As mentioned in yesterday’s post, say hello to Tank.
He’s white with orange tabby markings, including an orange striped tail.
On his right side, a few orange tabby patches on his back leg.
On his left side, an orange tabby patch on his back leg.
Basically, he looks like a white cat with some random orange tabby splashes.
The smears of orange under his eyes remind me of the greasepaint football players smear under their eyes.
(I haven’t looked at a football game since the Bears played the Patriots in January 1986, so I’m assuming they still do that.)
The other kittens weren’t quite sure what they thought of him…
Axle, checking him out.
But Tank was ready to play immediately, and wasted no time jumping on the other kittens, especially the orange boys.
He is a very ACTIVE boy.
Confident AND snuggly.
So, the story is this: I was at Michelle’s during spay/neuter day and the person who rescued him (from a family member up in Tennessee, if I recall correctly) brought the kitten by to be neutered. Michelle didn’t think he was big enough to be neutered, and when she weighed him, she found that he was only 2 pounds, 5 ounces. I made a comment that he only weighed 1 ounce more than LoJack.
WHICH GAVE MICHELLE (and Kathie, who was also there) AN IDEA.
“You should take him, because when Ryder’s kittens go off to Petsmart, LoJack will need a friend!” they said.
I tried to fight it, but honestly they were right. Ryder’s kittens will be headed off to Petsmart soonish, and LoJack will need to be here for, at minimum, a couple more weeks. He does NOT do well as an only child (he gets lonely!), and so he would need a friend.
“Oh, FINE,” I said. “But I need a name that goes with the theme.” He’d been named Riley, but that wasn’t going to work. I like my themes!
I pulled up the list of names we’d chosen from for the rest of the kittens, nearly named him Chrome, but then I saw the name Tank and thought it was perfect. Everyone agreed that was the perfect name for him, and when I brought Ryder’s Fleet home, I brought Tank home as well.
I considered keeping him separate from the other kittens for a few days, but the boy clearly needed other kittens to play with, and so I put him together with them. The orange boys accepted him immediately. Pulley and Dynamo shrugged. LoJack fumed for about five minutes and then forgot Tank was new. The tuxie girls and Solenoid formed a Mean Girls club and hissed at him every time he came near. By mid-day yesterday the tuxie girls had graduated from making fun of him behind his back to playing with him. Solenoid is still hissing and growling at him, but it’s gotten pretty half-hearted. I expect the time the weekend is over, she’ll be over her snit.
And now you’ve met Tank! I need to get better pictures of him, but it’s been a little busy around here; it’s at the top of my to-do list for today, though.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alice loves to snooze under the lemon tree.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Previously
2017: Who’s going to disturb all those melted kittens? Not I!
2016: It’s a sleepy Raleigh pie.
2015: No entry.
2014: “I recommends you stop pointing that phone at me, lady. The ears don’t get much more annoyanced than this.”
2013: “Uhhhhh… nothin’. Just sitting here NOT making fun of the way you derpy-doo around on two feet.”
2012: Are you seeing the looniness in Magoo?
2011: “Dude. Your toenails are UP MY NOSE!”
2010: Then one evening, the cats got together and had a newspaper-shredding party.
2009: At one point, I had six or seven cats gathered around me, watching in fascination as the plastic dragonfly flapped and flapped.
2008: No entry.
2007: Talk about your come-hither look!
2006: Y’all just shut UP. We do NOT have eight cats.
2005: “What can I do to convince you to adopt Sugarbutt?”