These little muffins are 1 week old, can you believe it? Hopefully I’ll get a chance to take their one-week pictures today so I can introduce them formally with their names. (Yes, they’ve been sexed and we have names – it’s figuring out which name goes with which kitten that’ll be the hard part.)
That’s a stretch and yawn from the little gray one, not a hiss.
Little Green – there on the right – has a very distinct dark line on his/her nose, I’ve noticed.
Little Pink, out cold.
Little Brown on the right is at the tail end of a yawn.
You can’t tell from this picture, but little Blue has one open eye. I wasn’t expecting to see any eyes just yet, so I was taken by surprise.
Little Yellow, gone wanderin’.
That’s Pink, atop the pile. I’d like to tell you who the kitten on the left is, but I have no idea. I can only tell you it’s not Green, Yellow, Gray, or Pink. Which means it’s either Blue or Brown.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you have a Pioneer Pet SmartCat scratching post, then you probably also know (or maybe you don’t) that they sell a padded perch for the top. I love the scratching post and the perch, but I have long hated the padding for the top of the perch – they have strips that attach to velcro tabs underneath the perch. Which in theory is great, but it’s been my experience that the velcro tabs pull off pretty easily, and when cats use the padding to pull themselves onto the top of the perch and the padding lets go, they end up falling to the floor. The perch is a great idea but the execution of the idea leaves a lot to be desired. I recently went on Amazon to see if I could find either a perch that would fit on the top of the SmartCat scratching post, or something that would replace the whole thing.
I started reading the reviews of the padded perch to see if others were having the same issue as I was, and wasn’t surprised to find out that it’s a widespread problem. One of the top comments, though, gave me hope. The reviewer suggested buying a piece of carpet, cutting it to the side of the perch, and gluing it on. Since I have two of the scratchers, I bought two pieces of Flor carpeting straight from Flor (though to be honest, I think any halfway decent piece of carpet would have worked just as well as long as it’s not too cheaply made), and it arrived at the end of May.
Then, as is my way, I left the pieces of carpet sitting by the door for nearly two months. Every single – EVERY! SINGLE! – day I would think to myself “I should get going on cutting those and gluing them to the perches.” And every single – EVERY! SINGLE! – day I didn’t do it.
Finally, Monday afternoon I decided I’d had enough of those pieces of carpet staring judgmentally at me, and I got it done. Was cutting the carpet easy? Nope. I used a box cutter and a pair of scissors; it wasn’t easy going, but it didn’t take too long. I used Gorilla Glue, applied it liberally to the bottom of the carpet, put the perch on top, and then weighted it down with gallon jug of water. It dried quickly, and that carpet is very firmly affixed to the perch. I took one scratcher into the kitten room, and it appears to be a hit. (Tip: Don’t apply the Gorilla Glue too close to the end of the carpet. The glue puffs up a bit as it dries, and will puff out the side. It wasn’t a big deal – I used an X-Acto knife to trim the exposed glue – but I didn’t apply glue as close to the edge with the second perch/carpet, and I didn’t have any issues.)
I took one of the scratchers into the kitten room, and I think it’s fair to say that it’s a hit.
Jacques and Madeline approve.
All six kittens and Katriane! (And actually, if you look very closely, you can see the carrier where Margeaux and her kittens are, in the background.) Kittens, left to right: Esmee, Madeline, Jacques, Amelie, Antoine & Francois.
Esmee, Amelie and Francois. I love the differing eye colors.
Katriane is FINALLY off for her spay surgery today, thank goodness. She’ll be back home again this evening; we’ll put her in the bathroom for the night, unless she strenuously objects. I’ve had freshly spayed mothers back in with their kittens the day of their spay with no issues; Katriane has places where she can get away from the kittens, so I’m not worried about them bothering her too much (besides which, I expect she’ll smell unfamiliar to them.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Loves, loves, loves her Daddy, yo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2018: He is such a Muppety little Moop.
2017: “She’s little, but she’s sassy!”
2016: No entry.
2015: Roundup: Gilda
2014: Throw Back Thursday: Everett Peppers.
2013: “There’s something right behind me, isn’t there?”
2012: Guest Post, by Stompers.
2011: No entry.
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: Kaylee will not be deterred.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.