Kitten wars: Babies finding homes

22 Nov 2016 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars Tags: , , , , ,

About 7 weeks ago, the feral mama kitty that I’ve been feeding, decided to introduce me to her babies. They were precious balls of fluff whose eyes were not even open. Over the next couple of weeks, I slowly introduced my son and myself into their lives. There was Shadow, the solid black with black stripes, Precious Cream Puff, a Siamese bobtail, Tony the Tigger cat of the ultra soft paws, and Miss Hiss the dark calico. Tony was the first one I touched because he literally rolled into the parking lot. Then I met Precious Cream Puff who fell 12 feet off the platform where Mama Kitty left them and didn’t get hurt. My son raced down to rescue him. Shadow was curious about these overly large hairless cats so he came over to inspect us. Last there was Miss Hiss. She earned her name because she was literally a tiny ball of runty hissing. We overruled her hissing to pick her up and love on her. She fell in love with my son and would fall asleep in his arms. He had never been around an entire litter of kittens before and fell in love.

Precious Boy was the first one to start purring followed quickly by Shadow. After a few days, they would race out purring to greet us whenever we would go to see them. Mama kitty kept her distance, watching us, but didn’t move them. After a couple of weeks, she decided to take them for a walk through the parking lot. That was when we intervened. I just couldn’t  have them walking through the busy apartment parking lot. So, we took the kittens inside, but Mama Kitty refused to join us even though she demanded to be fed each morning.

We put the kittens in my son’s walk-in closet to keep them safe and fed them with kitten wean, kitten chow, and all good things kitten. Now these precious babies are going out to good homes. Shadow and Precious Cream Puff will go out this week. We are keeping Miss Hiss. I don’t think that my son will ever part with her. Their bond is solid. I’m hoping to find Tony the Tigger a good home soon. He is the sweetest of the bunch with his very soft paws.

 

Kitten Wars 2/15/15: Perfume is in the Nose of the Beholder ….

17 Feb 2015 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars, reflections Tags: , , , , , , ,

Kitten Wars 2/15/15

Well, Teeny has been in one of her more affectionate heats of late. Alex and I have been going around removing anything that might possibly smell of us so the she doesn’t follow along and “scent” it up with that lovely (not so) perfume of hers. Evidently, after our walk, Buddy came back smelling a bit too much of me. Now I freely admit that I gave him a big hug and good pet after being such a wonderful dog, but I surely did not intend for the cat to determine that the dog was now free game. Doing the creepy crouch heat walk of hers, she made her way over to where he lay watching her with one eye. She sniffed the air daintily then promptly turned her rump towards him and perfumed his nose up properly. You’ve never seen a dog rise in such horrified confusion as poor Buddy did. He tried racing around the kitchen, running into the walls as tears welled up in his eyes. Finally, he ran over to where I was on the couch and started shoving his nose under all the cushions trying to get rid of it that way. Meanwhile, Teeny lifted her head up, looked over at us with enormous eyes and blinked as if not realizing just quite what she had done.

Needless to say, the dog got a good bathing of his nose. He has been keeping his distance from her rear ever since. Its kinda cute, he’s upset with her so he will do a quick pounce-bark at her, then remember what she did and run away.

Kitty Love and Ownership Kitten Wars 1/28/15

28 Jan 2015 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars Tags: , , , , , ,

Kitty love as declared by Teeny:
Perch halfway on the couch back with front paws on my human’s shoulder.
Purr LOUDLY into my human’s ear.
Avidly watch the computer while head bumping my human.
Purr LOUDER to remind her that hands need to be petting the CAT.
Dig claws in whenever she moves her shoulder the slightest bit forward.
Purr loudly and head bump harder.
Stare deeply into my human’s eyes reminding her who is in charge.
Nod at her, then rest my head on my paws which are still on her shoulder.

A Little Cat’s Music Kitten Wars at Peace time 8/23/14

23 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars, reflections Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

While writing “Songbird” I listened to “Phantom of the Opera” and other musicals that Andrew Lloyd Webber composed to get into the mood. While I frequently listen to all sorts of music, my cats usually ignore me and the computer. Until I put on Webber, overall, my computer was generally left alone, too. Little did I know that “Phantom” must be Teeny’s favorite music. I was singing along with “Think of Me” while I was composing the story on the keyboard when she leaped into my lap. Now most cat owners will think nothing of this, but keep in mind that Teeny is an affectionate in her own time kinda lady. She will talk to you, tell you she’s hungry, and knead on your shoulders on the couch, but getting into your lap is not her favorite thing. When she wants affection, she will call to you for you to come over to where ever she is poised ready for her scritch. SO for her to leap into my lap was very unusual.

Once in my lap, she started purring loudly, head bumping me, and kneading my legs as if she couldn’t decide which was the most important thing to do. At this point, I did a very silly thing. I STOPPED singing. Her head popped up. She put her face up to mine and took her paw to my lips where she proceeded to try to open them as if by that I would start singing once more. So, taking her clue, I started singing again. Once more the purring, the kneading, and the head bumping began. When the you tube vid was over, Teeny stared at the computer screen and very ladylike put her paw on the screen, then turned back to me with a look of “Make it happen! It can’t be over” So, I ran that video and sang for her that day. Can’t tell you how many times I sang just for my cat, but finally she dropped down off my lap. Supremely happy with herself, she walked over to Buddy, who was sleeping, and half-heartedly hissed at him telling him how stupid he was for sleeping while she and I had been communing.

Kitten Wars 8/17/14

17 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars Tags: , , , , , ,

Sometimes this human is just a slow learner, evidently. Under the mistaken notion that if I left a costuming project on the table that the cats would leave it alone, I did just that. Teeny decided to educate me on that idea by making it her new “kitty nest”. Coated in fresh long haired cat fur, I decided that the linen had to be washed before I could return to my project. I’m guessing that was the wrong idea. As I began gathering up 10+ yards of fabric for the washer, Teeny hopped up on the table and plopped down in the middle of the fabric daring me to move it. Until this point, Teeny has been fluent in human and English, but when I told her “down” and “off the fabric” she decided that she no longer understood those words and glared at me. When I moved my hands in to pick up the fabric and pull it, to quietly physically urge her off, she placed her paw on my hand and narrowed her eyes. We spoke about this one cat to human and human to cat. Being the determined human that I am, I finally picked her up and put her back on the floor then swiftly grabbed up a few yards before she bounced back onto the table where we began again. This time I didn’t bother with telling her “Off”, I just picked her up and put her on the floor. Nonchalantly she turned her head over her shoulder and did an annoyed but non-threatening hiss at me before raising her royal head as high as it could go with her tail straight up as she walked out of the room. Human:1, Cat:0. I’m sure she gets points for nerve and presentation.

Kitten Wars

14 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars Tags: , , , , , ,

Well the battle grounds have moved from the living room to my bedroom once more. While it was once a war, we are living in a strange glow of peace for now. Where once Cleo ruled supreme as queen of the quilted comforter, I am finding more and more that Teeny has decided that her daytime rest area and night time haunt happen to be my bed. I have found where she has arranged my covers to suit her over and over again. Of late I am now finding a cat occupying that place and not the fluffy tail of the one who would slink away. She has become much bolder as she knows us all. Cleo does not seem to mind being usurped as she has been making it a habit to curl up next to Teeny while they clean each other. Buddy feels quite neglected by all this because he has known from a very early age that DOGS are NOT allowed on the bed. Being the mostly rule abiding canine that he is, he puts his head on his paws and sighs when they start up with the girly cat-ness that they are.

Kitten Wars 8/3/14

03 Aug 2014 Leave a comment

by Quietude's Junction in journal, Kitten Wars Tags: , , , , , ,

Teeny is in heat. Any cat lover out there knows that each female cat has her own version of heat. While Cleo tells you about hers vocally and loudly in the middle of the night, Teeny is fairly quiet with purrrupping and bumping galore. While she is very receptive to human interactions (PET ME NOW, HUMAN) as she bumps her head into us, she is NOT receptive to dog interactions what-so-ever.

Poor Buddy was sound asleep on his bed this morning when Teeny went to bump into me. She was bumping my legs so forcefully and constantly that I was tripping over her. Evidently, she wasn’t looking where she was bumping and when I stepped by Buddy, she bumped him instead of me. In utter shock that the dog made contact with THE CAT, Teeny bounced back and hissed fairly loudly at him waking him up. As he opened his eyes very slowly from his deep slumber, Buddy got an eye full of angry cat telling him just how wrong he was for letting her bump into him.

In true dog fashion, Buddy lifted his head, looked at me, then put it back on his bed, covering it with his paws as Teeny flounced away. Its hard being the only male pet in this house sometimes and a dog at that.