Carol’s Cat Chronicles

Volume 3

“Getting Acquainted”

When our kittens were delivered to us, as I discussed in Volume 2, our visitors left us with a few of their favorite toys and a bed that the kittens were familiar with.  One of the toys was a “fishin’ pole” with a feather on a string.  My first few days after their arrival were spent down on the floor, playing.  I had to get to know them and let them know their new owner and caretaker.  As I mentioned earlier, the male, Blake was five months old.  He was easy to get along with and loved to play.  Also the older female, Savannah, was amiable, not only to Blake but to me as well.  Dixie spent most of her first day here asleep in her bed.  The trip had really tired her out!  But on day two, she was ready to get up and explore her new surroundings as well. 

Being only three months, Dixie was just a little ball of fluff and captured my heart from the first second I saw her.  And being the youngest, she was sort of like a toy to the two older cats.  They pretty much had their way with her.  But it didn’t take long on that second day to see that she definitely had some spunk!  She took all that the other two could dish out, but also managed to give a little back to them.  Of course she always came out on the short end of the stick, but it did not keep her from trying!

Dixie was very interested in playing, but when she would realize that she was close to ME, she would look at me, pin her ears back and take off like a rocket to get away from me.  I have always said that she has “cartoon” legs, because whether she in on carpeting or linoleum, her little back legs seem to spin around and around like the Tasmanian Devil  before traction sets in and allows her to finally take off!  I spent countless hours laughing at her and her antics.  It was several days, maybe even weeks, before she got over that running away thing every time she realized she was physically near me.  She enjoyed the playtime we shared, but just did not want me to be in her space. 

Now, thinking about having three cats in the house before they got here was sort of scary to me.  But after they arrived, it was not that bad.  The only time I ever really noticed it was at feeding time.  Twice a day, I fixed a bowl of wet cat food for all the cats to share.  They knew from the time you opened the lid on the can that they were going to get something good, and they all gathered at my feet, meowing.  They would let me know when it was time for supper, too!  We primarily feed dry food, since we feel it is more nutritious, and they have access to that food all day long.  But the wet food was more of a treat than a meal, since the three of them were sharing only one can.  They were satisfied, nonetheless.

When kittens are moved into a new environment, you can expect that they might experience some health-related problems.  I took the three new kittens to the vet the third day they were here, and everyone checked out fine.  But after a few more days passed, I noticed that Savannah’s eyes were starting to look runny and she did a lot of sneezing.  I mentioned that we have parrots in the house, and they produce a dander that could have been irritating her.  We gave it a few days to see if it was just getting used to the new house.  But after about a week, she did not seem to be getting any better, so I took her back to the vet.  She had an upper respiratory infection, which is not uncommon in kittens anyway.  But, to make a long story short, before it was all over, all three cats had to be treated for this.  I guess that is just our luck.  This made our “getting acquainted” time that more intense, because twice a day I had to administer their medicine and apply some eye cream.  We got to know each other quite well during the course of their treatment!  Since that episode, all have been well.

If you have been following my writings, you will remember that it was my husband’s idea originally to get into the cat business. However, we both knew who would be caring for the cats from day one.  There are a number of reasons for this, but mainly I knew it would be me because I was the one most concerned with the effect these cats would have on the house.  To insure that we had no odor, I religiously cleaned the litter boxes daily.  I was amazed by how much three kittens can poop in a day’s time!  But because we use a litter that is not made out of clay, I tolerate it quite well.  It does not create such a cloud when you sift it, and really does a great job of containing the odor from the boxes.  Not having dealt with litter boxes for several years, I did at first leave the litter in the boxes too long, trying to get my money’s worth out of it.  So we eventually went from odor-free to “What is that SMELL??”  But that was my fault, not the cats’.  And now that I know just how long is not TOO long to go before dumping the whole box, we get along just fine.

Now, back to my husband…little did I know that after we purchased the ragdolls, he was still on the Internet, looking at ANOTHER breed of cat.  Darrell became fascinated by the Pixie-bob cat.  He did mention them to me and show me pictures, but I did not realize at that time that he had been making some phone calls about them as well.  When I found out that he was actually talking to Pixie-bob breeders, I about flipped out.  Now he was considering getting a breeding pair of those, too!  That would mean five cats in the house.  I was not excited. 

In Volume 4, I will be discussing the outcome of that situation.  You do not want to miss this!!