May 28th Jack and I went to pick up a piano for the Gilford community church. As we were leaving we saw a sign down the street :
As we drove past the sign Jack and I both commented about getting a kitten. Finally he said to me "you're serious about this aren't you?" With that we turned around and picked up a kitten.
Cloud was 6 weeks old white with beautiful blue eyes which will stay blue. She is a Persian cross and will probably be averaged sized with medium length hair.
The debate went on over what to name her: Snow,Snowball,Fluffy,Tas (Tasmanian Devil) - I liked that one she is a bit wild. Many others that I can't recall. Cloud was the only one that one of the three of us didn't immediately veto.
Loki loves to play with Cloud but he can be a bit rough with her
at times. We never leave them alone for more than just a moment
and keep telling Loki to be gently. He really does seem to be
trying real hard. But sometimes he gets so excited he gets a
little too enthusiastic. Mom had been complaining that Loki was
her shadow and wouldn't leave her alone. Suddenly he almost
completely ignored her and would try to get into my room for HOURS!
I put a plywood barrier in front of my door to keep Loki out and
Cloud in. Mom doesn't complain anymore but at times Loki is a
real pain to ME and I kick him downstairs.
Well the barriers worked for about a week and then Cloud found out
she could jump up, catch the top edge of the plywood and pull herself
up and over. Soon she would dash and take a running leap and be
over the barrier in a flash. SO! Back into the basement I
went and cut some more plywood and came up with additions. Now
the old lower barrier (23" High) is covered by a new upper
barrier (22" High). She has yet to jump this 45" high
barrier but now we have to remove the upper barrier and then step
over the lower barrier.
Cloud doesn't have any problems with riding in the car. We
drove down to NJ a 7 hour trip both ways and she had no problems
whatsoever. In fact Loki enjoyed the trip somewhat too - he had
something to distract him from the BORING car ride.
Cloud sleeps alot but when she gets her motor wound up watch out! She arches her back, puffs her tail, hisses and dashes all over the place - Oh kittens are fun. When she is really feeling feisty even Loki has to watch out because she will go after him with teeth and claws. We had her claws trimmed when she went to the vets in early June and it may have been a poor idea because Loki could then get much closer to her. Now that the claws are getting sharper I notice that Loki is starting to back away a little more often.
Well the 2nd plywood barrier only worked for about a week.
Then I had to make a netting barrier to go into the door. Now
that she is 13 weeks old we let her roam around the house during the
day and lock her up in my room at night after Jack and Joan go to
bed. NOTHING stops her except solid barries now. She
jumps/climbs over anything else. So now we keep those doors
closed.
July 25th -> Cloud now weighs in at over 4 lbs - she was 1 lb 10 oz when we first got her. She is definitely an adolescent and can give Loki a hard time when she is feisty enough. She likes spending time down in the shop pestering Jane and Phil as well as anyone else who happens to be there. Dashing out onto fabric is one of her favorite pastimes - WHEEEE she loves how the fabric slides on the table. Do you know how hard it is to cut some fabric when a cat is dashing across it? She seems to be taking Barneys place with Phil. At lunch time he feeds her carrots,peas,corn and vegetable hotdogs and she loves it!
Well Cloud caught a mouse last night! She played with it for
a while but then it escaped. It is a start though. Jack
wants her to catch squirrles - that will take awhile. I am
letting her roam downstairs late at night in the hope that she will
learn to stalk the mice and eventually catch them. That will
also cut down on her food bill!
Aug 18th - We cann't keep Cloud from escaping so I have hatched out a plan. We let her out during the day and keep her in at night. So far it is working.