Annnnnd, I’m back! After some delays, my plane landed in Huntsville Tuesday evening, and I’ve been busy trying to get back into the routine ever since. I took plenty of pictures when I was in Maine (I saw Connie not once, not twice, but THREE times, and got to snuggle her foster kittens! I also met Jeanne of Random Felines and Kelly of Whiskers in the Window in person after knowing them on the innernets for years, which was very cool.) When I get the pictures sorted, I’ll post some of them, probably next week.
Two days after I left, Fred told me that he’d stepped outside early in the morning, when it was still dark out, and he thought a kitten had gone skittering off from under the Hydrangea near the side stoop. He told me that it could have been a raccoon, but it moved like a kitten, so he would keep an eye out. The next day (or maybe it was that night, I don’t remember), he told me it was definitely a small kitten.
He spent hours out on the driveway talking to that kitten, and the kitten would talk back to him, but never got closer than 10 feet. Finally, he got the trap out and set it up. The kitten was too light to set off the trap, and Fred was starting to get frustrated. He oiled the trap and set it out one more time, and this time the trap snapped shut with the kitten inside.
I immediately told him that the kitten’s name was Meowth (it’s a Pokemon name and seemed appropriate) and emailed Susan. I figured that the sooner she was made an official Challenger’s House kitten, the better.
The kitten turned out to be a girl, weighed just over 2 pounds, and was skittish but purring and would sit in Fred’s lap from the very beginning. She has clearly been around people in her past, and because sometimes I think the worst of people, I think someone dumped her. She had an abrasion on her upper lip and on her paw, though both are mostly healed now and don’t seem to be bothering her.
She’s still a little skittish, but loves to be petted, enjoys a good belly rub, and walks around with her tail straight up in the air. And she is FLOOFY.
She spends a lot of time hanging out in the window, watching the cars go by.
So much floof.
THE FLOOFIEST.
“Lady, this room is cool and I guess you humans are okay, but I’m bored. You’re boring. This is boring. Make it so I’m not bored.”
Wednesday, I took her to the vet to be tested. She came back negative, and I knew she needed friends. Luckily, another Challenger’s House foster mom, Winnie, had kittens who were just the right age. They’re a little older than she is, but close enough. Since those kittens were already named, I wanted to change her name to match theirs. They’re all named after evergreens, so initially I renamed her Hemlock (there’s a Hemlock at Random Felines, and the name makes me laugh.) But then the next morning, I told Fred the plans, and he told me that before he was able to trap her, one of her favorite places to hang out was in the privet bush over behind the blue coop. And privet is an evergreen!
(Apparently it’s not an evergreen everywhere, so it’s fortunate that we’re in Alabama, isn’t it?)
So Privet she is. Here’s what happened after I picked up her new friends yesterday morning and played a round of MEET YER NEW PARTNER!
She was sitting on the window sill, and when she realized there were other kittens, her eyes got wide and she started chirping. She got VERY excited.
She went hopping down to say hello.
“HI! HI! ARE YOU MY NEW FRIEND? ARE YOU?!”
And the kitten said ::HISS:: and Privet was all “WELL. There’s no need to be so RUDE.”
She retreated to the top of the small cat tree for a moment and watched the kittens check out their new living arrangements.
She watched the bravest of her new friends check out the ceiling fan.
She watched him use the litter box.
And he was all “A LITTLE PRIVACY, IF YOU PLEASE.”
So, meet the Evergreens.
Cypress is a boy. I startled him, and he hissed at me.
And then he was a little bit embarrassed.
Juniper is a girl. Isn’t she purty?
She’s a little nervous – they all are.
Spruce is a boy. He’s the most outgoing of the three, and do you see his white locket? At some angles, it looks JUST like a little heart.
Pretty, pretty boy.
And of course, you’ve met Privet, who is a girl.
When Privet first met the other three, Cypress hissed at her, Spruce poofed up, and Juniper just looked at her. When I went in a few hours later, Privet was growling at the other three. I imagine that in a couple of days, they’ll be racing around playing together like the best of friends.
(And yes, I will be putting collars on the boys, because I can tell who’s who in person, but in pictures I have a really hard time!)
So, we don’t know what Privet’s story is (aside from her showing up here), but we know that Spruce, Juniper and Cypress are the kittens of Willow, who is currently at Petsmart (see her on Facebook here). A Challenger’s House volunteer spotted the kittens behind her business (located on Willow Dr!) and called for help. When Winnie and Kathie showed up to do some trapping, they found Willow alongside her kittens. So they trapped the kittens AND Willow. As I mentioned, Willow’s at Petsmart now, and the kittens have a few more weeks to go before they’re ready. Winnie was kind enough to let me have them to keep Privet company, so it worked out well!
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Previously
2015: Roundup: Roseanne.
2014: On Tuesdays, we leap.
2013: ::FLIRT::
2012: No entry.
2011: Who, him? Oh, just some cat. Nothin’ special. Corbie, I think they call him. ::shrug::
2010: He’s gotten past this whole “feral” nonsense at breathtaking speed.
2009: No entry.
2008: Kitten, mid-jump.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.