A Tale of Two Kittens

Yep, that's Roulette and Blackjack up there, this time in my house, where they spent the weekend. They came down on Friday evening and they spent the weekend (mostly) shut up in my front bedroom, albeit with lots of visits from and playtime with Debbi and me.

Roulette has become much more outgoing since last Sunday. She still prefers to be "in control", coming to you rather than having you pick her up, but she loves to play, and is very frisky. The two of them pounce on each other frequently, and they adjusted to my house pretty quickly. They ate food, drank water, and used their litter.

They also came to appreciate the windows and their view on the street, which kept them entertained off-and-on all weekend. And they loved to curl up on my blanket-covered futon to sack out. They also discovered the joy of lying in a sunbeam.

Saturday we opened the door and let them meet my cats. And it was, well, it didn't go badly but it wasn't what I expected.

Newton and Jefferson had been nosing at the door whenever I was in the room. Jefferson was the first to meet the kittens, and I guess I shouldn't be surprised that he hissed at them. Roulette put her fur up, but got over it pretty quickly. Blackjack didn't seem to mind Jeff or to be bothered by his hissing. Jefferson came into the room and scoped it out, but left not long after (he'd do this several times during the weekend). Newton, however, was pretty intimidated by the room, which smelled pretty clearly of "other cats" by this time. Like Jefferson, he hissed at the kittens, but he didn't do more than step a few feet into the room and then retreat. Both Newton and Jeff were inclined to head downstairs (to "their" space?) pretty quickly.

We did let Roulette and Blackjack explore down the hall a little, but not very far.

Saturday night we opened the door again and Debbi played with the kittens with a feather flyer in the front room, while I played with Newton (and a little with Jeff) with another of the same toy in my bedroom down the hall. Roulette soon noticed another feather flyer down the hall and trotted down to explore. Blackjack later did the same. We got a little further this time: Jefferson and Roulette bumped noses, and Newton sniffed Blackjack from behind, but both encounters ended in cat-hisses. This time, though, the kittens retreated, apparently knowing that this was not Their Space.

Blackjack did briefly get "trapped" in the bedroom with Newton standing by the only door out, but when he mewed a couple of times I picked him up and carried him back.

I made sure to give Newton and Jeff lots of attention and love, and not to try to scold them much for hissing. I'm encouraged that the kittens seemed to defer to the larger cats, and that the cats didn't take any swiped at the kittens (Roulette did almost try to pounce Jeff's tail once, but it didn't happen).

Thursday the kittens come to stay here for a week. So I'll probably try again next weekend while Debbi's away. I may get a gate for the door so the cats and kittens can see and sniff each other while still having a barrier in between.

We have had one point of worry this weekend: Blackjack's mood. He was a high-energy kitten when we picked him up last Sunday, but Thursday Debbi said he had gotten pretty lethargic and she was worried. Friday and Saturday he seemed back to his old self, pouncing on his sister, etc. Debbi slept with them Friday night and said they were both running around until after 1 am.

But starting late Saturday afternoon he started spending most of his time sleeping, or at least lying down. He would play a little, but kind of half-heartedly, and he didn't much want to wrestle with Rou.

Both cats checked out clean of all the major cat diseases. He was on de-worming medication for the two weeks before Debbi got him, and Saturday afternoon we even dropped off a stool sample (before he started dragging; it was already planned) which came out negative for worms and parasites. He's not sneezing, he's still eating, drinking and using his litter, and he doesn't seem to be in pain. He can still jump (I went up this afternoon and both cats had jumped up on a bookcase to look out the window). So, we're kind of baffled.

My friend John was over today to visit them (and we also went to the farmer's market and to lunch), and after he left I went up to join Debbi to see them. Then we had a little scare: I picked up my Cats for Dummies book, which had been sitting on the futon where the kittens snooze and... found a little white worm on my finger. Ewww! And not a good sign!

Then I realized that right as John was leaving, my bag of nectarines had fallen off the counter and I had to pick one up and put it back in the bag. It seemed like a longshot, but I looked and, yep, there was a little gouge in the top of the nectarine, and I sliced it open and found little tunnels in the fruit. Ewww! Okay, too much information, but it now seems likely that the worm came from the fruit and was brought up on my hand (ewww!), and didn't come from one of the kittens. Whew! (I'm happy to sacrifice my nectarines for healthy kitties!)

Anyway, Debbi has taken them home, and hopefully they will perk up a bit. There are lots of things that might make Blackjack subdued: The room is rather warm and his coat is dark; he's just stressed from all the travelling and from meeting the cats; maybe he plays so hard for a couple of days that he really needs a full day of sleep to relax; maybe it's a hormonal thing, as he's not yet fixed (he's too young). Psychoanalyzing cats seems like a losing effort, so Debbi's going to call and ask the vet their opinion tomorrow. My hope is that he'll perk up before then and she can stop worrying.

On the bright side, we did go to Pet People and bought a cat tree for Debbi's apartment. She really wanted something for Roulette (in particular) to climb, and we checked out several places and found these folks had a tree that wasn't expensive and was basically what she wanted. It just barely fit in my car (with the front seat pushed all the way down), and we got it back with only a little struggle. I think it'll be cool.

Pet People have the coolest cat trees. I discovered them by accident one time when I was living in Campbell, I think driving by because I was trying to decide if I wanted to spend more time hanging out in Los Gatos. They're worth checking out, just for the "gosh wow" factor.