Friday, January 30, 2015

Modified Apricot

It has been very interesting to watch the changes in Apricot's behavior. What I'd most hoped for is happening. He is starting to copy the kittens in all the behaviors I like, while not (yet) picking up the behaviors I'd rather he didn't copy, like keeping me awake by playing if they aren't tucked away in the pink room at night!

He is starting to volunteer more and more to be on my lap. He often does this when the kittens are occupied elsewhere, but most of the time he has to put up with sharing the lap anyway because they come rushing out to "be with" when they realize that we've both left the room.

Placement and position is all Apricot's idea
But often he'll come up and want to be on my lap when there's a kitten or two there, as well. And he's staying for more time, too. He's no longer my drive-by lap cat, or at least, not as often. 

He also has stopped being afraid of the umbrella and the automatic trashcan in the kitchen. I think seeing Colby sit on the trashcan and nothing bad happen to him made a big difference there.

Plus, he'll "tell" on them. If they're doing something new or unusual, he'll perk up and go see what is going on. He's just curious, but it lets me know I need to come with him and see, just in case it's something I'd rather they wouldn't do.

He also is a rather gracious playmate with the two, even when Thimble is being somewhat of a pain. Thimble wants to direct everyone in their actions, and it frustrates him when we don't always do as told. But Apricot puts up with him even when he goes a little sideways to the original intention, as you can see in the video above (or at least, you can see it if you're not using an iphone ...). Thimble started out washing Apricot's head, but got distracted into playtime and tried to turn it into a play fight.

Apricot just puts up with it, and the reason why he didn't go along with the play fight idea is because they are both on my lap in this video, and he still doesn't feel confident enough of his traction on my legs to indulge in a full play fight. (The Rowdy Boys have no such compunction and I have to dump the group on the ground every so often. They're getting the idea I don't like fights happening on my lap, but when they get into the mood, they forget.)

And then there is how Apricot likes to be in the center of the room, or by the wall which is (my living room is weird) sticking out into the almost center. He's observing and keeping an eye on everybody from that vantage point. He used to go into corners to do this, more of a hide than a sprawl out in the middle of everything. His increased confidence is really lovely to watch.

He and Colby are the best of friends now, and I hope they stay that way. When one of them comes into a room, the other will get up and go to greet the first. They do so with a nose bump and then rub against each other as they walk past each other, practically leaning on each other as they go. And it's very much mutual--they're both doing it. I've watched them progress from a hesitant Apricot going, What do you possibly think you're doing? to Apricot eagerly initiating the meet and greet. 

They don't usually sleep together yet, or not that I've seen. Mostly this is because, I think, their sleep patterns are different from each other. Apricot has the adult doze-all-day sleep, and the kittens are still in the play-till-you-drop solid sleep stage. But he'll sleep near them, with a blissful look on his closed-eyes face. 

Finally, when I come home from work, he still wants his cuddle time, but he's not anywhere near as desperate for love as he used to be. I find reassurance from the fact that he still wants his cuddles (he still likes me!) but also reassurance from the lessened time and severity of the cuddles (he's not lonely now). He used to press into me quite hard and we could sit there for twenty minutes with me petting him. Now he just cuddles against me, and is usually done within about five minutes.

Meanwhile the kittens are both respecting his space and cuddle time and they no longer try to tramp all over him to get to me, which is promising because it means he's not letting them bully him, either (I had worried about that, too).

Perhaps one day Apricot will even stay put when a stranger human comes into the house.

(I'm not holding my breath on that one!)


A Poopy Story

If you remember, the kittens were having problems with, well, gooey poop. Being long-haired kittens, this was quite intolerable to live with (probably for them, too).

Well, Ginger said to reduce the wet cat food, and I did, and saw some improvement but not enough. Thus I stopped feeding them wet cat food altogether, and that did the trick. As far as solid poops go, anyway.

They still stink to high heaven. I suspect it's the dry food I'm feeding them. It might be too rich for their digestive systems. Even Apricot's poop smells worse than Pippin's ever did.

However, Apricot, who used to have to fend for himself, knows quite well that the smell draws predators, so he was always very fastidious in covering it up until no smell could be smelled. Then he discovered that when I come home from work I clean the litter box.

Unlike your average cat, who waits patiently while you clean the litter box and then uses it with much excitement (it's a clean litter box!), Apricot figured out that if he pooped right before I cleaned it, and then put up with me messing around in the litter box while he covered it up, somehow the smell was much easier to cover. So that's what he started doing.

The kittens want to help. As always.
When Colby and Thimble first came, they were like your normal cat, eager to use the litter box after I cleaned it. And I would go back and scoop it again after they were done, in order to get the smell into the litter bucket which has a lid, plus a handful of baking soda thrown in on top before I put the lid on.

I think perhaps Apricot shared his wisdom with them, If you go before she cleans it, the smell is much easier to cover! Because first Thimble started doing it, and then Colby, with as much consistency as Colby ever musters for anything, has started doing it too.

This is very convenient for me and my ultra-sensitive nose! I just hang around and wait until the "production" is over, and then while they are busy covering it, I sneak in with the scoop and make the whole pile disappear. I worried for a while that this might make them less inclined to cover it, but they were well-trained by Mommy Cinder and they still cover the poop even after it's gone. Probably because some of the smell lingers on the litter that's left.

On the weekends, where I haven't figured out a helpful trigger that tells me to go clean the litter box in the afternoon, Thimble will usually wait until I walk into the bedroom and then make a pointed entrance into the bathroom (where the litter box is). He makes sure I notice him!

I hope that as they grow up, their tummies will better be able to handle the food. Apricot is apparently picky about his food and prefers this one, and I would hate to have to find another one that all three of them agree on. (They all love this food.)

Also, Thimble is suffering from the kitten malady of putting anything he finds on the floor into his mouth, and trying to eat it. I found a rattle mouse skeleton without any fur, and I have yet to find the fur. I suspect it went through Thimble and into the litter box. 

He peeled off the edge of packing tape that was still stuck to a box I was letting them play with, and tried to eat that. (All packing tape now removed from box.)

I've also caught him trying to eat the flattened end of a straw. He chews on the ends till they're flat, and then severs the flat end from the rest of the straw, and then tries to eat that bit. Now I trim the straws regularly to prevent the ingestion of bits. However, there are more things for him to try to eat than I can think of, and I suspect this is causing part of his stinky poop problem, as Colby's isn't as bad (still worse than Apricot, though).

Why isn't Colby suffering from the same kitten malady, do you ask? I wondered about that. Either he's doing it when I don't see him, or, what I think is more likely, he's waiting until Thimble tells him if it was worthwhile eating!

Sunday, January 25, 2015

Frustrating the Trash Can

In my kitchen I have a miniature automated trashcan. It's miniature so I can still use grocery plastic bags as trash bags.

Colby apparently got tired of it opening and closing, and discovered somehow that if he jumped up at an angle, he didn't set the motion sensor off and he could sit on the lid.

Well, he's a big boy, and he's alive, so the movement of his fur makes the motion sensor think it's being activated while he sits on it.
Hah! Foiled you again!
Some cats would be scared, but Colby seemed quite satisfied with himself as the trashcan went, "eer, errnt, eer errnt" repeatedly, trying to open and failing.

Thimble wedged himself in the tiny space between the trashcan and the counter ... see him?

And Colby has sat on the trashcan several times since then, always with that same smug look.

MetaCAT, Assemble!

Colby was on my lap. Colby is normally on my lap, if a lap is available and he hasn't previously been toasting himself silly on it.

Odd. Thimble is the one who is always with me, whatever I'm doing, but Colby is the one that's cuddly.

Anyway, as per usual, Thimble noticed my lap had just Colby in it, and came over to remedy the situation. He lay down next to me with his front paws, forearms, chest and head on my hip.

This is usual. Actually, it's a bit unusual in that Thimble didn't just sit on Colby, but I have been trying to prevent that, since then Colby leaves and I feel bad for him; after all, he was there first.

But what was really unusual happened next. Apricot comes strolling over and notices the situation. He jumps up onto the bookshelf that serves as a kind of window ledge next to the settee, walks along it to the arm of the settee, comes down onto the seat, walks across Colby, and settles himself between them!

Not only that, but he was facing me, his paws and chest and head on my leg like Thimble. This was such an amazing occurrence that I had to get the phone out and take a picture (or two or three, so as to get a good one).
Assembled
It was only after I took the picture that I realized, they had assembled in C-A-T order, from left to right. (My mom says "they can spell!")

My metacat assembled itself!

The Second Visitor

Last week on Saturday I had my mom visit the kittens. Apricot, of course, disappeared. This week yesterday I had my dad visit.

Apricot again disappeared and didn't come out for hours afterwards, but I'm beginning to think this is just the way he's going to be. Once he comes out, he doesn't act traumatized or the least bit affected by his experience.

And this week I planned better. I managed to get my mom punctured by an unintentional Thimble, and since Daddy's on blood thinners, I needed to make sure that wasn't going to happen to him! So he came later, after their nap time, because it is during the sleepy time that I clip kitten claws.

Well, you really think clipping kitten claws when they're all riled up and playful is a good idea? And it's a good thing I had him visit after the claw clipping, because Colby had somehow managed to get all of his except two razor sharp. They're really good with their claws when they're interacting in a lap time petting time fashion, which is why I hadn't noticed.

They're really quite good kittens. They know the rules of human skin-kitten claw interaction. They just forget when they get all excited over a toy.

My daddy and my kittens.
Colby's the one you can easily see.
Thimble is in the picture. He's just behind the tree supports.
I also had a longer wand toy for Daddy to play with the kittens with. I actually had it last week too, and just forgot I had it. You have to put those sorts of toys out of sight and out of reach so the cats don't try to play with it on their own (the toy is not designed for unsupervised play) but with me, out of sight is out of mind, and I forgot about it!

Daddy had lots of fun, judging by the chuckles the kittens elicited. I noticed my play style with the kittens mirrors his, and I think this is very odd, considering that, with his work schedule, I would have seen Mom interacting with cats way more than Daddy.

He stirs up trouble more than I do, but then again, I see the two of them pounce on each other plenty; I don't have to initiate it! Whereas this is the first time he's gotten to interact with them. So he was trying to get one kitten to pounce on the toy and accidentally pounce on the other kitten. It might have worked with less focused cats, or less polite cats, but they were both focused on the toy and they do actually take turns. 

Sometimes they play with the toy together, and sometimes one will rest while the other plays. This means the human at the other end of the toy gets no rest at all!

I told Daddy about one time a few days earlier when Thimble had flipped the braided rug cat bed over on himself, and I looked over to see the bed, and Colby just watching it. I didn't see Thimble anywhere, and I hadn't seen the initial bed flip, so I didn't actually know where he was. I lifted the edge of the bed just a smidgen to see, and I didn't have to look--a fast paw came out and tagged me and then withdrew. He didn't use his claws, because it was me and not Colby, and so I just thought it was funny, that quick soft paw touch and retreat.

So Daddy promptly starts trying to get them to flip the cat bed. He actually had to trap a kitten himself as they flipped the bed going after the strategically placed toy, but not on top of either one. Since the game wasn't cat-under-the-braided-rug-bed but kittens-after-wand-toy, Colby emerged quite quickly out from under the cat bed, leading to a laughing comment from Daddy of, "he escaped!" 
The bed has a cat tail now...
He was having so much fun with them I wished he could stay longer, but his asthma was starting to bother him, both from working outdoors earlier in the day and because, well, my poor father loves cats but is allergic to them, and while he can be around them for short times, all the time is too much.

(He wasn't supposed to let Pippin in his bedroom when I lived with my parents, but he'd fall asleep on the couch in the living room with Pippin next to him. He says long-haired cats don't bother him as much as short-haired ones do. Good thing I have three long-haired cats then!)

I think perhaps this weekend I will take the weekend off from having visitors, though. It's exhausting for me to have anybody else in my house. Really, I'm such an introvert ... having cats in my house is about as much company as I want.


But Weight, There's More ...

Nope, I didn't misspell the title of this post. I'm just being horribly pun-ny.

You see, weight is a very important thing in keeping track of cat health. If a 10 pound cat loses a pound, it's 10% of their weight, and it's like a 150 pound human losing 15 pounds. You're not supposed to lose that much in a short time. So you can get a jump on early diagnosis of diseases by keeping track of your cat's weight on a weekly basis.

However, a human scale won't weigh a (normal) cat, so you have to do subtraction weighing, where you step on the scale carrying the cat, and make note of the weight, and then put the cat down and note the weight, and subtract to find the difference. Problem is, a human scale of a normal cost range, like the one I have, isn't actually that accurate. I've stepped on my cheap digital scale three times in succession, and gotten three different weights. Different by a half a pound each time, which isn't that much in comparison to what I weigh ... but it's a big difference in comparison to a cat's weight.

Now that I have three cats to keep track of, and pair that are supposed to be growing on top of that, I decided that I just couldn't keep trying to use the subtraction method. I needed a real scale for cats.

However, I didn't even know where to start looking. Food scales? Mailing scales? What kind of accuracy and price point did I really need? But I did know who to ask, so I asked Ginger if she could recommend one for me. I figured she had to know about scales since she weighs the kittens and her mommy cats as well as the pet cats, plus her husband is a vet and if she didn't know of one (like perhaps the maker of her scale had gone out of business or something), he surely would.

She came through with a scale from Old Will Knotts that's about mid-range in price and the same as hers only the new model. The link will take you to the scale she recommended, just in case you want one too. It arrived on Thursday, and so I unpacked it.

With help. I will admit, I threw a straw into the cardboard box the scale came in to start the fun, but it didn't take much! So while they played in the shipping box, I was able to unpack the scale from its display box and get thoroughly puzzled about what went where. I had all these pieces, and no instructions on what they all were. Turns out they were mostly adapters and things. There's an adapter to put on in place of the tray so you can weigh a large box, and an adapter to hold envelopes on the scale. There were instructions, just very brief and non-informative.

I sat there, figuring it out, and getting a little irritated with myself. I'm a chemist, for heaven's sake, I use far more complicated scales than this on a daily basis! I should be able to get this straight! And I was able to; it just took me longer than I thought it should.

It also enabled the two helping me to get tired of the cardboard shipping box and come over and start helping me with the parts to the scale, which also slowed things down!

But I managed in the end, and even found a better place for it in my house than the original thought, which it didn't fit into. So I weighed all three cats and started a weight journal for them.

Colby in the scale, looking pretty.
Apricot actually got to go for a ride on the scale first, simply because he was the first cat I saw when I came out of the foyer (where the scale is now located) to find them. He weighs 11 pounds and some. The vet said he should stay at 11 pounds and he's probably a little more than she meant, but I find it hard to see how I'm supposed to restrict his food intake and not theirs. I just hope he doesn't get too overweight. However, as I rationalized with Tiger--overweight and happy and a slightly shorter lifespan beats being cranky and skinny for a longer one.

Colby was, on Thursday, 6 pounds 8 ounces. He's more now. Thimble was 6 pounds 10 ounces on Thursday, and today the scale couldn't make up its mind whether he was 7 pounds even or 6 pounds 13.5 ounces.

Uh-oh. Ginger, when I sent her the Thursday weights, said that her rule of thumb is the 4 month weight, if it's 7 pounds, will indicate a cat at least 20 pounds when grown. Four months is February the 9th. Two weeks (more or less) from now).

And Hiro, their brother, got to go to the vet on Thursday for his 16 week shots. (My vet said I could skip that set of boosters since Thimble and Colby weren't going anywhere, unlike Hiro's human mommy's plans for him.) Anyway, Hiro was over 7 pounds on Thursday.

Wow. As my mom said, I guess they're going to have to be leash-cats! I'm just hoping my muscles develop with their weight. I think I can hold a 25 pound cat; I just can't hold two of them, even if I get strong enough to carry 50 pounds. It's a size thing more than a weight thing at that point. No place to put the other one.

Hm ... and a dreamy note here ... just imagine how warm I will be with two cats that large draped over and against my lap. I may be able to turn the heat down!

Sunday, January 18, 2015

The First Visitor

Yesterday ...

Apricot had been doing so well with new and scary things and noises that I thought I would start introducing new people. The kittens seem to really have given him some confidence.

I invited my mother, who is a quiet person and gives off a low-energy vibe unlike some of my friends, to come over and visit for a half hour or so. I told everyone she was coming, but when I opened the door and she came in, by the time I turned around I had only two cats. I don't think Apricot ever even came into the kitchen.

He went under the couch and hid in the tv room. Oh well.

Mom sat down on the floor at my behest (I did make sure she was okay sitting on the floor) and I gave her the toy with a wand handle to play with the kittens.

Colby had waited at the door to the kitchen/living room while Thimble sniffed her shoes and investigated her in the kitchen when she first came in. After Thimble was satisfied, Colby came in and was perfectly fine with her and didn't even need to do his own investigation. This is part of the benefit of Colby's relationship with Thimble. He does what he's told, but he can also trust Thimble to do the "heavy lifting" in any strange or new situation.

So they were perfectly fine with her, playing quite enthusiastically. Unfortunately it's been longer for my mom than it was for me to have kittens around, and as she is older her skin is thinner even than mine, and she wasn't as paranoid about the prickly ends of kitty paws as I am ...

Long story short, Thimble accidentally nicked the end of her finger. He must have got a vein end, too, because it bled. Slowly, but persistently, and didn't stop.

Well, that was the end of playtime. Mom understood Thimble hadn't meant to do it, and she wasn't mad or anything, We just had to quit so we could get the finger cleaned and bandaged. Mom even was careful enough not to drip blood on my carpet, which I thought was nice of her.

Finally we just put a bandaid on it, even though it was still leaking slowly. I called her this morning to make sure it was okay, and she said it had stopped bleeding and everything was fine. I'm planning to let my Dad come visit this Saturday, but he's on blood thinners, so I think he'll have to come later in the day (after the weekly claw clipping session!) and perhaps not get to play with them directly ... I'll let him make that call.

Back to Mom's visit: she and I sat on the settee and I ladled kittens into her lap. They were tired and sleepy now. So she got to experience the kitten sleeping mode as well as the kitten play mode. And this was all good. She left, and I told Apricot it was safe.

The kittens came in too, and Apricot slowly emerged from under the couch. But he wouldn't leave the tv room; acted scared. And stupid me, I pushed it, and picked him up and carried him out to the living room. I guess I was channeling Pippin instead of Apricot, because I know Apricot doesn't like to be carried and I know he likes to do things at his own pace.

Apricot also knows things I don't. He heard the man stop a car in front of my house, and come to the door, and then we both heard it when he pounded on the front door just as I passed it, carrying an already upset Apricot, on my way to the living room.

Needless to say, when I put Apricot on the floor, he fled to the safety of the living room couch and disappeared.

When he finally did come out, he investigated where Mom had sat on the floor very thoroughly. Colby was on my lap and Thimble was beside me on the settee, and Apricot came over and made sure Colby was all right. He didn't check on Thimble, just Colby. They had a brief nose to nose discussion (silent) and then Apricot went and rechecked the area he'd just investigated. I thought that was the end of it, but Apricot disappeared again.

The only thing I can think of is that the smell of blood in the air, which he would have been able to detect, was something that was very upsetting to him. He stayed hidden until after I left for my board gaming night. I told him goodbye, but was unable to give him a goodbye kiss (this is a tradition that he enjoys). So I told Thimble to keep an eye on him, that he was a bit scared and stressed.

I don't know how much Thimble understood or how much he did of helping Apricot feel better, but when I came home later that night, Apricot was out and about again. He did, however, indicate he'd been through a lot of stress by pressing up against me very tightly during the greeting routine of "cuddle Apricot."

Today he has been back to his normal happy self, and has even spent quite a bit of time on my lap. Just recently he curled up on my lap and went to sleep. I timed it after it became apparent he wasn't doing one of his normal drive-by lap sits. He stayed there for more than 20 minutes, the longest he's ever been on my lap at one time. Thimble was on the chair near my feet and Colby was on the settee I was sitting on, thus clearing the way for a single bigger cat to be on my lap!

Boy is he ever heavy after the little Pocket Maine Coon kittens.

So I guess we'll try again with another visitor this coming Saturday, and hope that eventually he (Apricot, not the visitor) gets used to it.

Two's Company, Three is ... Just Right

written Sunday Jan 18, 2015

My meta-CAT is becoming quite the together group. (In case you're new here, that's the first letters of the three cats' names. Which yes, I did on purpose.)

On Friday nights I set up the washer to start my dark laundry wash the next morning. This involves sitting on the floor with the laundry hamper, a collapsible blue mesh thing, on its side, and pulling the clothes out and sorting into two stacks; one stack is inside the washer and one is beside me.

The last two Fridays I have had help. Lots of help.
A collapsible hamper seemed a good idea when I bought it.
It's not just the two curious, unafraid kittens helping me now. Apricot is joining in, in his own way. No, he's not transformed into another unafraid kitten. He'll always be wary and need to hang back and investigate, and that's the hopeful side. He'll also be more prone to hide than investigate, simply because of who he is.

But now he comes and investigates more often, and the kittens' behavior often draws him out into the investigation.

Because of this, I can now open and shut an umbrella in the kitchen (to let it dry) without terrifying him. He saw the kittens both investigate it, and then play with it (they shadow-boxed through the fabric, and luckily it lost its play-luster quickly, because I didn't want to water-squirt them away from it while I knew Apricot was watching their reactions to it). Then in about five minutes I observed him sneak into the kitchen, body low, cautious that no one saw him (I don't count, apparently, which is both nice and insulting, but perhaps he didn't realize I could see him from where I was), and he sniffed the umbrella as it stood open on the floor.

That's the closest he's ever gotten to it. Since that time, although he won't go near it, he also doesn't passionately avoid the kitchen either, and if I pick it up to close it, he won't leave at high-speed like he used to.

Colby and Thimble are like a bunch of stereotypical human teenage girls. They can't go to the bathroom by themselves; litter box time must be communal.

Actually, even cleaning the litter box should be communal, according to them, but as they get miffed when I scoop out from under them, I have learned to block access to the box while I'm trying to clean it.

Aw, come on, let us in!
On the twelfth I got this photo. Apricot is using the litter box (he's about to, anyway, and yes, he completed the thought) and the other two are there as well. Two's company, but three is apparently not a crowd any more.

One day I was trying to clean the litter box after work, and had both kittens climb into it. Colby acted like he was actually going to go, so I left the room to play on my phone while they finished. Many emails later, they were still making noises in the litter box, playing.

Apricot walked in. He gave me a puzzled look. Why are you standing there with the phone instead of sitting down like usual? I said, "The kittens are still playing in the litter box." I was rather exasperated and this tone came out in my voice. Apricot did the cat equivalent of nodding sagely, and walked into the bathroom (as you can see, the litter box is in the shower stall. I use the bathtub in the other bathroom because I'm too claustrophobic to be in that shower stall with the door closed, so I might as well use it for a litter box room).

Seconds after he went in, but with no audible noise from him, both kittens came out, not in a hurry, but not hanging behind either. Then Apricot came strolling out, and gave me a look, Is that better? Bemused, I said, "Thank you, Apricot," and went in to finish cleaning the box. He so very rarely asserts himself that I still doubt the circumstantial evidence. It certainly seemed like he rousted them out of the litter box, though!

Now when he sees them in there, he gives a little sigh, makes a u-turn and goes into the pink room to use "theirs." Generally speaking they don't follow, because one was in the litter box to actually use it, and the other one was there to keep the first company. The one using it isn't going to stop in mid-action just to go bother Apricot, and the one keeping him company isn't going to leave because, well, that defeats the purpose.

And Saturday morning I went into the pink room and sat down in the sunshine with the phone. Thimble loves to be wherever I am (something I dearly missed after Pippin passed away), and unlike Apricot, who just happens to be in the same room but on the other side of it, Thimble wants to be right next to me. So Thimble came in. Colby followed quickly on his heels, and they started playing.

Then Apricot came in and lay down to watch.
I made noises to get them all to look at me.
In the photo, that's my purple sweatpant-clad knee in the lower left.

Apricot came in specifically to be with the rest of us. I'm so pleased with him! And that blue fish toy at Colby's feet is a power-catnip toy that Ginger gave me for the kittens. Remember Apricot's reaction to catnip? It wasn't a good one. (It's at the bottom of the linked post.)

I have found him multiple times rubbing and cuddling that fish toy, making himself happy instead of overstressed like catnip used to do for him. Apparently, he's confident enough that having the extra jolt of catnip energy is pleasant instead of frightening!

And today came the, in my opinion, culmination of Apricot's acceptance of the kittens. Colby got on my lap to take a nap. He often is the first one on my lap, generally when Thimble is occupied with a toy or the water fountain. It gives him time alone with me which is something Thimble doesn't often let him have, so he seizes the opportunity when he can!

Thimble, as usual, noticed the situation and decided to remedy it by also getting on my lap. Colby was in a normal position for a lap cat. Thimble stretched across me between my torso and Colby. He had enough room as long as I used my arm as an extension to the lap. I could still hold the phone and play on it, so we were all good.

Apricot walked over and observed the situation. Then he jumped up on the chair I had my feet up on, and climbed over my toes to reach my lower legs. Whereupon he promptly stretched out and joined the other two in covering me with a blanket of cat.

Colby was purring. Thimble was purring. And then I felt Apricot's low rumble start up. Everybody was close together, on my lap, of their own volition, and happily purring.
A Most Excellent Photo
I held the phone out and snapped a photo, and managed to get this of Apricot and Colby looking at the phone. Thimble's still here with everyone else. He's just up closer to me. You can just barely make out my fingers on what looks like Colby's back. No, he doesn't extend back that far. That fur belongs to Thimble.

So Colby and Apricot have a new buddy, each other. They don't just play together; they're actually starting to wash each other. It's still brief licks at this point, but it makes my day to see them so happy together.

And Thimble splits his time between the other cats and me. He's a born Supervisor cat. He not only knows what we are all supposed to be doing, but he's quite willing to tell us what that is. Even as we're doing it. 

It's so great that they are all getting along and not just "getting along"--they're happy together. 

Apricot even had to make a decision last night on staying in the pink room with them. I was willing to let him do it, but I thought he probably would regret it if he did. He decided against staying with them then, and came out with me, but the very fact that he considered the possibility was exhilarating!






The New Afternoon Routine

When I come home from work, I do certain things in a certain order. This is the way it used to go, before the addition of the kittens.

The routine has fairly well stabilized now, and much to my surprise, the cuddling of Apricot is a part that stayed!

Apricot never waited in the kitchen. He thinks the outdoors is a living creature that just might reach through the open kitchen door, grab him, and sweep him out into the horrible outdoor life that he is so very happy to have escaped. He won't risk that happening by being near the door when it opens.

The kittens, on the other hand, have no such fear hampering them. Usually when I drive up, there is one or both of them waiting on the cat trees for me. By the time I get in, the odds have increased that it's both of them.
It's a good thing Thimble doesn't know I posted such a derp-y picture of him.
 Here they are both waiting in the same spot. In case you wondered where the rest of Colby is, I took a photo right after Thimble came down to be upside-down kitty, and here is where Colby was. Thimble sits on him quite often, and Colby only absent-mindedly protests, and sometimes doesn't bother.
Colby without Thimble on top.
So yes, Thimble has discovered upside-down kitty, and he thinks it is great fun. He mills around my feet as I take my jacket(s) off, and likes to pretend that he's going to play with my shoelaces (actually doing so gets him squirted, so that happens less and less now).

The first thing I do after saying hello to my greeters is yell "Apricot, I'm home" the way I always did, and he moseys slowly into the kitchen. He knows I have jacket(s) to hang up and a work bag to put down, and none of that interests him and some of it, the jacket that rustles due to the windbreaker layer, is rather alarming. Thus he takes his time.

Apricot still likes upside-down kitty, but by the time he comes into the room, both Thimble and usually Colby but not always, are around my feet. He has discovered that if he goes between me and the door (it's safely closed, and I'm there, so he is fine doing this) he can get a couple "upside-down kitty" pets in.

Sometimes he doesn't bother to brave the swirling maelstrom of happy kitten, and just lies down on the kitchen carpet to wait for me.

Since it's winter, I have to get my hands wet before a long petting session. Otherwise I make him all static-y and then we start shocking each other. This is not something either Apricot nor I enjoy!

Then I go sit down in the appropriate place and in the appropriate position, and Apricot wedges himself up against me and shoves his head into my waiting hand, while the free hand pets him.

Most of the time Colby is the patient one. He'll sit very close to Apricot, but not quite touching, and just watch. He has a wistful look on his face, and I think he's wishing that he were where Apricot is. Problem is, he doesn't have the patience to sit there that long like Apricot does. It's often five or ten minutes before Apricot is finished filling up his love-battery that's run dry with me gone all day.

I can tell how stressful the day has been for Apricot by how hard he leans into me. When I came home two hours later than usual this past Friday (work got bad), he was very stressed indeed and leaned very hard. I needed it just as much as he did. Petting him like that, concentrating only on him and the feel of his fur and the rough stumbly purr under my hands, helps me calm down from the day's stress and feel more like myself again.

Thimble is trying to be patient, I'll give him that. He's managing to wait longer than he did when this first happened around him. But he still loses all ability to wait and starts trying to climb into my arms, and who cares if he tramples Apricot in the process? (After all, Colby doesn't seem to mind.) Well, Apricot minds, and I do, so I try to discourage him.

After a while Apricot finally gets to the point where either he's done or Thimble's pestering is too much, and he leaves.

Then I scoop up Colby (unless he's left at the same time to have a row with Apricot) and reward him for being patient, and then Thimble. The day Thimble manages to be patient the whole time, I'll pick him up first. 

But often one of them will be wanting to play fight with Apricot. One day it was Thimble, and Colby and I watched, and I took a very long video that won't upload because it's too big, sorry. It's interesting to see how Apricot won't put his whole weight on the kitten, instead keeping at least one front paw on the floor to support himself (back paws are both on the floor, usually). And Apricot is very rarely the one underneath.

I saw why today. He was on the floor, half asleep, on his side. Colby pounced him, trying to get a playmate. Apricot, not wanting to be underneath, simply lifted Colby up and off of him with his back feet. He actually tossed Colby several inches away from himself, with a seemingly effortless move of his back legs. No wonder he doesn't usually let himself be the kitten underneath--he'd end the game far too quickly!

(And don't worry for Colby's play intentions; Apricot got up and went after the tossed kitten, and satisfied him with a quick play session, much to Colby's happiness.)

So the routine has changed less than I thought it would, and I'm very happy with the current situation. I'm aware that things will change as the kittens grow, however ... so we'll probably have a "new new" afternoon routine post sometime!

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

The Honeymoon Is Over (But They're Still Fun)

Well, the kittens are settling in, which means they aren't on their best behavior anymore. It's okay; they haven't permanently damaged anything except possibly one of their own toys.

Let's see. One day I came home from work to find my lamp in the bedroom on the floor instead of the desk. It's an LED bulb, and it didn't even break or turn off. Luckily it was an LED bulb because I don't think an incandescent running that close to the carpet would have been a good idea, but LEDs run cool and thus, no harm done.

***

Today was the day of toys in things. Apricot's food dish had Thimble's fetching toy in it. I gave the toy back to Thimble, and since it had been resting against the fatty food, he thought it tasted delicious. Now it's all soggy from him nom-ing on it, and he still wants me to toss it so he can play fetch with it. This calls for a delicate two-finger grip!

And the water fountain had one of the tiny rattle mice floating half-water-logged in it. The top was dry but the bottom half was soaked. I have it sitting in my dish-drainer in the sink, and hopefully it will dry out so they can play with it again. If not, oh well, I have more rattle mice and they aren't expensive.

***

Thimble, as of this moment, is curled up next to me on the settee, studiously ignoring the temptation of the computer. Colby, who hadn't learned over at the desk to avoid the computer keys like Thimble, is being a pain trying to catch the computer mouse (the one on the screen) and stepping on the keyboard. He gave up a lot easier than Thimble, though. I don't even have the squirt bottle with me; I just kept moving his paws off the keys, and he's gone to the end of my legs to curl up on my ankles.

Apricot is wandering around somewhere. He isn't really a "next to" cat. He just likes to be in the same room, or within hearing distance of you.

***

On Tuesday morning I discovered that I had a full revolt on my hands when it came to food. All that night they had eaten none of their kitten kibble, instead waiting until morning when they could run into the bedroom and eat Apricot's food out of his dish, much to his bafflement.

So I switched everybody over to Apricot's food and returned the barely touched bag of kitten kibble. It's still more fun to eat out of Apricot's food bowl, but at least I can persuade them to eat out of their own dishes sometimes.

***

Yesterday I took a shower when I got home and washed my hair. Normally kittens would want to be in the bathroom with me, but I won't let the door open with the heater on, and they don't have enough time to determine the heater is no threat before they come in. So I had all three cats locked out of the bathroom.

When I came out, this was the scene that met my eyes:
That's Thimble's butt at the top of the picture
That little thing on the floor is Thimble's fetching toy. He brought it and put it at the bathroom door so I would find it when I came out. He had been sitting next to it, patiently waiting, but his patience ran out shortly before I emerged, and the photo I got was of the toy and of Thimble leaving to go pounce on Colby. I thought the toy was very sweet of him!

***

Today during supper they discovered (although they may have played in it before and I just didn't see them) the clear box. This was supposed to be a litter box, but it turned out too small and I didn't want to use it in the spot I'd chosen anyway, so I turned it upside down in the hopes that it might become a play toy.
Colby's on top
As you can see, it worked admirably. They both got in it at first, and then Colby got out and jumped on top, and then they played footsie through the clear lexan. Colby is sitting on a pair of my sweatpants that I put there so they could see the box did have a top.

***

After supper I have been luring the kittens into the pink room with a blue ribbon and then tossing them treats, shutting the door, and going to play with Apricot by ourselves. He'd never get a word in edgewise with them around.

Well, this was the idea anyway. Yesterday I got into the pink room, stopped, turned around, and saw I had lured two cats into the room all right. Thimble and Apricot. Not exactly the idea. But it was workable, since Colby found himself all alone in the living room and came thundering in, "wait for me, wait for me!" and I was able to separate kittens into pink room and Apricot into hallway.

But Apricot has expressed a desire to play with the ribbon, so we played with that for a while. Today when I did the luring and turned around (you see, I walk from the living room into the pink room without looking to see who is following me. It's part of the game) there were all three cats! 

After having separated them on their respective sides of the door, which is remarkably easy to do, considering this separation does not involve me touching any of them, I took Apricot back down the hall (using the ribbon as a lure) and into the living room to play. 

I thought I should take a video of Apricot and the Ribbon. You can see that playing with Apricot requires patience. He does a lot of stalking and planning before he ambushes. It's one of the reasons he and the kittens still struggle with matching their play styles.

***


Now in this video you will see what looks like Colby picking on Apricot. Don't be fooled. Apricot started the whole thing by walking up to Colby and reaching out a pouncing paw. Colby fell over and things progressed from there. 

Colby wasn't pushed when he fell over. It's part of the game as far as I can tell. I've seen Thimble throw himself into a somersault and land on his back so Colby can then run and jump and bellyflop on top of him. And prior to the bellyflop, nobody had touched Thimble to push him into the voluntary flip!

In the video I especially like how Apricot comes back after running out of camera frame. It's almost immediate. I worry that they will push him around, because he doesn't really stand up for himself very well. But they seem to be giving him the respect he won't take by force, and so things are going well.

(Oh, and I apologize for the video quality. I have no idea why the focus disappeared and then reappeared, or what that finger shaped shadow is. It wasn't my finger, I guarantee you!)

***

The other day Apricot was sitting on the floor next to my chair while I ate supper. This is a thing he does. I am apparently supposed to let him sniff a bit of my food, and then he sits and keeps me company. He doesn't want to eat the bit of food. He just wants to see what I'm having. If he was a person he'd like those Instagram feeds of people's dinners! (Well, if they were Smell-O-Vision, I suppose.)

***

So this is how things have been going this week. I mostly sit on the settee, watch the cats, play on my phone, and play fetch whenever Thimble gets a hankering. 

And clean up after people. One morning I was getting ready to leave for work in the kitchen, and the kittens came in. Along with them came a rather disgusting smell. Poor Colby always gets blamed for these smells since, well, he's the clumsier of the two and also the one whose washing attempts are less strenuous. (It's because Thimble washes him so he figures why bother.)

I picked up Colby and up-dumped him, but he had nothing in evidence. So I scooped up Thimble and discovered not only some matted fur, but he had apparently stepped in poo goo and got it between the toes of his back paws. 

Sigh. I put him in the kitchen sink and gave him a foot bath, much to the dismay of all parties involved. I don't suppose having his first experience on the counter be an unpleasant one is a bad thing, however, since I would prefer they stay off the counters.

I'd prefer they stay off the table but I decided I'd settle for staying away from my part of the table when I'm eating. Oddly enough, for the past three nights, this has translated to nobody on the table at all while I'm eating. Hey, I'm not going to argue with them, but I certainly didn't do anything other than push them back when they crossed the invisible line to "my part." And now they aren't on the table at all when I'm eating. (Happy face.)

Happy face too soon; the next time I ate supper after I wrote that, I had a very persistent Thimble on the table. I won the battle--he never did get closer than an arm's length. But it made eating a bit challenging.



Monday, January 5, 2015

First Day Back at Work

After spending an hour longer at work than normal, I came home with trepidation to find a house full of happy kitties.

Not only were they happy to see me, but they were just happy in general. Apricot seemed even more at ease with them, perhaps thanks to the long time without a human looming over them all (or in his viewpoint, a very large deformed cat ...)

When Apricot spent his cuddle time with me, both kittens respected it and stayed back. Not very far back, but far enough that I could pet him without interference. Because of this respectful behavior (especially from Thimble, the pushy one) I tried to reward him by giving him a pet every so often between Apricot's pets.

Apricot looked back over his shoulder at me, eyes opening from their half-lidded content state, with a definite, "hey, my time" expression. Okay, okay, you got it.

And then, after supper when I had been putting the kittens away for a short time and playing with Apricot and the wand toy, he made it quite clear that he didn't want me putting them away. He made this clear by playing with them.

Thimble and Apricot go by, thunder cats, with their tails held high in plumes, Apricot in the lead. They disappear into the kitchen, and long moments go by of silence. When they finally emerge, at separate times, both of them look quite pleased with themselves.

Apricot pounces on Thimble, who sees the look before the pounce and rolls over to better receive a pounce. I notice Apricot doesn't completely collapse on Thimble but keeps part of his weight off the smaller cat.

Colby and Thimble roll over and over, biting and kicking and having a grand time, judging by the silence involved. They break apart, and Thimble tosses himself head over heels onto his back, and Colby rears back and pounces, and Colby doesn't have to hold back--he bellyflops onto Thimble's belly.

The floor-length curtain on the window behind the computer desk serves as a stalking blind for kitties. It is made even better by the fact that tails it does not conceal well, so the stalkee has plenty of opportunity to see the stalker and take action. Sometimes that action is running away, cat-giggling madly, and sometimes it's pouncing on the area of the curtain that should contain the stalker kitten ... although they don't always judge which way the tail is indicating correctly, leading to the occasional thump as they pounce the wall.

I look over and see Apricot watching the Rowdy Boys play-fight, and his eyes are half-lidded and content and happy.

It's a balm to the soul to come home to cats who are getting along in harmonious play.

And Thimble, bless his heart, (for real, not sarcastic "bless his heart") made sure I wasn't left out by bringing me his fetching toy to throw, over and over. He didn't always bring it back right away ... something about getting distracted. And sometimes it wasn't that he got distracted; it was that Colby got to the toy first. You can almost hear Thimble going, "aw, shucks," when he sees Colby grab it. There is only one toy that can be fetched. I don't know why; I've seen him pick up and carry around other toys.

Nothing was damaged, no kitties had their feelings hurt, and Apricot was much happier with his new friends all day than he ever was by himself.

I did a good thing, getting them!

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Well, That Was Unexpected

This morning Apricot hid under the headboard for an hour or so. I didn't go for my walk right away, so I was around for all this. But he was relaxed and stretched out, and while Thimble and Colby knew he was there, they left him alone, for about an hour. And then they went in and got him.

Not "got" him, they just went in and let him know they wanted to play and would he join them, and he came out and did so.

This playtime was rather ... amazing to me. First, Colby comes by Apricot at a half-run and reaches out a paw to touch Apricot on the shoulder. He had to nearly tip himself over sideways because Apricot's a few inches taller than he is right now, but he made actual contact.

Apricot didn't even flinch.

And then, a little later, Apricot's studies of the Rowdy Boys paid off. He pounced Colby. Apricot actually jumped on Colby and they went rolling over and over together, having fun. Neither cat said anything vocally, which means it wasn't a fight. It lasted only a little time, maybe fifteen seconds before they broke apart, and I swear they were both grinning.

When the Rowdy Boys do this, they become a single mass of black and white and brown kitty fur, with extra legs and tails and heads. When Apricot pounced Colby, and they rolled over and over, Colby's black and white would vanish completely beneath the red tabby colors of Apricot, and then re-emerge, nothing daunted.

I guess I was wrong when I said Apricot didn't want to play as physically as they did. He just needed to figure out the rules and study them for a while, figure out what got a "stop that" squeak from one of them to the other, before he decided to try to participate.

Perhaps he and Colby will become good buddies. They can commiserate over Thimble being bossy!

***

Thimble decided later in the day to play fetch with me. He'd bring me a toy, and I would toss it, and he'd tear after it and grab it and bring it back. It's a special toy that Ginger gave me, and she said it was custom made and she'd get me the info. I can believe it, about the custom make. I've never seen another toy like it. It ends up looking like a brown furry nothing, but it starts out with stovepipe cleaner legs with no head or tail.

Thimble's problem with fetch is that Colby often swipes the toy, and then Thimble is left with nothing to bring back. I told him he could bring another toy, but that's the kind he learned to fetch with and I suppose nothing else will do.

Then also, once Thimble dropped it so it went into the tiny space between my rear end and the back of the settee. I made the mistake of reaching for it behind my back, in order to not put my hand down in the space of Thimble's paws and toy. The fingers emerging from behind my back were so very interesting that ever after that, when he brought the toy back he'd deliberately drop it there in the hopes that I'd do it again. (Um, no, I realized that was a bad idea the second after I did it.)

I managed to get video of it, but you will have to excuse the shakiness; it's very hard to take a video while you're also part of the playtime!
Colby is so silly when he falls asleep. Thimble often is a bit more dignified, but today I managed to get a picture of both of them looking silly!
Thimble is not only sleeping with
his mouth open, but he's leaning
on my arm as well. Completely asleep.
However, today Apricot stole the show with the whole playing full-body play-fight with Colby. Unfortunately that happened so fast I didn't register "I should take a video of this" before it was over. Sigh.

Also, something I forgot to mention in my week's impressions post. They're hot. I'm always cold, but when the two of them fall asleep on me, I suddenly start regretting the layers of clothing I'm wearing. I had forgotten how hot kitten body temperature runs!

Saturday, January 3, 2015

The Vacuum Monster and The Greeting Ritual

This is Saturday. On Saturday, I vacuum the house.
Hiding from the vacuum cleaner.
Cropped from a much large picture since I
was actually vacuuming at the time I took it,
and I wasn't very close.

This was not well received.

Putting things in their proper order, however ... I went for my morning walk and when I came back, Thimble and Colby were in the cradle of the big kitchen cat tree, waiting for me. I announced my homecoming as usual (this is something I have been doing for Apricot's sake, to let him know that it's just me, nobody else. If I have someone else with me, I don't do the announcement).

Thimble has seen Apricot do upside-down kitty, and Thimble adores the whole concept. He gets to be petted and investigate my shoes? It's heaven! Being in the kitchen to start with, he gets there faster than Apricot. But the past two days, and today was no exception, Apricot has come in anyway. He just comes on the other side of me so I have Thimble on one side expecting pets and Apricot on the other.

As to how I am supposed to undo my shoelaces I don't suppose either of them has bothered to figure out. Usually Apricot leaves first, and that gives me a hand free.

Then I walked into the bedroom, asking in general if anybody wanted to "help me come clean up." This is another phrase Apricot knows, so I was accompanied by all three cats. Apricot, however, knows Saturday. He knows because of the laundry that gets started before the walk, and because the night before I sort out the laundry on the kitchen floor (I had help from Thimble and Colby last night).

So he left the bedroom even before I'd gotten started changing clothes. Thimble and Colby didn't pay him much notice. They should learn that Apricot knows things, important things. I shut the door, and this did cause Thimble's ears to perk up, but he didn't see much to worry about considering I was in the room too.

Then I started putting everything I can lift off the floor, and this was strange enough to get both kittens' attention. For a moment. My bedskirt has a narrow place behind it before the bed itself meets the floor, and this provides a great deal of ambush and pounce fun for the two of them. I finished the bedroom, found and toted both kittens out with me, and shut the bedroom door again (and also the door to the tv room and the unretrievable couch.)

It was when I put their toys up that they started getting worried. I was followed out to the living room, where I found Apricot still on ground level. That was a bit unusual. I put everything else up, and then got the vacuum monster out.

Both kittens, I think, followed me back into the pink room, but I took the one who made it all the way in out into the hallway again, and then plugged the cleaner in and turned it on, and this precipitated a drastic flight down the hallway into the living room.

When I got into the living room, I found both kittens sitting apprehensively in the green cup of the stair cat tree, and, much to my astonishment, Apricot sitting in his Thinking Spot on his cat tree. He's never been there before when I vacuum. He's always in the Ops Deck. I wonder if he was trying to show the kittens he wasn't all that-scared-if-you-know-what-I-mean. I was hoping their presence might make him a little braver.

Well, Apricot has an established "run" point. I come into his section of the living room, but only along the wall, (which extends a little bit into the room), and then I turn and vacuum the part in front of that bookshelf, so both my back and the vacuum cleaner's "back" are turned to him. This is where he thinks it's safe enough to make a run for the bedroom and under the headboard. The cleaner can't easily get into the hallway again because it's gone around two corners, unlike when it goes into the bathroom (right next to the living room but also gives out onto the hallway directly) or when it goes into the foyer (the foyer is what makes this whole roundy-roundy area so confusing. I live here and I can't keep it straight in my head.)

Apricot ran, but the kittens didn't. The vacuum cleaner could clearly see them so they stayed paralyzed in their "hiding" place. But soon after Apricot's run point, I get to the end of my cord and have to switch plug-in spots. I always make the vacuum cleaner start up again as soon as I can so nobody thinks it's safe to come out. However, this is also the stage at which I pause and get the second load of laundry out (the first load goes in before my walk, the second after the walk) and start the dryer, and, when Pippin lived here, it was when he got his "free ride" back to the pink room.

I have a policy of one free ride per cat per vacuuming session. If you come back out into the living room, tough. You can make your own way past the cleaner the second time. Pippin, I believe, liked to scare himself, and despite his free ride would often pass me before I got to the cleaner again and go ensconce himself in the kitchen, and then watch with wide, terrified eyes when I vacuumed the kitchen.

Colby was still in the green cup, but Thimble had found the motivation to run. Only he'd run into the kitchen, since running past the cleaner seemed a stupid idea to him. (It's the best idea, but I can see how it wouldn't be logical at first.) So I took Colby past the (running) vacuum and into the pink room. He was terrified as we went by but settled down as soon as it was behind us, and he was thrilled to find all the toys on the floor again in the pink room.

Then I did the laundry switchover. I didn't see Thimble anywhere, and figured he probably went behind the washer and dryer. So when I started the dryer (and no Thimble appeared) I went to the middle of the kitchen and said, "Thimble, if you're in here, you're going to find this is a very bad idea." I wasn't expecting anything. I was mostly setting triggers up for next time. (In other words; I would say that, then vacuum, Thimble would be scared. Next week if he runs into the kitchen again, I would say the same phrase, with the same intonation, and Thimble might remember and leave.)

But he came out from under the chairs and table legs, where I hadn't seen him, and right up to me. So I praised him, picked him up, and gave him his free ride back to the pink room. He was very happy to see his toys and his Colby again.

After I finished up I put all the living room toys back on the floor (that's the last step) and had both kittens there before I even completed the task. I think they heard the mouse squeak when I dropped it on the floor. Well, that's them sorted, I thought, now for Apricot.

As usual, he was under the headboard, looking determined to stay there (and a bit sleepy). So I told him it was safe and went to take my bath. Neither kitten has been in the bathroom with me during a shower; I invited them to come in last time, but the heater running sounded a bit growly and they declined the invitation.

When I came out, Apricot was out in the living room, playing with the kittens, in their usual standoffish way.

Last night I'd had to break up a session of three-way Thunder Cat in order to put everyone to bed. Thunder Cat is where they race from one end of the house to the other and back again. Chasing happens as well but it's sort of secondary to the whole process. And Apricot had been right in the thick of things!

Now when I have to leave for my parents' house for breakfast (a Saturday morning tradition), I usually give Apricot a goodbye kiss. I tried this morning, but he was in the middle of pouncing on the tunnel with Colby in it, watched closely by Thimble, and he (Apricot) didn't appreciate the interruption!

So that was the Vacuum Monster; everything went as well as could be expected, which was certainly nice.

The Greeting Ritual happens when I come back (it's in the same post as the upside-down kitty link). This was the first time I'd left and come back with all the cats in the house all together. I didn't know how this would go.

Upside-down kitty went like it had before; Thimble first, and Apricot joining in.

Then Apricot walked over to where I sit down and pet him and looked over his shoulder at me, and I hastened to do as bidden and sat down properly for him. He curled up against me, his head where my fingers could scratch his neck and chest and the edges of his chin, and my other hand could pet him, full body strokes, slow and gentle and caressing.

Colby, on the other side of one leg, watched in fascination and after a while, propped himself over my leg with a kind of "man I wish that were me" sigh. Apricot's tail went right by his head.

Thimble was a more active kind of jealous. He was on the other side of Apricot, watching me. I don't know that he's ever seen anybody get petted like that. At first he thought maybe it was a game, and reached out to touch my hand as it glided over the end of Apricot and returned to the head of Apricot. But as I ignored him, and my hand didn't react in any way to his soft paw of inquiry, he decided it wasn't a game.

After a bit more watching (Apricot was taking longer than usual to get a fill-up of loving, probably because we hadn't done this properly all week), Thimble decided that the game was "love on Apricot" and wanted to participate. He tried washing the end of Apricot, but the fluff at Apricot's legs defeated him (Thimble's own ruff isn't big enough yet for him to have experience washing long hair), and so he came up and tried to wash Apricot's ear and neck.

I tried very hard not to let my trepidation show in my hands or my breathing. This is something that could go very wrong.

Thimble washed the thick fur next to Apricot's ear, a long swipe with his (relatively) tiny tongue, and then sniffed at Apricot's ear and backed off, looking confused.

Remember Apricot's ear problems, with the yeast infection? I don't think it ever goes away, since the yeast is part of what's supposed to be in his ear (just not that much of it). I think it flares up every so often, and if you irritate the ear, it causes a flareup. (So I never scratch Apricot's ears underneath the ear flap anymore, no matter how much he likes it. It's been a real pleasure being able to rub and scratch Thimble and Colby's ears, because I am good at it, and they get such joy out of it.)

And I think Thimble could smell something "off" in Apricot's ear, and he wasn't sure what to think of it.

What did Apricot think of being washed, even a few licks? He was so sleepy and happy that he didn't even register any kind of complaint, not even muscle tension much less actual movement. I think this was the best possible time for Thimble to come try to wash him, although I would never have thought that before it happened!

Friday, January 2, 2015

A Week's Musings

Since I brought them home last Saturday night, technically it hasn't been a whole week yet. But Saturdays are always busy for me, even if I'm not getting new friends, and I thought I would do a week review here.

Well, I don't know what to call it exactly. Just random thoughts and observations about our new friends, Colby and Thimble.
The kitchen floor is littered with cats!
See how Apricot is interested in their play?
He wants to join in but can't figure out how.
I think he's sitting on his paws to keep from tempation!

Today went like yesterday, with everyone being friends, and Apricot trying to join in the play sometimes. Apricot doesn't want to have his head tackled, and he doesn't want to roll around on the floor with them. But he wouldn't mind being included in some of the less physical games.

So he and Colby chase each other every so often. It's a little astonishing and even alarming to see them go past, especially when Apricot's in the lead. But it happens the other way around too, and usually Apricot comes back quite quickly when he's the one being chased. Today once he didn't, and I was just about to go see where he was when he came down the hallway, licking his chops.

Apparently he used the chase game to get some time alone with his food dish!

Then, as we were preparing dinner (I was doing all the work and Apricot was supervising while the two played), Apricot (taking a break from supervision) runs past Colby and actually pounces him. I couldn't tell if he made contact or not. He didn't come close enough to make the kind of contact that would make Colby move, but he might have brushed him. Colby just stared after him in a kind of astonishment.

Thimble is still treating Apricot with wary respect. Colby's the one playing with him. Then again, Thimble's the one who got thumped, so he has more of a reason to respect Apricot.

And Apricot came to be on my lap, twice. Once on the settee, and once in the tv room. He made sure the lap was free of kittens before he came over. In usual Apricot fashion, he didn't stay very long. I was reassured, though. The lap thing is very new for him and I'm glad he's continuing the "grand experiment." I get the feeling that being on my lap is, indeed, an experiment for him, and one where he hasn't made up his mind yet if he truly likes it or not.

It was, however, a little startling when he got on my lap, not because I didn't see him coming (he always asks first) but because he's so heavy after the two little light-weights.

I was prepared for Maine Coons. Big cats. Somehow the fact that they're only Pocket Maine Coons right now escaped the part of my brain that expects things without telling me about it.

So ... things I have discovered.

Thimble loves being held like a baby. He would prefer to sleep this way, in my arms. Even at 5 pounds, though, he gets heavy after a while. He'll put his long paws up on my chest, up toward my chin, when he's on my lap, in the hopes of getting me to cradle him. And I do, because I won't be able to do so for long. He'll get too big or too heavy, one or the other, far too soon.

Thimble also wants to wash me. Thimble wants to wash the world. He's very fond of washing Colby, to the point where Colby doesn't do a very good job washing himself because he knows soon enough he'll get pinned down and washed by Thimble. I discourage the washing, and Thimble is disappointed, but very persistent. Thimble has yet to try to wash Apricot. I wonder how that will go.

Colby, on the other hand, is like the grasshopper in Aesop's Fables. He wants to play all day (and sleep). He does seem disappointed when he can't be on my lap closest to me because Thimble's there. Sometimes he'll come up and get there when Thimble's off doing something else (often when Thimble has fallen asleep somewhere else). And then Thimble will wake up and come over and sit on top of him, and depending on how sleepy Colby is this results in either a fight or Colby moving over so he can sleep in peace.

Apricot is currently living in a state of astonishment at their behavior.

Thimble has discovered that if you pull at the bucket in the bathtub, it will attack you by falling over with a loud clatter and spilling water on your toes. He didn't like that.

Colby growls at his toys when he has them in his mouth.

Thimble of all people is scared of the computer printer. It makes noise, you see. Colby and Apricot barely flicked an ear, but Thimble ran every time. Possibly because he was closer to it ... he was sitting on the desk at the time, right beneath it. Ah, well, he'll get used to it.

They have also turned ambushing each other outside the litter box's box into a game. I'm glad the main two litter boxes have clear sides so ambushing isn't a possibility. At least they can all go to the bathroom in peace if they don't use the one in the living room.

Colby was waiting outside to ambush Thimble when he came out. Only it wasn't Thimble in the litter box, it was Apricot. Colby backed down so fast he almost fell over backwards. Apricot regarded him with a raised eyebrow (metaphorically), as if to say, "Yes? You were planning to do what again?"

Colby will let me kiss him on his head and is well on his way to enjoying it. He's also getting the concept of my hand being held at head height and slightly cupped as an invitation to come over and pet yourself on it.

Thimble, on the other hand, does not want to be kissed on the head. I'm not sure if I should persist or if I should simply let him observe what he's missing from the interactions I have with Apricot (who loves it) and Colby.

Favoritism ... I find it very odd to discover that I'm not actually having a problem with this. When I had Pizza and Tiger, I tried very hard to be fair with both of them, even though I loved Pizza best. Now I realize that trying to be "fair" just confuses the cats. They know there's a ranking, and if you honor that, they are reassured and comforted to know that things are the way they should be. If I greet and pet Colby before I pet Thimble, I get nervous looks from Colby and irritated ones from Thimble, and nobody's happy.

When Thimble didn't quite know where he stood in the house, it made him a bit unsettled. Now that he's sure Apricot ranks above him, he's happy, as long as I don't confuse things. This does, by the way, mean that sometimes I have to do things in an inefficient manner, by going all the way to the other side of the room to greet Apricot first, then come back to the middle for Thimble, and then Colby, who is usually where Thimble is, so at least I don't have to make a triangle run!

Of course, the greeting and goodbye order only applies for those occasions; I pet whoever roams up to me while I'm just in the living room reading or whatnot. But I thought I'd have more problems than this, trying to honor their system while suppressing my need to be "fair." Somewhere along the way I lost that, though. Apricot comes first, and then the other two in whatever order they're comfortable with.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Things Just Keep Getting Better

So I took this picture and immediately posted it to Instagram and Facebook (I don't normally do both) simply because it was so incredibly unbelievable.
Colby, Apricot, Thimble, from left to right.
Apricot was there first. Colby climbed up and asked permission before settling down. Apricot didn't actually understand that's what he meant and growled just a little bit, and Colby instantly hunkered down, like "I was just asking!" But when Apricot didn't do anything else, Colby curled up and started his power nap.

Thimble saw this and climbed up too. He seemed a bit nervous, but climbed onto the perch he's on without actually asking permission or even looking at Apricot. My little orange cat just watched him. After a while Thimble, who had been steadfastly looking out the window, finally settled in for a nap. And Apricot put his own head down, turning half on his side which is a comfort thing for him (it indicates he's okay with the situation) and went to sleep.

I called my mom just because I had to talk to someone, anyone, before I exploded! (And I picked her because if I had to talk to someone, she's the one I'd want to be talking to.) While I talked to her, the three of them stayed napping for about 15-20 minutes before the kittens woke up and came down to play.

That was good enough, but it gets better. 

Around noon, Apricot came down. He was walking tall but he started doing strange things. Kind of ... I thought at first he was scared of them again. But I finally figured it out.

He was playing. His version of play involves a lot of ambush (thus the hiding around a corner and peering at the kittens, making me think he was scared) and a lot of pretense (thus the occasional collapse onto the floor and wash or scratch a scratching post, as if he had no other idea in the world). 

Thimble, still a bit nervous of overstepping his bounds, didn't really engage, but Colby finally figured out what he was doing and tried to join in.

The kittens' idea of playtime involves a lot of head tackling, and neither Apricot nor Colby knew how to get their play styles to come together in the middle. Apricot really didn't want physical contact, and Colby wasn't sure how to play without it. But they tried. The highlight for me was when Colby chased Apricot down the hall into the pink room, and then (before I could panic), Apricot chased Colby back through the hall into the living room. Mutual exchange. 

I was just incredulous, my jaw pretty much hanging on the floor. I tried to get video or pictures, but since most of what they were doing was long-distance, I didn't get anything that really showed it. I mean, what are you going to think, a picture of Apricot hunched behind the desk? It looks like he's scared, except for the fact that he was jumping out at Colby half the time and the other half the time Colby was coming around the corner too fast and startling him.

And it gets better.

Later, in broad daylight, some idiots who hadn't shot off all their fireworks last night decided to do so. In the middle of the day, let me repeat. Huh? Why spend money for fireworks and then use them in sunlight? This scared Apricot into the Ops Deck again.

But after a while, with the kittens sacked out asleep on my lap, he decided to join us. He came down of his own accord and over to me where he jumped into his hammock next to the settee, curled up, and slept.

All three of them, within five feet of each other. 
After supper, our new tradition is that I lure the kittens into the pink room with a ribbon dangling behind me, toss them a few treats each, and shut them in. Then I go play with Apricot with the feather toy, because there is no way they'd wait their turn. Earlier I was playing with them with a toy on the floor and Apricot actually indicated that he wanted to join, but since every time I dragged the toy in his direction it was followed closely by two bouncy kitties, he decided against the concept.

So not only did we play with the feathers tonight, but I got that same toy out and let him pounce on it a few times. He seemed appreciative. When he seemed done, I asked if he wanted me to let them out. He raced past me into the bedroom, giving me a bit of a turn as it was so similar to what he'd done this morning in hiding.

But no, he just wanted a chance to have some supper without being bothered. I waited until he finished, and then let them out. They're always very bouncy and enthusiastic after the pink room wait, and I swear Apricot and I gave each other identical looks of, "they may be nice but they're exhausting to be around!"

Let's hope the night's sleep doesn't regress anyone's behaviors!

The Black Cat Visits and Thimble is a Computer Cat

I'm not sure why this never occurred to me. Somehow I thought that once I provided indoor friends for Apricot, his outdoor friends would not show up, or he wouldn't pay them any attention, or something like that. Which is silly; of course they'd still show up, and Apricot isn't fickle with his attentions so he's not going to throw them over just because he's finally begun to feel his way toward the beginning of friendship with Thimble and Colby.

I heard a cat, sounded almost like a cat in heat, but I really don't know all the different sounds a cat in heat makes, so perhaps not. However, the cat in black is now going to be referred to as Apricot's girlfriend. Just in case.

Shortly after this calling, which alerted Apricot, the black cat showed up on the porch. Apricot ran over to the patio doors and was very fascinated, staring intently at the black cat. The outside cat, not particularly bothered by the attention, stayed around for a little while and then slowly strolled off, causing Apricot to follow from one window to the next.

Colby and Thimble clearly thought he'd lost his mind, as suddenly they weren't the most important things for Apricot to keep track of.

Oh well, I suppose we will all get used to things like this.

***

Thimble is a computer cat. I am typing, and he is on the desk beside the laptop, watching the screen or my flying fingers with much fascination. He's getting a little tired, or perhaps hypnotized, I don't know. Last night he got rather damp from being spritzed to keep him from walking on the keyboard. Today he has gotten within a hair's width of walking on the keyboard but hasn't actually done it.
The mouse on the screen: endless amusement.
Even if he can't try to catch it.

Today is Colby's turn to get wet because he kept playing with the wires underneath the desk. Colby doesn't seem interested enough in what I'm doing to stay here for long, but as I've noted before, Colby has a bad case of Kitten ADHD.

It's kind of nice having Thimble here getting in my way. I remember that Pippin used to do this, and it's something I'd actually forgotten up until now.