Tuesday, June 22, 2010

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!

19 comments:

Linda Ledbetter said...

They are SO adorable! Is there anything in the world cuter than a kitten? (No! There's not!).

I hope you, Marney, Smokey/Stormy and the rest of your family have a long and happy life together. Congratulations!!!

Zoechaos said...

Oh they are sooo adorable remind me of Minx and Pounce a couple of years ago. Its such a joy to have young cats around and all the scraps they can get into. Have fun LOL

Hearts Turned said...

Your babies are so sweet, Jean! Glad you got the biting thing worked out!

Have fun!

Julie

Andi (RrlScrapGal) said...

Super cute kitties!!! My daughter usually tames one wild kitty each summer (found on our ranch) we currently have three outdoor kitties 2 found as kittens - my daughter is the kitty tamer.

Erika said...

Marney looks like a baby verison of my cat Leo and sounds he's got Leo's personality. Leo is one smart cat and I have been able to "train" him in a few things. One thing that works well for me when he tries to bite my other cat or scratch on the furniture is to spray him with a little bit of water out of a spray bottle, he caught on really fast. All I have to do it shake a bottle of some liquid (like a water bottle) and he stops. Now if Marney grows to be 20 pounds and NOT overweight, you might have my cat's clone.

Kristine Reynolds said...

Oh Jean...they are adorable. I'm glad your son's cat is behaving now!

Robin Kirkpatrick said...

SO cute! Loves me some little kitties! Our two youngest are sisters and weighed a pound each when we got them. They are now 6 years old and weigh 18-20 pounds...but still act like kittens much of the time. Congrats and have lots of fun with them!

the gypsy magpie said...

Oh my gosh- are you in love with those little cuties? HOW adorable they are. So happy that your little boy (kitten) has stopped biting your little boy (son). What buddies they will be.

Willy's creations said...

Ohh so sweet I like cats too...special the red one....

Hugs,Willy

Lynn Stevens said...

Oh what sweet fur babies! Who would have thought you could train a cat with a loud shout. (I wonder if it would work for my hubby) LOL
Enjoy all your kitten play time, they grow up so fast.

Unknown said...

Hi Jean,
Your little kitty's are adorable, My two cats are getting so old they are 14 & 12 years old they just sleep most of the time, I forget how playful little kitty's can be! Just seeing yours broght a big smile to my face!

~Linda

Lynne Moncrieff said...

Okay, I guessed incorrectly!!! Adorable to say the very least. I am sure they will give your family hours of entertainment and a lifetime of love. Lynne M x

Create With Joy said...

Oh my word, your new babies are just the SWEETEST CUTEST THINGS! PLEASE post frequent pics and lots of updates (and shhh, don't tell my furbabies, they are a jealous lot!)

Hugs
Ramona
http://create-with-joy.blogspot.com

Ellen said...

oh how cute , i used to have a ginger one but it had to go back to the shelter as it was very ill .
I so want another one. what a little monkey to be biting.
I giggled away about your hubbies suggestion that they didn't want him back.
I bet you're watching them for hours

Lydia Fiedler said...

The kittehs are beautiful!! And they can be trained! When mine were babies, I held their feet and played with their toes constantly - now I can trim their nails even when they're napping. Best thing I ever did!!

Unknown said...

Now this post is just too cute and I have never had any problems with my kitten (she is 6 now and copletely ginger like yr tom) isn't the Internet amazing ha ha I like stormy too but if it's the name of a local piggy (although I like pigs, very cleaver!) I think smokey will win (can't you put her off smokey it remnds me of smelly cigerettes!)Can you tell I have taken a side and trying to help out with ideas. Still think she will be smokey (how about cloud!) unusual and no piggy or smelly ciggys ha ha they sound just wonderful and I am sure many years of fun ahead

Love Dawn xx

cherry said...

This is close to my heart...they are adorable. That is also how we adopted our two cats and our dog. cherry

Birgit said...

Oh your new kittens are adorable!! I'm so glad to hear that the biting has stopped. We got two sibling kittens and they are absolutely the loves of our lives along with our 11 year old dog. They all get along fantastically.
Enjoy them.
Birgit

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Oh my gosh, Jean! The kittens are adorable, especially “Smokey.” I just recently looked into adopting from rescue centers, so I know what you mean about the background check. I think I’ve been ruled out because the kitten would be home alone too long during the work days (in their opinion). When I’m ready to adopt, I’ll have to do it the real old fashion way and get a kitten from an ad in the paper/online.

And contrary to what people think, cats can be trained. It takes a little work, and they will never be trainable like dogs. But that’s part of their allure, isn’t it? I like their independent spirit. :-)

Good luck with the wonderful additions to your family!