Retrospective: Pippin as a kitten (now with pictures)

I am running into a problem here with my posts. My digitized photos only go back to 2006, and so if I want to put pictures of Pippin as a kitten, or even just younger than 2006, I have to manually scan in the photos. So I'm going to do that eventually (which means hopefully in the next two days over the weekend) but I had a post just bubbling up inside so I'm going to write it without pictures now. Maybe I will go back and insert them later ...

So, Pippin as a kitten. I have been thinking a lot about kittens lately, and reading on kitten behavior, and stuff, and trying to remember Pippin when he was a kitten.

And what I mostly remember is that I lived in a state of constant astonishment when he was a kitten.

Slowly, slowly, he sank beneath the sea ... I mean,
into the bed

Like, claws. Most kittens have these sharp little claws that they aren't quite sure of how to retract properly at all times. Pippin was almost ashamed that he had claws that could damage things and kept them always retracted.

This led to some odd difficulties. At the time my bed was a waterbed, and fairly low to the ground. Still, it was tall enough baby Pippin couldn't jump up on it. Thus he would try to climb onto it.

But since he wouldn't use his claws (on the comforter), he had no traction. Maine Coons have tufts of hair between their toes, so he had even less traction than a short-hair cat. I would look over, and see two ears slowly appear over the edge of the bed as he valiantly tried to climb up. And then he'd lose the battle with gravity, and the ears would slowly sink back down again.

Finally I had to take mercy on him (how was I to know he wouldn't eventually figure it out? Most kittens use their claws!). I actually had to teach him it was okay to use claws to get up onto the bed, by physically poking them out into the bedspread fabric and saying "yes, this is okay, this is a good thing, you can get up here with me like this."

Being a kitten, it took him a while to get the concept. I mean, when you're talking the attention span of a gnat and the retention ability of a toddler on halloween candy, it can be a while before a memory sinks in. But he got it, and soon was climbing up onto the bed like anything.

He didn't generalize. The claws didn't get used for anything else. I think he used them for the scratching post, but honestly, I'm not sure. It's not like I took high-speed film so I could slow it down and see if there were claws out or just paws scraping down the posts.

blurry Pippin enthusiastically using
his scratching post (he actually
got too big for this one later!)

Another astonishment moment. Kittens are usually quite willing to make a toy out of anything they happen across. I had lots of things that could be kitten toys like this. Pippin was also given a lot of his own toys. And I never once had to take one of my toys away from him. He always left everything of mine alone, even the Beanie Babies which were within easy reach, and soft and stuffed like his favorite toys. And I never even told him not to mess with my stuff. He just knew.

I got so I took it for granted. I had all sorts of breakables and knick-knacks on the bookshelves in front of the books. And even though he liked to lie on the bookshelves in front of the books, he always chose a place clear of my toys to lie down in and never knocked any of my stuff off the shelves.

Big ol' bat ears

I guess when they handed out the "gravity tester" badges to kittens, he was standing in a different line.

He just didn't behave like a normal kitten. I mean, yes, he played with toys. He loved to play elephant cat. That is when they thunder through the house from one end to the other making more noise than a mere cat should be able to accomplish, thus, elephant cat.

When I got two pieces of cat furniture he played on them like jungle gyms. But the normal kitten behaviors of claws and inappropriate toys and destructiveness ... he just never did that. The one time he missed the litterbox was because he was locked in a room all morning without one (we didn't realize he was still in Mom's room when we left for church) and not only did he pick the easiest thing to clean (her sheets, on a waterbed with no mattress to be soaked) but he was terribly ashamed of himself and didn't feel better about it till I gave up and half-heartedly scolded him.

That perked him right up, as if he'd expected to be scolded for missing the litterbox and wasn't going to be happy until he received said scolding.

Every kitten is a little bit destructive. Every kitten misses the litterbox at least once (without the iron clad excuse of not having one available!). Every kitten accidentally claws you at least once.

Not Pippin. He may have been a goofy cat who was rather clumsy, but he had standards and they were not going to be compromised.

I must say that his restrained kitten behavior has left me rather unprepared for any potential kittens coming my way at some point in the future!