“What doin’, lady?” (Declan, with Ciara and Fergus Simon behind him.)
Declan, up close.
Macushla, sleeping on the guest bed. Even though they have the run of the house during the day, they tend to return to the guest bedroom for naps, and of course they’re locked in there for the night.
Pretty Ciara, giving me some sass.
Cat bed under the human bed. What better place to sleep, right?
Just checking in.
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So, Maggie has been doing more visiting with the Spice Girls. In fact, if I go upstairs during the day, she’s apt to follow me up and ask to go into the room with them. At first, I was like “Oh, right, she wants to eat their Babycat (food)!” But she really seems to enjoy spending time with them, has been letting them nurse for a few minutes at a time, and loves to groom them. She’ll spend half an hour or so with them before she starts sitting at the door waiting to be let out.
Friday night, we put her in the room with them overnight, and then Fred let her out when he got up Saturday morning. She moseyed out the door, went down the stairs, and sat by the guest bedroom waiting to be let in with her babies. If left to her own devices, she’s happy to split her time between the Spice Girls and her babies, so we let her do that.
I’ve let a few of the McMaos in to see the Spice Girls (limited, short visits), and it’s gone okay. Some of the McMaos are hissier than others. Cillian’s pretty laid-back. On the other hand, Clove went right over to Declan and tried to rub against him, and he gave her THE most offended look and hissed at her.
It was seriously cute.
I’m not ready to give the girls the run of the house just yet – maybe another week – if only because I’m afraid they’ll get pushy with one of the McMaos and then get smacked, and I’d prefer to have them just a bit bigger for that.
Speaking of size, the girls are currently weighing in at 1 lb, 4 oz (Clove), 1 lb, 8 oz (Cilantro), and 1 lb, 12 oz (Coriander).
Lita asked how old the Spice Girls are. They were about 5 weeks old when I got them, which makes them about 7 weeks old now. Their eyes still look really blue in the pictures I’m taking, but if you’re able to get a close look, you can see that they’re actually changing color. They still look bluish, but that’s mostly because they’re blue around the edges.
“Wow, these mirrors are nasty.”
“Seriously, you ever clean these things, lady? This is horrifying. I’m afraid I’ll get a disease next time I lick my reflection.”
“Someone hand me the Windex!”
(YES, I clean those – in fact, I cleaned them before the Spice Girls moved into that room! But when they’re always touching the mirrors with their paws and noses and licking them, and sneezing on them, they get gross quickly.)
Cilantro keeping an eye on the feather teaser.
“Hi, Mama! Are you our mama? Will you be our mama? Can we follow you around and harass you like you was our mama?”
Maggie remembers what she so loves about little ones: they can’t leave her tail alone.
Comfy are we, little girl?
Clove, rubbing up against Cilantro. I love it when kittens do that.
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Stinkerbelle in the evening sun.
Stinkerbelle pretty much lives on top of the kitchen cabinets (we call her our “house feral”). She comes down to eat, of course, and use the litter box and sometimes to look for her beloved Tommy. Lately, she’s been venturing into other parts of the house instead of spending all her time in the kitchen, because Alice has started hanging out in Stinkerbelle’s cat bed. I like that Stinkerbelle’s not spending ALL her time atop the cabinets, though of course she’s still up there a lot. You can pet Stinkerbelle if she’s in the mood to let you, but she has an extremely low tolerance for petting, and Fred is always getting a smack from her when he tries to pet her more than a couple of times.
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Previously
2010: No entry.
2009: No entry.
2008: Dancing Kitteh likes to dance.
2007: Yesterday I took a nap in the kitten room with them (a catnap, of course) and when I woke up, Maryanne was sitting about two feet away staring at me with hatred.
2006: No entry.
2005: I’m surprised I haven’t had a stroke yet.
Maggie is such a good mother! She’s done such a great job raising her McMao’s and now she’s raising up the Spice Girls. I love to see it. Go Maggie!!
I also love all the kitten photos. They are so lively and lovely! You are raising them up right! Go Robyn!
I feel for Stinkerbelle since I have a scaredy cat in my house. Not as bad as Stinkerbelle, but oh so skittish. I try to keep in mind that I give her a good life. She is warm and dry and gets fed regularly… and every once and awhile I hear her purring on her perch or playing with jingle balls at midnight, so I know she’s o.k.
You and Fred are giving Stinkerbelle a good life.
Okay, here’s something to look forward to, but it may take a long time. I had a serious scaredy cat — she was born in a woodpile and chased around by some well-meaning kids who were trying to rescue her. For the first fourteen years of her life, she loved me and only me, and only if I approached her in certain situations, and very slowly. Then, she began to show some signs of deafness and perhaps a little cognitive impairment that the vet thought were just age-related. Well, she has totally forgotten that she is afraid! It probably helps that she can’t hear noises that might spook her, but she’s positively brave, social and engaged. She’s 18 now, and while still a little skittish, loves my husband, comes out to check out visitors, etc. Cool!
You know, our old cat Spot, who passed away a couple of years ago, was a scaredy cat his entire life until his last few years. And now Spanky, our old man at almost 15, has always been skittish of strangers. But the last couple of years, he seems to have calmed down a lot when new people enter the house. I wonder if they hit a certain age and they think “Well, no one’s killed me yet. Maybe I have nothing to worry about!”
Maggie = Your Butterbean?
I know, I know, everyone is always trying to get you to keep your fosters.
I actually thought that same thing – but I get the impression today that she’s getting tired of the little ones. 🙂
Awwwwwwwwww I couldn’t resist a peek at all the adorable kitties here in the middle of work!! Awwwwwwwwwww and what a treat!! Beautiful McMoas, Spice Girls and wonderful Maggie!! They should all be one big happy extended family!! Yay!! 🙂
Stinkerbelle!! You are one independent ladykitty! Yay!! Take care
x
i know you have answered this before (probably when I asked it) but I can’t find it in the archives…
What kind of camera do you use?
Most of my pictures are taken with my Sony A100, but occasionally (especially for the up-close pictures of kittens who like to sit in my lap)I use a Sony DSC-W300. Enough people have asked that I should probably just put the info in the sidebar. 🙂
Declan is such a pretty kitty 🙂
Maggie looks like she made Clove and I’m so glad the second litter is getting some kitty-foster Mommy time. Even if its only for a little while, they will be be more confidant and happy as adults to have had Kitty Momma for a couple of weeks. This is the age when they are starting to learn seriously how to be cats, and like to copy the bigger ones. In a few short weeks, they will also be ready to go off on their own, but still be young enough to adapt to a multi-cat house-hold when they find their forever-family (if it already has adult cats in it).
“made Clove”…too cute!
Maggie is such a great kitty! 🙂 *pets her* So is Clove, if for slightly different reasons. *absconds with the caramel tabby lap kitty* 🙂
Look, Clove is tiny! Why that’s a giant Cilantro she’s rubbing up against. Aww, to be the baby of the family…and Melodi Grundy is right, Clove looks like her momma should be Maggie! But at least all the spice girls get some lovin’ and rearin’ from lovely Maggie every day. I would have loved to see the outraged Declan and the forward Clove. Just precious.
The mirror series made me laugh! 🙂