New Kittens!

A friend of mine in town posted some pics on FB of his nine kittens, and I cracked. "I'll take two females, please." I figured two of them could keep each other company. After a wait of a few weeks for them to be old enough, Emanuele calls me and says, "Come pick them up, we're in the shop." But he's a smart wiley Italian. I got down there and he holds up a box of irresistible cuties and says, "You said three, right?" Sigh... Yeah, I guess I said three.

They seem to be settling in well. To get the used to their new environment, I'm keeping them in one room for a bit, the little spare room I've kitted out as a painting and drawing studio. For the first day, they found a corner and huddled there looking at me very suspiciously whenever I came in and mewing rather pathetically, obviously wondering where their mum was.

Their hidey-corner is just the space between my old wheelchair and the wall that I made into a little cave by making a fourth wall with the big spare bag of kitty litter. I laid down a sheet of that really big bubble wrap to make it soft and put a big towel on top. I introduced them to Winnie's big airline-friendly cat carrier that has a blanket folded up inside and they've discovered the smaller, soft, padded cat carrier which they seem to like to use as a playhouse.

At first they obviously saw me as a giant enemy, with the biggest one adorably and valiantly hissing at me when I came near. They're so tiny I can pick all three up in one hand, but she obviously felt equal to the task of slaying me.

I let them alone for the most part so they could feel free to explore, then I came in for an hour at a time and just sat on the floor and watched them. After a while they seemed to figure that I was at least not going to eat them, and that I was bringing them food, and they discovered that I make a highly satisfactory jungle-gym. They have slowly started to relax and are, as I type, busily alternating between chasing each other around the room and attacking my feet. A few times, I've petted them and been rewarded with that outboard motor kitten purr.

I'd forgotten how funny and distracting a clutch of kittens could be. We're off to visit our friend Dr. B this afternoon. One of them seems to have a deformed paw and another has a mild case of kitty conjunctivitis (not uncommon) that I've been treating with a chamomile infusion. Other than that, they're rambunctiously healthy little furry blobs.

I still miss Winnie, my alter-ego, ferociously and thus far, the kitties are still just kitties and we're just getting to know each other. But it is nice to have someone to look after again.

Pics to come.



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