Continuing Kitten Antics

Not surprisingly, Hide and Seek are still silly, energetic, and curious. The result is sometimes...hmm. Interesting may be the word.

Exhibit 1: I have a dangly mousie that hooks over the door on my bedroom door. The cats go crazy for it. On the other side of the door, I have my ironing board on a door-hook-thing. One morning recently, I woke up to a thunderous noise. Thinking the house was falling down around me, I jumped up to investigate. It turns out that Hide had managed to bat the mousie over the door. The cacophony was the sound of him climbing the ironing board to retrieve his toy.

Exhibit 2: Turns out, Seek likes clothes. If I open my closet door for more than a millisecond, both cats take advantage and go in to play (their names are appropriate, after all). Last week, I discovered Seek standing on my clothes. No, not on a pile of clothes on the floor or a shelf. ON THE CLOTHES ON HANGERS. I don't know how he got there or why he thought it was a good idea, but he's done it several times, so it must be fun.

Exhibit 3: They also, not surprisingly, like to jump up on the kitchen cabinets, where they can look down on me from their superior position. Typically, they jump to the counter next to the fridge (the only counter area they're allowed to be!), then up on top of the fridge, then to the cabinets. Okay, not abnormal, right? What is surprising is that, if I have the freezer door open, Hide will jump from the floor into the freezer. That's right, he jumps straight up about four feet into the FREEZER. Why? My only guess is that he likes surprising me.

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll have more ridiculous cat stories in days to come.

For Hide & Seek's fans

Here are a few videos of Hide and Seek being silly last night. I love the fact that in less than three months, these two have gone from timid, frightened kittens to bold and happy goofballs!

This one's just Seek. He was being very silly last night.



This is another one of just Seek. Right before I took this, he had jumped halfway up the lamp & grabbed the post, then slid down fireman-style!



This one is Hide and Seek playing. My favorite part is the mouse snatch!

When I was playing this back to make sure everything was okay with it, Hide heard me meowing (on the video) and came running.

As you can see (from all three videos), Seek REALLY likes that lamp. I'm glad that my fosters are so silly!

Look how big they're getting!

 Here are couple of recent pictures of Hide and Seek. They're getting so big, it's hard to believe how tiny they were when they first came to live with me!

These first two are of Hide and Seek investigating Gus. I took them about a week ago. 

 

This is one I took just a few minutes ago. The kittens have been rambunctious for the past two days, so it was lovely to capture them in a moment of quiet.

Seriously--check out how big they've gotten!

This video must be from a couple of weeks ago (I can tell by the mess in the background). Hide and Seek are "helping" me work on my laptop, then they're entertaining me by playing with their cat dancer (see here, too. This toy is one of the best things I've gotten for Hide and Seek!). 

This video is from tonight. I took it right after the still picture of Hide and Seek snoozing.The quality on this one isn't great, because the kittens are kind of in shadow. Still, you can get an idea of how much they've grown.





If they're this big at six months, I can't wait to see how big they are as adults!

The Adventures of Hide and Seek!

Hide and Seek went to the vet to be neutered yesterday. As always, they were shy and skittish in the unfamiliar place. The surgery went well, though, and both kittens are fine. When I went to pick them up last night, however, I had to wait a very long time for them to be brought out. Finally, the vet tech came out and explained to me that Seek had tried to make a break for it, and they had to catch him! (In the process, he managed to cause some bleeding, but fortunately there were no stitches for him to rip.)

The vet tech acted like it was abnormal for Seek to have tried to run. My thoughts were more along the lines of "I'm surprised he waited till the end of the day!" Anyway, both kittens are home safe now. They're happy and comfortable, and were uber-affectionate this morning :) I love my kitties!

Hide, Seek, and Cody

UPDATE: CODY WAS ADOPTED!!! HE'S NOW LIVING IN HIS FOREVER HOME :)

Hide and Seek have a new friend in the house! His name is Cody, and he is a Shepherd-Collie mix (we think). He's about 3 years old, and is as sweet as can be! He arrived Saturday afternoon; he adjusted to his new home with no problems.

 Meet Cody, our new roommate!

He isn't phased by the kittens at all (although he's definitely interested in their food!). Hide and Seek have taken a little bit to accept him into their home, but after a few hours, they seem to have gotten over their initial annoyance and warmed up to him. By the end of the evening, they were both out in the living room playing with each other and us humans in full sight of the dog--this is big progress for them :) This is a big step closer to adoptability for both the kittens and for Cody; being accustomed to other animals is a huge plus for foster animals.

Such a good boy!

In other big kitten progress, I had a friend over this afternoon (it was great seeing you, Angela!). Part of the process of getting basically feral kittens to the point of being adoptable is socializing them. Part of socializing them, of course, is having them meet and interact with new people. Hide and Seek did so well! They not only came out to see Angela, but they let her pet them and give them treats. They totally showed off for her! There were some very cute moments--especially some windowsill posing--that were clearly intended to impress their guest.

Seek stretched out in the window, enjoying our admiration.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Hide and Seek enjoying the view of the back yard

Both kittens are at the point that they'll let me pick them up & cuddle them (usually only for a minute or so, but sometimes for long snuggle sessions), and they'll come out to investigate a new person. I'm very proud of the progress these two are making! they've come from timid, terrified kittens who would barely come out from under the couch to bold explorers eager to meet new people and have new adventures. That's a lot of progress for three weeks!

I hope that all three animals will keep up their fabulous progress and find the perfect forever homes they need. :)

Pet Fostering Updates

Alba went to a new foster home a few weeks ago. We decided that since Alba is pretty shy & timid, and Alice can be hyper (and she was frankly dominating Alba), they would do better separately. Well, Alba is doing fabulously at her new foster home! She seems to be happy and perky, and she can run around and have a wonderful time with the horses at her new place. Alice is also doing really well; she's calmed down a lot and is being better behaved :)

My other big news on the foster front is that I now have two foster kittens! A couple weeks ago, Kara got an email from a coworker (from another teacher in a different school) about these two kittens who needed a good home. I jumped at the chance, and Rachel agreed that we could take them in. I went to pick them up on Friday, August 14 after work. When I met them, I was instantly charmed. I also learned some more about their background, and it's a bit heartbreaking. Their mother was a pet in a neighbor's house (this is in a townhouse neighborhood), and when she got pregnant, the humans put her out in the shed. The apparently stopped bothering to feed her, and when the kittens came, they didn't feed them either. Eventually, the humans moved, leaving the cat and her kittens behind. When Sara (the wonderful person who sent the original email about the kitties) realized this--and further realized that the mother cat was scavenging in garbage cans to feed her kittens--she started putting out cat food for them. They gradually warmed up to Sara, and she sent out the email to find them a good home.

They came home with me Friday evening, and were pretty scared of being in a new place. Because of their penchant for hiding under furniture (couches, bookshelves, tables, you name it), I named them Hide and Seek. Hide is still a bit on the shy side, but is getting bolder by the day. Seek is bold and adventurous--but still shy when he meets new people. They both come out when I'm home. They like to hang out with me :) Seek loves to be petted and has a wonderful purr, and he even lets me pick him up sometimes. Hide has let me pet her a few times and pick her up once. Her purr is softer, but still quite lovely. They have mock fights and kitty wrestling matches several times a day, and it's hilarious to watch them! As I type this, they're curled up on the couch with me. Seek likes to walk across my laptop keyboard--I've had to redo several portions of this blog post because of his "help"!


Hide and Seek are sweet and playful, and I'm glad they came to stay with me!