Brandon was on the little cat tree by the window. I was laying on the bed taking pictures. He desperately needed kisses and snuggles. What’s a kitty to do?
He’s a problem solver, our Brandon.
Jon Snow’s eyes seem to be going blue again. Isn’t he gorgeous?
Norbie checks out the ceiling fan (I guess he’s got a future as a fan inspector!) while Hodor checks out the window shelf for safety.
Having been thoroughly kissed, Brandon is content to lay and watch his siblings play.
All four Starks (and Norbie, the honorary Stark) in one picture!
Jon Snow thinks this hammock is pretty comfy.
Arya watches Hodor’s leaping skillz (while Norbie bats at her tail and Brandon bats at her behind).
And then off she goes!
Norbie thinks that these pillows are really quite amazin’.
Arya thinks about leaping for that toy (but ultimately decides not to).
Pretty, pretty girl.
Arya tussling with Brandon (and Tommy on the bed).
Nap time! Doesn’t Jon Snow look very pleased with himself?
Brandon wonders where his nap time partner has gone.
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Here we have Kara (Sheriff Mama) in the upper left of the picture, Corbie in the lower center, and Stefan about to start rolling around on his back on the right.
Sheriff Mama doesn’t think that those boys will cause any problems when they’re under the influence of sunshine, but with those two you just NEVER know!
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Previously
2012: She… misses and falls over backward!
2011: (LOONYFACE)
2010: Bolitar and Rhyme are off to the adoption center later today.
2009: This is how the kittens feel about Mondays.
2008: No entry.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: He just sat there and gave me this look like “I will never yawn for you again, so save it, woman.”, then started falling asleep while sitting up.
Brandon’s in flight action shot is the best.
I’m not surprised. Don’t most colorpoint kitties have blue eyes? And boy are those some gorgeous peepers 🙂
Such lovely kitties.
I was starting to think they were going to keep changing to a green-gray color, but they turned back toward blue. 🙂
Cuteness!!!
I LOVE JON SNOW. That is all.
What a great shot of Brandon in flight!
Isn’t that Hodor leaping, not Jon Snow, while Norbie and Brandon bat at Arya? (Picture 9)
I love the flying Brandon pictures and Arya’s beautiful array of whiskers looking up at the toy.
Yeah, that’s Hodor! Good eye. It’s fixed now, thanks. 🙂
I like that shorter (blue) cat condo/scratcher… it reminds me of an office inbox, FOR KITTEHS!
I got it last week, and it’s been VERY popular. I intended Corbie to use it to get onto the bigger cat tree, but everyone BUT Corbie has been using it. 🙂
Yes, Jon Snow IS gorgeous.
Flying Brandon kills.me.dead.
What a lucky boy sweet Norbie is, orphaned so soon after being born but now a members of TWO clans! 🙂
Shenanigans! Kitten Shenanigans I tell you! Kitten Caturday Shenanigans! Thank you for this lovely start to my (our US) 3-day weekend! Happy Labor Day ya’ll in the USA!
PS – oh, to have that little Norbie laying in my pillows – such joy! (wait, does that sound right? well, hoping ya know what I mean! LOL)
PPS: “Hodor!” he said leapingly.
I was just looking through the banners and I saw that you had a litter of kittens named after Grey’s Anatomy characters! My favorite show! That must have been before I found your blog. I started reading right before Maggie and the McMaos. Keep meaning to go back and read the posts from before that point, but just haven’t had the time yet…
We had several litters in a row that weren’t with us for very long – it was actually when we lived in our previous house – so I didn’t have a lot of pictures to choose from for them! 🙂
I’m having a problem with a 12-week old bottle baby I’ve raised. He’s a biter and I don’t know how to stop him from that. Before he learned that soft paws are good, I felt like a pincushion. My arms and legs were shredded. He finally got control of the claws and is good about not scratching people, but he’s the mouthiest cat I’ve ever been around. Even when he’s asleep across my arm, he wants his mouth open on my skin. He’s not ornery, he’s grabby. We’ve been working on “no bite” and he seems to know what it means, his bites are more like pinches now. I’ve tried flicking him on the nose, that just makes him hang on harder. It’s so frustrating. He’ll want to cuddle against my neck and he’ll lay there and purr for a minute, then he has my chin or my ear in his mouth. He’s not sucking, he’s not mad or defensive, he’s just there. Of course when I go to move him, he closes down and pinches. I was hoping to find him a home, but even I find him annoying and I don’t want someone else booting him out on the street when he wears out his welcome. Any ideas?
I cannot think of a thing suggest at the moment (except “Don’t let him do that”, which is SO not helpful!), but I’ll post this in Friday’s entry, and hopefully you’ll get some good suggestions! 🙂
Also I should add that a 12 weeks, kittens can be super douchebags (as well as super sweet), and it might be behavior he’ll grow out of.
I have found that most animals HATE when you blow in their noses. They will jerk their heads away from the breeze rather quickly. Perhaps it would give you enough time to move him and simultaneously teach him not to latch on?
Have you tried scruffing him? It mimics the way mother cats discipline the kittens. Maybe when he starts, just scruff him (not too hard but firm enough that it doesn’t feel like petting) and say whatever phrase you want to use that will eventually become the signal. I used a simple “No!” with my girls when they were about the same age. Once he lets go and closes his mouth, then let go and start petting. Hopefully it won’t be too long that he gets the idea that biting gets him scruffed but not biting gets him pettings. After a while, then just the same phrase you use (be consistent) should be enough without the scruffing.
This was something I read in a cat behavior book when I first got kittens (which I’d never dealt with up until that point). It worked pretty great for me and I’ve also known other people with cats who use scruffing from time to time for discipline or behavioral training. It’s all about mimicking the cat mama.
they do it because it gets a reaction out of you. They want to play, you are giving that to him.
Kittens who play with each other bite ALL THE TIME.. when they bite their sibling too hard they cry out with an ‘ow’ meow and stop playing. The one who bit will then stop, and lick his victim with an ‘I’m sorry’ lick.
You can mimic that by saying ‘ow’ in a high pitched meow like tone, and stop all movement. If the kitty doesn’t immediately lick you, put him on the ground away from you. He’ll run right back and start playing again and that is fine, but the minute he bites you again say the ‘ow’ and repeat as necessary.
he’ll learn that he can’t bite you as hard as he has, and will bite with less force. You need to decide what you will tolerate. For the worst offenders I don’t tolerate ANY biting and will keep it up until he starts playing nice. For those that don’t bite all that often I save it for those bites that hurt.
I know most people will tell you not to hand play with kittens, but I think it is essential when done right. At some point in this cat’s life there is a darn good chance that someone is going to do something to him that he is going to feel needs a warning bite. If he does not know how hard a warning bite is, he could do some serious damage.
http://www.kittyblog.net/2012/08/the-hand-monster-aka-what-i-know-hand.html
So I thought I would let you know that my scaredy cat Felix has decided that Da Bird is in fact a toy, not a flesh eating demon. It took leaving it out where he could sniff it when it was in it’s hibernation state, and then later some gentle playing. Now he’s quite enamored of the thing, and is pretty sure it won’t eat him. Probably. For now.
Also I want to say thanks Robyn for this blog, you take amazing photos and do such good work! Someday when I’m a real grownup (employed and not living in a small apartment) I’m gonna do fostering too!
Not sure how long it’s been like this, but I just noticed the border around Hodor’s picture in the sidebar. I truly have no idea what his only saying “Hodor” means, but it’s adorable in a kitten 😉
The character he is named after in Game of Thrones only says “Hodor”. 🙂
Norbie sure seems to love those Stark babies, and vice-versa! Adorable!
Kelly, blowing in his nose was my first strategy. It sure worked great with every other cat I’ve had. But it makes this kitten mad, he just lays his ears back and hangs on tighter. I think he understands what “no bite” means because it gets the same reaction. This kitten isn’t Siamese, by the way. He’s a semi-floofy little guy with a cute face, the kind everyone wants to pick up and cuddle. And he runs right up to everybody, wants to be picked up, then he chomps. I’l be looking forward to some suggestions on Friday, and meanwhile keeping a paper towel handy to dab up the blood.
Does he have a playmate/another cat around?
I have two older female housecats. One is 14 and the other is 8. He wrestles with them and chases them all over the house. They don’t like it, they hiss at him and bat him on the head but he just closes his eyes and keeps on coming. He’s totally fearless. Well, except he’ll run and hide from the vacuum cleaner.
The 2012 post doesn’t seem to be linked.
Norbie in the pillows.. my new favorite photo.. you so need that on canvas!!
That and Brandon.. you have two wonderful boys there..
Norbie thinks that these pillows are really quite amazin’.
That makes sense, because we think Norbie’s quite amazing.