Okay, there’s only three of them. Helen and Pol, which we’re going to keep, and one for Marshall, little Harmony who look like one of those q-tips that’s starting to unravel and looks fuzzy.
This is Sweet Helen. We couldn’t get Pol to linger with us, though he played with Dan and let him tickle the little fuzzy belly.
Harmony was also really active, and didn’t linger, but I got a picture. She was determined to keep Cedar’s Toast stuck in a little Amazon box, so every time toast tried to pop up, she got smacked into cowering in the box again, which is very funny.
Here she was plotting how to steal the chicken treat from Helen. Um… she’s not bad but she’s very mischievous. She’s still a good and sweet kitten.
What surprised me was how tiny they were. I kind of expected them to be bigger from the pictures, but they’re not.
Anyway, since I’m in unreliable internet mode, I really cannot do the promo today. I’ll do it tomorrow, probably midday or something when I get home. We’ll be leaving very very early with kittens in the back. (Pray for us.)
Anyway, they were very cheering. We’ll see how the old sour pusses back home take to them. I expect Havey to be excited and adopt them, but Valeria might try to eat them, so we’ll see. (Again pray for us.)
See you tomorrow.
According To Hoyt 
Ok, I’m praying.
Also, they’re adorable.
Ditto, to both.
Kittens are proof that God loves us and wants us to not be bored. 😀
“Having kittens” and “being bored” does not go together. 😀
Precisely!
Meows!
Itty bitty kitties!
Adorable little floofs! Hope everyone adapts well when they get home!
Have Fun With The Kittens! (Especially when they met the older cats.) 😉
Kittens explain the real reason for the laser. The rest is just cover story.
Precious, adorable creatures… Probably plotting world domination, but who cares? So cute!
So cute!
The most dangerous critters in the universe “look cute”.
Fortunately, some “cute” dangerous critters don’t like to be called “cute”. 😈
The Flumphs are plotting world domination. They don’t even bother to kill anyone who discovers this, because no one will ever believe them.
Why would anyone want to spread the news? I, for one, would welcome a government of Flumphs.
Little fuzzy animals,
Little furry animals,
Little fuzzy animals with big, sharp, teeth.
“I am Kitten
When you’re bitten,
you will know.”
“I am Kitten
I will Win.”
“I am Kitten
When you’re bitten,
you will know.”
“I am Kitten
When I launch, my cute beanie toes, with tiny sharp needles,
you will know.”
“I am Kitten
I will Win.”
FIFY
LOL 😆
In one Science Fiction story universe I created (but never really wrote in), I had an alien species resembling Ewoks.
Well these Ewoks thought they were “ready to conquer the universe” so attacked & conquered two of their neighboring star nations.
Unfortunately, the Empire (a largely peaceful star nation that was the Biggest Guys around) decided to interfere with the Ewoks’ plans and quite quickly taught the Ewoks “proper manners”.
Currently these Ewoks have full membership status in the Empire and generally don’t cause problems for the Empire.
Unfortunately, a few of the younger members of their species have easily triggered tempers and while most species see the Ewoks as “cute” very few members of their species like being called “cute”.
So there are times when one of the Ewoks get into bar-fights when somebody calls him or her “cute”.
Doesn’t matter if the person calling him or her “cute” out-weighs them, they’ll go after the person.
Oh, some of the times they’ll win even if the person insulting them is triple (or more) their size.
Of course, the Imperial Navy frowns on them destroying bars. 😉
By the way, there are idiots out there in Star Wars fandom who decided that Ewoks would make “nice” emotional support beings. I imagine that most Ewoks would be insulted by That Idea! 😆
An entire species of furry Audie Murphys.
Yep!
“Splinter of the Mind’s Eye” an early Star Wars novel (maybe the first “expanded universe” item) had the Yuzzem. Sort of an intermediate between “Ewoks” and “Wookies” but with less restraint.
Ah yes, probably the only non-canonical SW novel I’ve read. I remembered (and just confirmed) that it was before Empire, so Luke didn’t know who his father was… Good times.
And Wiki agrees with the “expanded universe” idea for that book.
My impression of the Ewoks is that they are sapient. Anyone who demeans a sapient entity by reducing it to an “emotional support being” deserves what he gets.
Yep, the Ewoks were very definitely a tool using/creating sapient beings.
They don’t exist to “just be” emotional support beings.
What they mean is
“House Ewoks”
(Grin)
I was hoping we’d get pictures of the new kittens. Aww, they are so cute!
So cute!
We have a grumpy older cat too. She goes out of her way to ignore our other 3 cats, at worse hissing and growling at them. She primarily hides in son’s room coming out only at night to roam the house, and when it is time for son to prep the “good” (not dry) food. The latter she is perfectly fine with having the other 3 around.
OTOH we got our 4th cat because when the inlaws rescued her, their older inherited cat, would attack her. But the also live in confined quarters (a 5th wheel) VS a house where boundaries could be established (technically he did establish boundaries, “I get the 5th wheel and backyard, you get the big dog cage”). Our two younger cats adopted her immediately the first day.
The 3 younger cats are now 3 (brother & sister), and 2, years old. Grumpy cat is 10 years old.
I don’t know how so many people manage to get cats that like each other. We took great care in introducing younger cat (now almost 4) to the two older cats, who were 4 and 10 at the time, but they hate the poor guy to this day. Well, that’s not quite accurate; the old spinster cat doesn’t have enough energy to hate anything anymore.
The young guy is big and strong, and the older cats discovered that he was happy to ring their bell anytime they asked for it, so a detente was quickly reached — even if it’s frequently broken by his irresistible urge to play and chase. He’s a friendly sort, and I bet he’d take right to any cat that was willing to be friendly. Wish we could get him a companion…but we don’t have the space, and I’m not sure our persnickety middle-aged cat could handle another feline at this point anyway.
Up until Bits, the grumpy cat, we’ve never had problems with cats not getting along. We’ve never, ever, done the gradual introductions. Bits was cat #10 (or 11, I keep losing count). Not our first time bringing in cats when we had other cats.
Cat #1 showed up on our doorstep. Fed him. We now had a cat. Next day he shows up with his sister. We now have two outside (we weren’t suppose to have them) cats. Six months later find cat in log yard. Bring her home, sis takes to kitten. Brother has disappeared (found out he’d been killed over a year later). Since bottle feeding kitten, and do not know what has happened to brother, sis is kept in when we are not home (to heck with the rental) with kitten. A few months later, another stray shows up, #3. A few more months, pickup another newborn kitten out of the muck in the log yard, #4 (by now we’ve moved and bought). I have pictures of all 4 of these sleeping together (often or not, on the German Shepard we had then, or one of inlaws husky’s we would dog sit). Four different ages. Fast forward a few years, a 5th half grown kitten (probably 8 – 10 weeks) shows up at our door. Two years later lose the 5th cat to cancer. An 6 week kitten shows up at the door (rehomed himself, his new home existing cat kicked him out, fine with him living next door and dominating the neighborhood, just not living at his house), back to 5 cats. The first 4 cats all age out, passing (lived to be 15 to 19). We bring in 2 feral brothers. Then get conned for kitten kid bonds with. Again, have pictures of all 4 being buddies. One of the ex-feral brothers and the 4th kitten are the two elderly cats we had when Bits came into our lives.
When we got her we had two elderly cats. They weren’t into playing. When she was 14 months I found Thump, he was maybe 3 or 4 weeks old. A handful granted. Figured Bits would be thrilled. Another cat to play with. Nope. She never took to him. We then lost one elderly (age 19) cat, not long after I brought Thump home. It was 4 years later before we lost the other elderly cat (age 22). Then we suddenly lost Thump (age 5) 8 months later. By then we knew Bits would be less than thrilled about kitten or another cat, so we brought in a pair of kittens. While they’ve made, and still make invitations to play with her, they have each other, and later the most recent addition.
So, we are the other extreme. While we know, by others stories, introducing a new cat can be wrought with perils, we have never experienced it to an extreme. Not to the point where we’ve ever had to consider rehoming the new addition. We know it happens. Just not to us (knock on wood).
The only time our cats have been super unhappy with us, was 19 years and 11 months after we lost the German Shepard (age 14), we brought home a dog. Then 3 months after we lost her (age 10), we brought home a puppy. A video we have says it all. Cats: “You did WHAT?” The cat in the video bigger than her (she grew, obviously, but she isn’t that much bigger than the cats now).
Me either. Our cats kind of tolerate each other. Oldest Lady cat hates kittens, specifically (turns out she’s fine with other adult cats, so long as they are adult when she meets them–which is why she has gone to live with her Original Human–my youngest sibling–and his wife). Big Orange Cat and his brother (late and lamented) had a just-shy-of-hot war going on with the Oldest Lady from the time she was about 2 and they were kittens, though. She finally moved up on top of the fridge and freezer and they claimed the ground levels. Next oldest cat (Big Orange Cat, aka Italics) just barely tolerates the two youngest cats…although he does NOT appreciate the littlest black goblin stalking him and trying to ambush him. But as he is perfectly happy to hiss and whack her about the head when she does, they seem to manage an only-slightly-hostile detente most of the time.
The youngest two, meanwhile, are virtually siblings, by way of being kittens from litters rescued by the local pet rescue about the same time. So they are actually quite fond of one another and still cuddle/play/wrestle at two years old. Also, the slightly-older grey tabby keeps losing his brain cell, so most of the time he is too chill/dumb to care about much of anything beyond food and cuddles. (We really, really should have named him The Dude, after the Big Lebowski, but didn’t realize it when we did the naming. Just like we should have named the little black goblin, well, Goblin. So his nickname is Little Dude, and hers is Goblin, so it’s all good anyway)
We’ve hand raised two kittens at two different times. Which meant while still tiny, they each went with us when we went to the inlaws or my parents for weekend trips. Not a problem at my folks place (although they did have Mr. Cat, I think he just hid). Inlaws OTOH had Smoky. Smoky would come out and right behind would come toddling a little kitten. She’d hiss and go running off, with toddling kitten right behind her, at least until tiny kitten was exhausted. Tiny kitten couldn’t understand. After all everyone loved tiny kitten, even cats (the ones at home did anyway). We’ve had young kittens since then, but none as young as these two were, since the second one in ’81. Thump was ~24 days old. Tj and Amber were 5 weeks old. The rest were older.
We’ve raised kittens 3 times, and adopted one adult. In general we always got the kittens in pairs both kittens male (Not our specific choice, just what came around on the guitar when we adopted). To our first pair (Spike and Hurricane) we added an adult male (Hobbes). That worked after a fashion and not perfectly well. I think Hobbes had always been an only cat and so was not prone to put up with being anything but head cat. He finally ended up with my sister in law and was supremely happy as an only cat. When Hurricane died suddenly at ~10 years old (Heart attack or stroke unclear which) his sibling Spike became morose and would roam the house calling for his brother (If you are a cat person you are likely familiar with the “where are you?” call). We got a pair of kittens (Tyger and Mac). Spike was so annoyed he forgot to be lonely. Most amusing was Mac who loved Spike as his mommy. Spike finally gave in and let the kittens hang out with him. The kittens would sleep on him. They continued this to Spike’s dying day, including Mac who was a 22lb fluff ball to Spikes then 14 lb crotchety old man cat. In a similar way we lost Mac (different reason at about 14 years). Tyger was less obviously concerned about Mac. We got the third set of kittens (Stoic and Hiccup) and Tyger was dubious of them at first, but ultimately he acclimated to them. Tyger is gone now and those kittens are coming up on 6 years old. We might end up doing this one more time, but I fear after that I might be old enough that any further kittens would outlive me.
I’m just a little bit jealous. Kittens are amazing, adorable little creatures, and so are the cats they grow up into. Four cats would be too many for my house. We have three, and that’s almost too many…but one of them is just a motionless cat-shaped object most of the time, so it works.
We have 4. Hubby says we need two more kittens. Most we’ve ever had were 5 cats at a time. I’m open to kitten or two. But want them to find us, like I did Thump, VS going to look for them. We’ll see. We’d would have had two more, but the time hubby knew about the golf kittens, they were already too feral. In the past having more outdoor than indoor cats would have been okay. Not now. Not after we lost Thump (indoor/outdoor) to his sudden illness (despite being fully vaccinated), too young. Besides, they were suppose to go to someone who needed barn/shed cats after they were spayed/neutered. But they are still there.
Some of us have a hard time with the “cat found me” thing. I have that happen with dogs (it’s how I got my current doggo), but all our cats we ended up adopting from shelters/rescues. I think, in part, because most local ‘feral’ kittens either get eaten by local birds of prey (or the coyotes) before they can find humans. And the ones that survive are then far too feral.
We are running into that locally too. Plus we are surrounded by others just like us (they take in strays, so strays haven’t gotten to our front door, anymore). We got the feral brothers because someone at work had kittens born under their porch. Got them almost too late. Took almost a year to turn them into not feral (a lot of “kitten fishing”). Technically Silver was also an under the deck born kitten, but at that summer’s daycare. Kids had them tamed before they could go feral. She was brought home at 5 weeks. Bits was from a just starting colony. Five kittens rescued by neighbors, feral parents TNR’d. Four kittens spoken for, they asked if we’d take the last one. Bits was less feral than the brothers (which by then only one of them remaining and elderly). Thump was found in bushes near where I took our dog to the groomers, heard him crying. Pretty sure feral (full of fleas) that mom cat abandoned as something wrong (took 5 years, but kidney failed). He was 3 to 4 weeks old, max. The pair, brother & sister, set we got 3 years ago, were another “born under the porch”, where their rescuer looked where feral mom cat was going after she gave birth. Found out about them through son’s work, because someone posted for someone else that their mom had rescue kittens to give away. Turns out they were about a mile NE of us.
We aren’t looking for kittens. But if one or two very young ones “drop in our laps” we’ll take them. We can’t go through local rescue groups or Greenhill (local shelter) because they have you sign that the kittens will be inside & sheltered catico only. I cannot guaranty that (legally not required), no matter how much I want to confine them. Also rescues & shelters spay/neuter way too early. Puppies a lot of rescues typically spay/neuter too early too. But after talking to the rescue I got Pepper from, they agreed to wait and let me schedule her procedure with their veterinarian clinic when my veterinarian said she was old enough. I am all for spay/neuter. I just don’t want it to happen before 6 months old minimum.
I’ve been asked about fostering. Bottle raising. Okay. But only one or two. Why? Because I will foster fail. Guarantied.
Yeah, I do not DARE foster, be it cats or dogs, because it would always end up being a foster fail!!
We only had one foster-fail in almost 2 years of doing it, although copious tears were shed over a couple of special little critters. I say “we,” but 90% of the fostering work (and 100% of the shedding of tears) was done by my wife and daughter, and the one cat remaining with us was 90% my doing. 🙂
I’ll admit I instigated it, but there was very little hesitation and no persuasion involved; we all loved that little guy from the start and can’t imagine living without him now.
Safe travels, and good visits.
Use the Furce, cat!
Special K: merrowerrrrrp!
(You were thinking about fixing something that requires opening yummycan! Yes!)
11B-foodservice: (Looks back at instant soup)
Special K, now underfoot and head-butting: MEERRRRRROOOOOWWWWEEEEERRRRRPPP!!!!!
(You -were- thinking about fixing something that -requires- opening a -yummycan-! YES!!!!”
(Grabs canned chicken for soup. Gives Special K some chicken juice.)
S-k: “Nomnomnomnom…”
Me: “He can go about his business.”
S-k: “brrrrzzzp!”
Me: “Move along….”
We feed the canned chicken juice to our cats too. Because if we don’t, we have a near-riot on our hands. (Although Fat Cat is currently on restrictions from any and all cat-friendly people foods–he’s gotten a bit TOO entitled on that front, and has tried to take stuff right from plates recently without permission…)
Once upon a time, I brought home a tiny kitten to be a buddy to my mellow and social 14 pound Maine Coon. The quiet calm little tiger fit in my hand.
Little bitty kitty. Tranquil kitty.
….
Wrong.
Oh, so wrong.
……..
In about one year, I had 15+ pounds of orange-red Maine Coon mix. No fat at all, that cat was ripped.
Also hyperkinetic AF.
Turns out the mellow white one I had loved to rassle. They became best buds.
Miss both.
I’m making gurgling “Aww, cute Kitty!” sounds right now.
But I would advise caution and prudence, as a multi-kitty array can result in feline conspiracies. My eldest tells me that their cats figured out how to open closed doors: One would leap up and hang on the latch, while the other two pushed with their heads. Their scheme worked!
The idea that Havey-cat is a “sour puss” is hilarious.
Aww! Makes silly gurgling noisesd
Although I’d advise caution — multikitty arrays can lead to feline conspiracies: working together to open doors, that sort of thing.
Kittens are cute! It seems like your family has a lot of experience w/cats, so I’m sure you’ll manage the trip home okay.
Nomination time:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/22497950-may-2023
MomRed would like a new-to-RedQuarters, younger cat. Athena T. Cat does Not Approve. At almost 19 years of age, she wins. I suspect we will be found by (or presented with) a new-to-us cat once Athena passes.
Sin and Sin-in-Law have two black cats and a dark blue cat. Sib said, “They match performance black, mostly.” Point.
Sin and Sin-in-Law?
I know those are typos, but a “Nasty” person could have fun with those sort of typos. [Crazy Grin]
I am so gonna use that “sin and sin-in-law” phrase around my pastor as soon as I can tee it up.
Oh frabjabulous day, he is gonna giggle…..
After the death of my beloved Lady Marmalade I was not the least interested in another cat. Even if I was, I am 72 years old and there is good chance I will not last another cat’s lifetime. Fate, however, had other ideas and I found an abandoned (orphaned?) kitten in the garage. I rescued him and spent the next four weeks feeding him from a bottle and weaning him onto solid food.
I was still undecided on whether to give him up for adoption when, at about four months, he came down with some kind of infection. Possibly viral (always fatal); possibly bacterial (treatable). We couldn’t tell from the blood work. When the vet told me what was happening and that we might have to put him down, I realized just how attached I was to the little bastard.
Short story shorter, I rolled the die and he came up with a 20. I guess I now will have to live for another ten or fifteen years.
May your new kittens have long, healthy lives and may you be there for all of it.
Who saved who?
(Looks at Special K)
(S-K smirks)
We have an advantage regarding an new kittens. Our son will take them in a heartbeat. In fact one of the reasons he came home after college was Silver, his cat, was too old to move from her household; she is gone now, lived to almost age 22. Now Bits depends on him. She’d probably move okay into her own apartment. But if you think rent is outrageous add a pet deposit AND add monthly pet charge to have a pet.
Having been on the landlord side of that deal, irresponsible pet owners can cause $20,000 damage to a property. Or more. The stench can soak so deep into the concrete slab it can never be completely eradicated.
I know. Our home in Longview had to be rented out until the market turned around. After less than a year, the renters had done more damage with one small dog, and two kids, than we’d done with 4 cats and a large dog, in 6 years. We turned it over to an agency, who went in and redid all the carpets, and replaced underlying flooring. The agency then rented it out for 6 month leases for the next 3 years or so, when the market turned (they also helped sell it). Oh, the leases? NO Pets.
There are renters, then there are renters like us. We know the property isn’t ours so we treat it better than if we’d owned it. Well okay. Really, it is I’m sensitive to smells so they get cleaned immediately, not allowed to accumulate. When we’ve left a rental we got our full deposit back. We did something right.
One of the reasons we’ve never built our dream home. We’d have to sell to do it. Selling means renting (it did until last few years, then the costs, OMG) … With multiple cats? Plus a dog (who “technically” doesn’t count as a service animal but that process is a PIA).
Well let’s see…. how to fill in days where articles are needed:
Guest posts. Check.
Meme day. Check.
…
Cats! Check.
They’re cute as hell.
I like cats for the emotional support part, but I also like them for their anti-rodent properties. Gort’s on his 3rd or 4th mouse now, But he also lost one that I haven’t been able to locate yet.
He’s guaranteeing his job security, the little sneak. 😀
We installed a cat door, but then had to close it off because one of the cats kept bringing her “toys” inside and losing them under the furniture. We never had a mouse problem before and haven’t had one since.
To quote Hamlet’s advice, “But indeed, if you find him not within this month, you shall nose him as you go up the stairs into the lobby.”
I’ve always liked that line!
😉
Prayers for peace and safe travels.
Great to see y’all as always! Good luck with the furry demons… LOL
We’ve discussed the cat door option for the current 4. Problem is Tj has decided that garter snakes are fun moving ropes. This started because a couple of small ones wiggled their way through the garage door/floor gaps. Then he discovered the spot they hide in the back corner of the yard, on supervised yard outings. Little sneak, the first time, all we saw was a blur as he headed to the open slider door. Took the other one in (Freeway refuses to go outside) only to see a foot long, still alive, garter in his mouth. Got him to drop it, son caught it before it got away, in the house, and let it go on the other side of the fence. Second snake caught, another outing, wasn’t as lucky. Now Tj isn’t allowed to hang out in that area, very long. We’ve had cats, in the past, try to bring in their live toys too. But that was usually: Cat cries at the door wanting in. Open door. Mouse screams as cat picks up with teeth (after being held down with paw, guessing, didn’t see). Mom screams. Cat with mouse get picked up and put back outside. Door slams on cat with mouse. Cat is not happy. But no mouse in the house either.
My cat used to bring his toys into the bathroom. If one of us obliged by closing the door he would play with them there. Otherwise he used the tub.
He got really good at hiding them to get them in the house, but at one point Mom saw a tail sticking out of his mouth and threw a fit.
Thoughts and prayers to you and your family.
Not a cat person, daughter had allergies when she was young. Don’t hate em, just was never around them.
hmm, if Sweet Helen is an orange girl kitty she is very very rare.
Very rare. Not quite as rare as the male calicos. And unlike most male calicos, orange female kitties are not infertile.
Our Amber was the only female in a liter of 4. Two black panther males (we were told). Tj, an orange tiger male, and Amber who was black and yellow, tortoiseshell pattern (no white).
Mom was a white short-hair with a few small orange and black markings on her head, feet, and tail. A black male tom was one of the suspected fathers.