Richard's Visitors

Richard has calmed down considerably. It seems he just needed a couple days to adjust to new surroundings and has shed most of his scardy-catness. He's still a bit suspicious of new people, but warms up quickly.

Today he hid from the cable internet repairman who was checking equipment in the cat room, but only for a few minutes. When family descended he started to run from the first person, but we shook the treat container and he came right out and stayed out. He was fine as the rest of the family showed up and they all came in to see him.

He likes people in the room. He likes attention but he's content to just lay on the sofa or the table behind it as long as people are in the room. If we aren't he's usually by the door of the room waiting for us, howling from time to time.

He spends a lot of time laying on the table next to the window. Today he had a visitor looking back in at him!

Richard Arrives

It was starting to look like we'd be cat-free for Thanksgiving, but nope! Richard came to visit us for the next week and a half.

He's a big cat at 12 lbs, and he's simply large, not round. He's 5 years old, has a cold, and has conjunctivitis in both eyes. This means he has crusting around his eyes and gets goop in his eyes along with the dual meds for the URI.

We also may have some behavioral work to do with him. He came out of his crate straight under the bed and stayed there for a couple hours until we pulled him out. He calmed down as he held him, but if either of us stood up or moved he was back under the bed.

It's now been about 10 hours since we brought him home. He is out from under the bed and in fact sits at the door and howls if we aren't in the cat room. When we come to the door he still skitters backwards and is very nervous as long as we are standing up. The sofa seems to be a "safe place", though, and he happily takes petting there and will head-bump you very solidly. If someone appears at the door or walks in he still hunkers down and debates fleeing. He is calmer if we are sitting, either on the sofa or the floor.

We'll see if he just needs time to adjust to a new place, to new people, or if we need to actively work with him about his being a scaredy cat. We'll have guests over Thanksgiving, so we'll get to see how he does with new people and how long it takes him to warm up to new people.

The first picture I took when he was hiding behind the sofa. The second he was out and about. I think he used to be fed off a saucer, though--I carry the medicine into the cat room on a saucer and he charged over and jumped up trying to see what was on it. Very unexpected given his other behavior, but hopeful.

I think the medicine was a letdown from what he wanted, but he took his meds in a very civilized manner.

Boo & Simba - Available!

Boo and Simba are back at the humane society, ready for adoption. We can give these two our whole-hearted approval. They are wonderful, well raised cats.

They get along wonderfully and would be a good choice for someone looking for two cats. No worry about potential incompatibilities. They are people-cats, and are friendly with strangers. The mild spookiness to noise I mentioned early on disappeared after a couple days; they just had to adjust to the house-noises and they were fine.

They are fine with being picked up. Some people (including Kat) think this is a vital thing to teach cats. These purr in your arms.

I highly suggest you own a laser pointer and be willing to use it with these cats. They will play with each other, but human involvement is needed to make sure they get their exercise (and they will whine until you play with them).

Also, you must have a house where cats being up is not a problem. Simba will find a way up, and Boo can get there if he wants to. They will be up. They also currently knock stuff down, but that may fade as they get older and more graceful (no promises!)

In short--a great pair of compatible very friendly people kittens who should grow into delightful cats. Available now!

Boo and Simba & Mr. Dot

This is evening for Boo and Simba with us. They are doing just fine, and are full of energy. We ran the laser pointer around to give them some exercise and wear them out a bit!

As you can see, Mr. Dot spends some time on the ceiling. They pace it around the room. It also lives in the cat tree, and Boo especially is convinced he can find Mr. Dot when he goes "home".

Boo & Simba pictures

(please excuse the mess on the floor. As they like to jump up places...they also knock things down from places.)

Boo and Simba - massive update

Boo & Simba finished their sequence of meds yesterday. Usually they'd have been back at the shelter then, but because of scheduling difficulties we have them until Saturday. Their eyes are clear, their nose is clear, and we are all glad to be done with the nasty tasting medicine.

We're not sorry. These guys are really sweet and excellent cats. Whoever raised them as young kittens did a very good job.

We had a lot of people over Thursday night and Sunday and there were many comments about how friendly the cats were. Boo just walks up and flops on the ground belly up for petting. Simba comes over and just purrs.

They get along very well. The short time when Boo was feeling better and Simba wasn't was touchy, as Boo would try to play and Simba wasn't interested. Now that both are feeling better they do play with each other from time to time. They also lay on laps together (and walk over each other on laps) and often eat at the same time.

They are very malleable. We pick them up, flip them over, they mostly don't care. Just purr away that we're holding them. There has been questions if Boo has bones as he rolls over on someone's lap and half falls off, and doesn't care.

Simba has taken to sitting between Jon's arms while he works on the computer. He actually just lays there, so it works out well.

Mr. Dot (the laser pointer) continues to have much interest. They will chase him longer than we are willing to run him. They show no interest in balls or the dangly toys. They sometimes poke at toys in a box, but not usually if there are people around. We just find it drug around the room in the morning.

Simba likes heights. He is often in the window or the upper bunk. Boo is less entranced by heights, but has an impressive jump if he wants to.

That's the current situation. One more post coming, with pictures.

We're Back!

Sorry for the long delay. Combination of technical and social issues that resulted in lack of posting. I will not go into details, since I doubt most folks care, but I think we're back. No video capability still, but text & still pictures.

Smarts, non-smarts, and teeth

So, Simba seems to be a fairly smart cat.

The laser pointer, aka Mr. Dot "lives" in the cat tree. It always starts from there and ends there. Both kittens enjoy chasing Mr. Dot.

Yesterday Simba started standing by the hole in the cat tree and howling, then looking at us, then howling. Mr. Dot came out to play.

On the other hand, this is the same kitten who seems to think he can outrun the bad taste in his mouth. I give him his meds and he takes off at full speed around the room. Every time.

Yesterday morning we found what we thought was a blood spot on Boo's back. We could find no wound on him or Simba and neither seemed injured or in discomfort. Talking to the Humane Society lab we think what happened was Simba lost a baby tooth, possibly when either licking or wrestling with Boo. They are the right age for it.

Their eyes are clearing up. Their purrs are also getting less rough as their lungs clear. They purr a lot so this has been easy to follow!

These two are people-cats!

Boo and Simba arrive!

Two new fosters! Six month old kittens--we are not sure if they are littermates or not, the society just said they were friends.

As with most of our fosters, they have a cold. There is also a bit of discharge from the eyes, but not too bad. No separate treatment for the eyes--just the usual dual medications for the URI.

Simba is the small orange kitten. Boo is the larger white one.

Observations so far? They are very soft. They are quite playful. They are skittish about noises--opening the door to the cat room has them backing up and when I came home the front door sent them under the bed. They like people. Boo likes his belly rubbed. Both are amenable to being picked up.

We clipped Simba's nails. Boo's were already clipped, but Simba's were quite sharp. We noticed he stopped trying to scratch everything once they were clipped as well. This is a common change.

Very sweet kittens so far. The next week should be fun.