleep schedule went berserk. What I do know is that they have many more awake hours every day to get into things. I can’t even keep up with all of the hijinks.

When they were little bitty, they would have a morning nap and an afternoon nap with short play break mid-day. They would be ready for dinner at 7pm, play for a little while, then back to bed. These days, they are usually awake from early morning until probably 3-4pm with maybe a short nap while I’m at the gym. They have their breakfast, brawl for a while, and then spend the rest of the morning being VERY interested in what I am doing. Which means that I am doing much less than I would like to be doing.

Finally, around 3pm, they will sack out for their afternoon nap. Their dinner time is supposed to be 7pm but if I can’t get them up, I won’t feed them. They might not get their dinner until 9pm or even later. This doesn’t seem to bother them as much as it bothers me.

After dinner is more play time, then they snooze with Mr. Man on the couch for a while. Sometimes they will come to bed with me, sometimes they come to bed later. At some point in the night, they will be up again prowling the house. The other night I caught them both up at 2am. Anabel was using the potty and Sally had gotten up to keep her company.

Sometimes I catch them spooning together in bed at night. I have also caught Anabel spooning on Mr. Man with her head on his pillow. It’s the kind of cuteness that just makes my heart explode.

November 13, 2018September 14, 2019

Unsolicited Kitten Advice

I met a nice woman on Nextdoor (the app where you learn just how awful most of the people in your neighborhood are) who was looking for some equipment for the new kitten she is adopting. So, I messaged her offering her some things and tipping her off about the great pet-stuff selection at Marshalls (seriously, if you are looking for cat scratchers or pet beds, go there!). She was bringing home a little 6-7 week-old kitten from a litter that someone rescued and raised until they were big enough to go to homes. So nice!

When she came by, I asked if she would mind if I gave her some unsolicited kitten advice and now, I have new kitten protocol on the brain. So, I’m sharing my top “do’s and don’ts” on bringing new kittens home with you guys to get it off my mind.

You’re welcome.

*Caveat: I am NOT a new kitten expert and none of my new kitten advice is groundbreaking info.

Keep your new kitten in a restricted space. Your new kitten doesn’t need free-range of your house and neither of you are going to be happy about it if you start off that way. Set up an area with all the things your kitten needs: food, water, litter box, bed, a few toys. My kittens liked sleeping in their travel crate when they first came home. Having it out and easy to get to was helpful when they were going to the vet every couple weeks.
Play with your kittens in their “room” and when you bring them out into the rest of the house, keep them with you. After Anabel and Sally were pooped out from playing, I would bring them out to cuddle and nap on me while I watched tv (they like watching golf).
Hold and touch your kittens a lot. Touch their paws, their tummies, their faces. Be gentle but persistent.
Keep an eye on them when the are using the box. When Anabel and Sally first came home, they couldn’t clean themselves. So, I would use a wet washcloth and give them the momma cat treatment. Clean kittens = happy kittens and happy pet parents.
You can use a wet washcloth to keep their face and paws clean too (maybe not the same one that you just used to clean their bum). Go ahead and give then a full wipe down, it’s an easy cat-bath.
Trim their nails! They will be fussy, but if you start when they are little bitty, they will quickly get used to it. Do it weekly. You will be so much happier in the long run.
People fingers are not toys. Do not play with your kitten using your fingers instead of a toy. If you do, you are teaching them that you are for pouncing, attacking, and biting. Pulling a toy mouse around by the tail = good playing. Teaching your kitten to chase your finger = bad playing.
As your kittens grow you can start expanding their “area” slowly. Even after they had free-run of the house, we still put Anabel and Sally in their room when we weren’t home and at night. Eventually they let us know that the gate we were using wasn’t fooling anyone, but it at least gave me a sense of comfort to think that they were in a controlled area when I wasn’t there to supervise their shenanigans.

I’m very excited for my neighbor and so happy for this poor kitten to have a good home. I hope that they will have many happy years together!

November 6, 2018November 6, 2018

Six -Month-Old Kittens

Anabel and Sally turned six months old yesterday! I threw a huge party with cake and a bouncy house and pony rides. Just kidding. I’m not that crazy…yet.

They were just seven weeks old when I brought them home and now, they are nearly grown up kitties, I can ‘t believe how fast the time has gone.

They were so wobbly when they first came home. Climbing into the litter box was a big challenge. These days they fly from one end of the house to the other in two or three bounds.

The internet says that a six-month-old kitten will be about half the size/weight of the cat as an adult. Yikes! Sally is already huge. We haven’t been back to the vet since they got fixed, but he is probably close to 10 pounds. Oh man, we’re in trouble!

They are still growing into their ears (and their paws). Their cat coats are coming in and they just keep getting fluffier every day. For a while there they had lost their kitten fluff and were starting to look like short haired cats. With very hairy feet. However, Anabel is pretty much all fluff these days. Sally has a beautiful plume for a tail. He is still sort-of sleek on top, but the fur on his back is getting noticeably longer and I think that once his undercoat comes in, he will be as fluffy as the best of them.

I am especially thrilled that they keep getting sweeter as they are growing up. Sally comes running when I come home from the gym and Anabel will spend hours and hours sitting on Mr. Man’s lap when he gets home from work.

Happy half-birthday my sweet fluffy loves.

October 30, 2018October 29, 2018

Ticked Tabbies and You

Mr. Man and I are firm believers that brown tabbies are the best cats (even though brown tabby is a color and not a breed and probably doesn’t really have anything to do with a cat’s “personality”). And even though our kittens are brown tabbies, their coats are very different from our previous cats.

Every cat that I have had has been a brown tabby. My childhood cat, Tailer, was a classic tabby with big swirly stripes on his sides. Our precious Emma was a perfect Mackerel tabby, she had distinct, symmetrical stripes. Clementine was a mackerel tabby with a Maine Coon style coat (she never got huge like a Maine Coon though).

Sally and Anabel both are not as distinctly striped as our previous cats. They have the classic tabby “M” on their foreheads and are clearly striped on their legs and head. As their coats are starting to come in the stripes on the sides of their bodies are developing, but if you look at them from the back, you don’t really notice their stripes at all. What you notice more, especially on Anabel is more just salt-and-peppery speckles.

Because Mr. Man and I are obsessed with our sweet kittens we spend a lot of time examining their cuteness and researching various kitten things. One evening, after an extensive conversation about their markings, I started researching. It turns out there is something called a “ticked” or agouti tabby. Ticked tabbies may not have a defined stripe pattern on their body, but each individual hair is striped. Agouti refers to the gene variation that produces the banded hair pattern. Our other cats would have a dark hair with a light tip or the other way around, but on Anabel and Sally their hairs have alternating light and dark bands all the way along (I tried to take a picture). Ah ha! We have ticked tabbies! That is much nicer than thinking that we have poorly striped tabbies.

True ticked tabbies’ coats have a sandy appearance and no noticeable stripes at all. Apparently, this is a common “color” on Abyssinians (which our kittens very clearly aren’t). I also noticed that the squirrel that startled me when I was on my way to the laundry room earlier has a ticked coat. So apparently this genetic mutation is not exclusive to cats. Just thought you’d like to know!