I spent most of the weekend on housework. I moved the
sandbox out of the bedroom into the bathroom and vacuumed the whole flat – on
top of the normal chores.
Mewthos still does his twirly thing with an item of my
clothing and the Mips now consider my paper waste bin their toy. I’ve had to
move it to my left, so they don’t end up in my PC wiring when they topple it
over to climb in and take every item out – one by one.
Whereas Rose used to come up to visit me, I now go
down to visit her – and the Mips immediately extend their territory to include
her flat! So much so that they feel entitled to growl at Rose’s cats,
preventing them from coming into their own home! At one point Mewthos got quite
prissy with me – making some threatening/unhappy noises indicating he considers
it his right to keep Rose’s cats out.
They explored her kitchen, lounge and bathroom
extensively, entertaining us with their antics. Mewthos has discovered how
lovely and snug he can curl up on the side of Rose’s couch and Lady Jane likes
to sit next to Rose’s chair, peeking over her ‘foot stool’.
I stopped by the vet’s on Monday for another can of
flea spray for the floor and saw the funniest little cat toy: it’s one of those
wobbly things with a round bottom and pink feathers sticking out the top. And
when you switch it on, every touch makes it chirp like a little birdie! Both
Mips are absolutely crazy about it – they love it! I let them play with it for
some time, then pack it away again – I don’t want all the feathers stripped too
soon.
I’ve noticed that they Mips have a rule when they play
with any ‘catch’ thing – whether it’s on a wand or the birdie peep thing: If
any ONE Mip has definite hold of the toy, it’s his/hers. No touching or
interfering from the other. Neither ever attempts to take any ‘prey’ from the
other. Lady Jane will run from one hidey hole to the other with her ‘prey’ but
never growl. Mewthos, however, will sit down with it in a corner and growl.
Whether any one is near him or whether he is left completely alone – he’ll
growl. Lady Jane has never growled. Nor Earl. Only Mewthos and Quizzy Lizzy are
growlers.
I also got some Nibbles for them as treats, salmon
flavoured … only: none of them like them! The catnip, however, is a great
success! It works like a charm on Ziva! Yeah, that’s right: me, a sober
alcoholic, resorting to drugging my cat! Well, not quite as badly as it sounds –
I just rub it on one toy and let her play with it. I do that when she comes in
after dark – because otherwise she insists on going out again and she is
really, really, really annoying when she wants to go out.
Mewthos is learning that from Ziva! When he wants
attention he mewls and makes as much of a nuisance of himself as his mommy! He
and Lady Jane play very well together though, I’m happy to say. They are very
different personalities, but they are family. She initiates the team
activities, mostly, whether it’s play or cuddle or grooming. He tends to stick
either to me or Ziva. It will be interesting to see how these relationships
develop when they reach their adult size – Mewthos is promising to grow quite
large, whereas Lady Jane is definitely a lot smaller. Mewthos is nearly the
same size as Ziva, already! He will most likely grow larger than Ziva.
Oh, and Lady Jane is booked for her tummy-shave on
Monday. They’ll be five months old on Sunday, and I definitely do NOT want to
risk Lady Jane getting pregnant. So Monday she gets spayed! Her sister is
booked for Tuesday, I’m told – the boys get an extra month before it’s their
turn. If they’re done too soon, they could suffer problems later. I won’t go
into the details – anyone can look it up for themselves. There’s a lot of
controversial information out there regarding spaying / neutering, and at what
age. Some people insist that a female should be allowed one pregnancy – but that’s
anthropomorphizing them. They are NOT furry humans, they are cats. They have no
emotional need to go through pregnancy, birth and rearing. Just read all I
wrote about Ziva! The only good thing to come out of this entire pregnancy for
her is the drive, early in her pregnancy, to find a safe home – mine. The whole
rest of it was very stressful for her – she had no clue what to do with them,
apart from the bare essentials. Only since the Mips no longer need her
full-time attention has Ziva come into her own, picked up some weight, her fur
has softened and she is more relaxed. You think I should put Lady Jane through
that? And what about her kittens? Should I just let them grow to a certain age
and then drown them? Or what? Remember how long it took to find a home for
Earl? I got lucky! The lady who adopted him works with CatCare – she could just
as easily have chosen one of the eleven kitties the CatCare lady was trying to
find homes for at the same time. There are already way, way too many kittens
out there needing good homes! Many find homes, some get lucky and find good
homes – forever. Again, I got lucky. Both Earl and Lizzy have good homes where
they’ll be happy for their whole lives! Neither are at even the slightest risk
of being ‘discarded’ once they loose their ‘cute kitten’ looks. Or if they show
an undesirable habit – like Ziva and her annoying ‘I want out, NOW’ meowing.
Anyway, even IF I had homes lined up for however many
kitties Lady Jane were to have – what about me? I can NOT afford another
litter. Neither financially nor emotionally! It has not been an easy road so
far, and the road ahead will not be easy, either. It has been a lot of fun and
also a tremendous amount of pleasure – hard earned, though. Sleepless nights,
fears, worries, learning – and hours and hours of time and attention! Even now
they are needy, needing cuddles, needing supervision – while typing this, I’ve
had to take my kitchen towel away from Lady Jane three times! It’s mostly
white, it’s dangling above her, it’s right behind their water fountain – and sometimes
that is just too much temptation! It’s bad enough that they give in to the
temptation to pull my laundry from the basket and spread it around the entire
flat every now and then, or that they do the same to my waste paper bin. Every
morning I get up and clean up something they dragged or spread around the flat.
Every evening I come home – ditto. They mock me in the evenings by lying
peacefully napping – then, when I go to bed they reactivate! Right now, Ziva
and Lady Jane fake sleep on the blankie next to my chair, while Mewthos does
the same on the chair next to me. But when I go to bed, right after posting
this? Chaos games! Wanna bet?
 |
| Lady Jane wrapped in one of her favourite drag-about toys: some shading I had intended to add to the scratcher Here, her eyes are hazel again - but some times, they are the same green with blue around the iris, as Earls |
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