Cindy(l)and Jill(r)are the two newest inhabitants of the house. They've been here since the evening of July 13, 2009. And they're relatively new inhabitants of the Earth, being now maybe 3 and a half months or so old. Still babes in arms.
This picture was taken right after I got them. They've grown appreciably since then, as you'd imagine, by about a quarter of what they were. Still little, but growing almost before my eyes. They eat like there's no tomorrow, just like young life forms should.
Just like little kids, they provide free entertainment. It's a floor show that goes on much of the day, and night. And just like a parent, you sit and watch the "young'uns", being entertained but all the while making sure nothing gets broken.(Only my patience so far!) And as with kids, you're not unaccustomed to hearing a distant crash and then the sound of scampering feet.
And too, as the first commentator to this new blog said, with kittens as with kids, you have to "batten" the house down. Getting home from work I used to just toss my car and house keys and badge from work on the dining room table, knowing that they'd be sitting right there the next time I needed any or all of them. Now I have to put all those items in a jar on the table and make sure the lid is on there to ensure their presence next time I need them. Otherwise they're kinda wherever...
Their personalities are developing along with their bodies, and they have very distinct ones. Personalities, that is. Cindy, the short-haired cat on the left(and in the Welcome blog below)has the more placid nature. She's calmer, and is more the follower in this dynamic duo. Robin to Jill's Batman. Ethel to her Lucy.
Jill, the longer-haired feline on the right(and the close-up shot in the Welcome blog below), is the more aggresive personality. She's the incendiary. The instigator. The shit-stirrer of the two, and usually finds herself at the heart of the matter. Fecal matter that is. Two examples in the short time I've had these two:
Right before getting the kitties and just prior to Maxine's demise, I had a rat problem. Very brief, Lester(my dog if you haven't read any further in here)ended up getting him, but anyway I had an assortment of glue-boards and traps in the kitchen and dining room. The day before I got my kittens I threw away all the rodent-catching paraphernalia which could prove harmful to kittens- especially the traps of course. I thought I'd gotten them all.
Wrong. There was a glue board I'd had under a lawn mower in the kitchen- the one trap I missed-and the cats had dug it out from underneath. Jill was completely stuck, mired, impaled on it. This was a horrific sight to behold, like something from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, seeing her stuck in that goo like some bizarre mutation that's going to emerge as an automaton from outer space(and then try to convert her sister: "sleep, Cindy- sleeeep. It's goooood.."). I somehow got her extricated from all this mess and then off to the Animal Hospital, where they got off maybe 95% of it.
At this point you can't tell anything like that had ever happened, but she was quite a sight for awhile there. Jill Emergency #2 happened a couple weeks ago, when a friend from work and her daughter came over to see the kittens. After they left, we all three noticed Jill missing. Cindy was running around the house and Lester had me let him out back to search for her. I finally found her under the front porch and was able to get her out. This after an hour of looking, including under that porch.
So that told me maybe this will be a pattern. Just today they were in the bathroom and I heard a PLOOSH! sound and then saw two kittens scurrying from the scene with one of them shaking off the water that'd gotten on her. Gee, which one do you think that was?
It's definitely been an adjustment. As I said, I have to "batten" down the house and close the door when I eat and sleep(and bathe, lest I get another PLOOSH! experience), and in the midst of their play I've been bitten and scratched more times than I want to recall- many band-aids for awhile. But the good outweighs the bad by a long shot. Mainly, we all like each other. Just tonight I was laying on the couch after dinner watching a movie(Secret Life of Bees- pretty good flick)and had both Jill and Cindy lying on me purring away, and I was enjoying both the show and the loving animal companionship and thought to myself, "Huh, my life doesn't really suck that bad".
This picture was taken right after I got them. They've grown appreciably since then, as you'd imagine, by about a quarter of what they were. Still little, but growing almost before my eyes. They eat like there's no tomorrow, just like young life forms should.
Just like little kids, they provide free entertainment. It's a floor show that goes on much of the day, and night. And just like a parent, you sit and watch the "young'uns", being entertained but all the while making sure nothing gets broken.(Only my patience so far!) And as with kids, you're not unaccustomed to hearing a distant crash and then the sound of scampering feet.
And too, as the first commentator to this new blog said, with kittens as with kids, you have to "batten" the house down. Getting home from work I used to just toss my car and house keys and badge from work on the dining room table, knowing that they'd be sitting right there the next time I needed any or all of them. Now I have to put all those items in a jar on the table and make sure the lid is on there to ensure their presence next time I need them. Otherwise they're kinda wherever...
Their personalities are developing along with their bodies, and they have very distinct ones. Personalities, that is. Cindy, the short-haired cat on the left(and in the Welcome blog below)has the more placid nature. She's calmer, and is more the follower in this dynamic duo. Robin to Jill's Batman. Ethel to her Lucy.
Jill, the longer-haired feline on the right(and the close-up shot in the Welcome blog below), is the more aggresive personality. She's the incendiary. The instigator. The shit-stirrer of the two, and usually finds herself at the heart of the matter. Fecal matter that is. Two examples in the short time I've had these two:
Right before getting the kitties and just prior to Maxine's demise, I had a rat problem. Very brief, Lester(my dog if you haven't read any further in here)ended up getting him, but anyway I had an assortment of glue-boards and traps in the kitchen and dining room. The day before I got my kittens I threw away all the rodent-catching paraphernalia which could prove harmful to kittens- especially the traps of course. I thought I'd gotten them all.
Wrong. There was a glue board I'd had under a lawn mower in the kitchen- the one trap I missed-and the cats had dug it out from underneath. Jill was completely stuck, mired, impaled on it. This was a horrific sight to behold, like something from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, seeing her stuck in that goo like some bizarre mutation that's going to emerge as an automaton from outer space(and then try to convert her sister: "sleep, Cindy- sleeeep. It's goooood.."). I somehow got her extricated from all this mess and then off to the Animal Hospital, where they got off maybe 95% of it.
At this point you can't tell anything like that had ever happened, but she was quite a sight for awhile there. Jill Emergency #2 happened a couple weeks ago, when a friend from work and her daughter came over to see the kittens. After they left, we all three noticed Jill missing. Cindy was running around the house and Lester had me let him out back to search for her. I finally found her under the front porch and was able to get her out. This after an hour of looking, including under that porch.
So that told me maybe this will be a pattern. Just today they were in the bathroom and I heard a PLOOSH! sound and then saw two kittens scurrying from the scene with one of them shaking off the water that'd gotten on her. Gee, which one do you think that was?
It's definitely been an adjustment. As I said, I have to "batten" down the house and close the door when I eat and sleep(and bathe, lest I get another PLOOSH! experience), and in the midst of their play I've been bitten and scratched more times than I want to recall- many band-aids for awhile. But the good outweighs the bad by a long shot. Mainly, we all like each other. Just tonight I was laying on the couch after dinner watching a movie(Secret Life of Bees- pretty good flick)and had both Jill and Cindy lying on me purring away, and I was enjoying both the show and the loving animal companionship and thought to myself, "Huh, my life doesn't really suck that bad".
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