New Babies!

Fur babies, that is!! Yes, a few of you guessed correctly.... we have two new kitty additions.  We spent the entire day Saturday driving between two cities' animal shelters, trying to adopt two kittens.  This is not as simple as back in the day..... they do a background check, verify your residence (home owner or renter?), take down the name of the vet you intend to use, and give you a quiz (!).  And, they would not let me take anything home without my husband's approval.  He was in Alcatraz that day (as a tourist, silly!!), a continent away in San Francisco.  Luckily he got the message and gave his okay.

We got them home and had a little panic.... the male (the orange one) kept biting my son... hard!  He (my son) was in tears, since that was what he thought of as "his" cat.  I talked with my mom and my husband, and I decided that I would return him the next day (the cat, not the husband).  The shelter was open on Sunday, so I called.  And called.  And called.  For whatever reason, no one picked up, and it did not roll to their answering machine.  (My husband, ever the conspiracy theorist, says they probably use caller ID and make sure no recent adopters can get through, in case they have simple "adopter's remorse".)  I didn't want to just show up with him, but he continued to bite and claw and terrorize the other kitten.  We decided to wait until Monday.  In the mean time, I did some research on the web about this behavior.

Now, I've had cats before.  "Training a cat" is a laughable phrase.  I mean seriously - my two tortie girls may have trained ME, but I never trained them to do a thing, as much as I tried.  But I found a method to stop kittens from biting, and you know what?  It worked.  (Just a matter of giving a loud shout when he bites, then pausing and not playing with him for a couple of seconds.  Repeat as necessary.)  Within a couple of tries, he was really starting to get it.  So I had to think.... things happen for a reason.  He is now an absolute sweetheart.

So, here is Marney.....

He has big floppy ears (well, for a cat.... he looks like a little Yoda most of the time), he likes to talk all the while he, um... uses the litter box, and he is the biggest snuggler you'd ever want to meet.  He likes to play hard, but his sister is setting limits for him.  He and my son are figuring out how to play together, then have a good snuggle.

This little girl is Smokey.....

She is a princess - very delicate, pretty, sweet..... but growls her little ears off at her rambunctious brother.  She was quite timid at first, but is learning to play like a tomboy.  She purrs so loudly you'd think she was a lion, and she does it with the slightest little pat to the head.  I was told she was rescued from a storm drain and bottle fed until she could hold her own at the shelter.  My daughter and I are in great debate over her name.... she (the cat, not my daughter) is black and gray.  My daughter likes "Smokey", but I like "Stormy."  (My daughter doesn't like Stormy because it's the name of our NHL team's mascot, which is a hog, LOL!).  I have a feeling my daughter will prevail. :)

I forgot how busy kittens keep you, and how everything on every surface (and I mean everything) that isn't nailed down ends up on the floor.  Ahhhhh, babies!

One last pic:

BTW, if you are looking for the CHF Week #3 Blog Hop, please see my previous post.  The hop is ongoing through Thursday, so you still have time to get in on a chance for some wonderful prizes.  Happy Crafting!