Good things are meant to be...
Apr. 24th, 2013 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnpalmerSo, when I had a two week wait on my start date, I immediately thought of one thing: kittens!
I don't like leaving kittens alone all day. I like to have contact with them a lot during the first couple weeks. I want to make sure they know exactly where the scratching post and litter box are, and I want to be sure I'm aware of potential problems (like computer cords! I hadn't thought of that!).
That Friday, when everything was set, there were no kittens to be found.
That Saturday, there was one six month old - I'd almost chosen him, and would have if there'd been another. But for kittens especially, I want a pair.
But they said there were more coming in the next day - they were getting neutered and spayed Saturday. Sunday morning, I found two adorable grey tabbies... littermates, so a lot of socialization issues are taken care of (they're not as likely to decide they hate each other). And the volunteers told me that two boy kitties were typically okay, as were boy and girl, but two girls was possibly asking for trouble.
True? Not true? I know the odds are better for littermates in any case... and even if toms are normally in need of settling dominance, they were fixed at just over two months - no tom behavior was likely.
I brought them home to a single room. I'd never thought of this until the volunteers brought it up, but it made sense. I'd had lots of friends have vanishing kitty syndrome, where a kitten left alone in a big house finds hiding places. So I brought them to a single room so there's no big, scary huge house for them to panic about... and they soon started playing. I left them alone some, and played with them some, but kept them in that room.
That night, I moved them, food, and one litter box to my bedroom. This was a mixture of "good idea/bad idea". Sleeping with new kittens is awesome... except for the "sleeping" part!
Still, I did get some sleep, and woke up once to find one kitten nestled on top of me, and the other curled up at my hand. I took that as preliminary approval of me as an appropriate Cat Person.
Next day, I took them back to "their" room, but after another hour, I opened the door. They started exploring, and now, well, you know cats... now they're declaring the house theirs, but figuring there's *plenty* of house to share with that strange beast with peculiar habits, too few feet, and not enough fur - but a warm body, cuddly hands (when they don't turn into the Evil Hand Monster), and opposable thumbs for operating can openers (or can pulltabs), laser pointers, and other wonderful things.
They're learning to deal with linoleum - I'm pretty impressed! - as well as carpet, deciding which cat toys meet with approval, and which are less fun than boxes and clutter. And I'm learning to be a bit more carefully organized, because cats don't know the difference between "desk" and "folder/book overhanging the edge of the desk".
I've realized I want to rearrange my computer stuff - one poor kitty got hooked by a speaker wire and went into panic mode - she didn't *want* my help, but once I got her untangled, she accepted a cuddle. But I'm really glad I was there - I don't know if she could have hurt herself or not, but she could have been royally freaked out for an extended time if I hadn't.
My house has been catless for far too long; I'm glad that's changing.
I don't like leaving kittens alone all day. I like to have contact with them a lot during the first couple weeks. I want to make sure they know exactly where the scratching post and litter box are, and I want to be sure I'm aware of potential problems (like computer cords! I hadn't thought of that!).
That Friday, when everything was set, there were no kittens to be found.
That Saturday, there was one six month old - I'd almost chosen him, and would have if there'd been another. But for kittens especially, I want a pair.
But they said there were more coming in the next day - they were getting neutered and spayed Saturday. Sunday morning, I found two adorable grey tabbies... littermates, so a lot of socialization issues are taken care of (they're not as likely to decide they hate each other). And the volunteers told me that two boy kitties were typically okay, as were boy and girl, but two girls was possibly asking for trouble.
True? Not true? I know the odds are better for littermates in any case... and even if toms are normally in need of settling dominance, they were fixed at just over two months - no tom behavior was likely.
I brought them home to a single room. I'd never thought of this until the volunteers brought it up, but it made sense. I'd had lots of friends have vanishing kitty syndrome, where a kitten left alone in a big house finds hiding places. So I brought them to a single room so there's no big, scary huge house for them to panic about... and they soon started playing. I left them alone some, and played with them some, but kept them in that room.
That night, I moved them, food, and one litter box to my bedroom. This was a mixture of "good idea/bad idea". Sleeping with new kittens is awesome... except for the "sleeping" part!
Still, I did get some sleep, and woke up once to find one kitten nestled on top of me, and the other curled up at my hand. I took that as preliminary approval of me as an appropriate Cat Person.
Next day, I took them back to "their" room, but after another hour, I opened the door. They started exploring, and now, well, you know cats... now they're declaring the house theirs, but figuring there's *plenty* of house to share with that strange beast with peculiar habits, too few feet, and not enough fur - but a warm body, cuddly hands (when they don't turn into the Evil Hand Monster), and opposable thumbs for operating can openers (or can pulltabs), laser pointers, and other wonderful things.
They're learning to deal with linoleum - I'm pretty impressed! - as well as carpet, deciding which cat toys meet with approval, and which are less fun than boxes and clutter. And I'm learning to be a bit more carefully organized, because cats don't know the difference between "desk" and "folder/book overhanging the edge of the desk".
I've realized I want to rearrange my computer stuff - one poor kitty got hooked by a speaker wire and went into panic mode - she didn't *want* my help, but once I got her untangled, she accepted a cuddle. But I'm really glad I was there - I don't know if she could have hurt herself or not, but she could have been royally freaked out for an extended time if I hadn't.
My house has been catless for far too long; I'm glad that's changing.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 11:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-25 06:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 08:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 09:32 pm (UTC)Names???
no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 09:58 pm (UTC)I'm either going to wait for them to teach me their names, or try to find a good pair-name scheme. (If they turn into troublemakers, I might have to name them Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, especially for the "now which was which cat?" bit - but I don't think they're the criminal type.)
no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 10:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-25 03:03 am (UTC)She also points out that you should be CAREFUL with the names.
Elsa thought she was a lioness. Loki lived up to her name. Rosalie tends to get misplaced (like the literary turtle she was named after). Naming the black cat after Lamont Cranston was certainly a mistake...
And since Mehitabel moved into the house, I have killed several large cockroaches. Archie is obviously trying to find her.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-25 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-27 02:39 am (UTC)