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Ah! The Sleepless Nights of Having Cats. How I missed it!Wait. No I didn't. But I gotta say I'm glad to have kits again. It certainly makes my sometimes sterile life of working in front of the computer a wee bit more bearable. Cats make great work breaks. Introducing...My CatsIt was about a month ago when I heard that my friend Bethany was in looking for homes for her kits. They were born in November during TRF, but Bethany couldn't afford to take care of them. So Thursday night I drove out to meet them.
I've been kinda in a hurry. I've wanted some pet cats for a couple months now, but the Tolkien CD has kinda pushed it outta my mind for a while. Unfortunately, if I'm gonna have any time to get to know some cats, I needed a weekend. And this was my last weekend for a while since our music year really starts next weekend with Excalibur Fantasy Faire. Time was running out!
So when I met these two adorable cats that reminded me a bit of Jasper, I had to get 'em. We packed them in a box, and I drove to PetCo to get some supplies. Ran quickl in the store and came back with a nice cat thingies, like food and litter box.
I brought them home and put them in the bathroom to get acclimated. Whoo, were they skittish! Wait, were? They still are, but they're getting used to me...
I sat on the bathroom floor torturing them with nibbles and neck massages that evening before getting some work done. My plan was to leave them in the bathroom for a few days to get used to things like the scratching post, me and the house in general.
I quickly found out how glad I was that we had kitty-proofed the house with Jasper. Because, these kitties were much worse than Jasper at being curious little kitties. I woke up the next morning fairly, pleased that they hadn't torn up the whole bathroom, but after breakfast, I came back and the bathroom drawers were all pulled out and no kits were to be found!
Someone they climbed through a small hole that was under the drawers into a little cubby back behind the drawers. This pushed the drawers out. Jeez!
Well, I didn't have much time to deal with this since I had to get to work, so I pulled 'em out and set my heavy autoharp case in front of the bottom drawer to try and keep them out. But I kind figured it wouldn't work. Came back that evening and the drawers were once again pushed open, autoharp case shoved outta the way. I pulled a drawer out, and they're were two beautiful kitty faces looking innocently at me.
I pulled 'em out and figured I'd just leave the drawer out for now. Later that evening I thought of a clever way to block the hole. And next morning I found it was successful! Sorta...
Seems they pulled open the middle drawer and climbed through there! I pulled that drawer out and there the little one straddling the bottom drawer, looking innocent. Naming the CatsOkay, that was a tough one. Never thought much about it. So Saturday morning while spending time with them, I was puzzling what to call them.
The smaller cats has some nice Tabby stripes and light brownish coat. He wore a homemade collar with a Celtic knot on it and was very affectionate. If I sit still long enough, he'll come over and lie down on me. He's also Very playful. He was also Very talkative too. Chat, chat, chat, chat, chat.
I did have a couple names I'd thought of. Just didn't know if they'd be appropriate. I'm kinda in the habit of naming my pets with Italian names. I thought of naming like my Peke in Italy, a nice flower name--Azalea, or Leah for short. But for little robust male kitties, that just didn't seem to work for them. So I had picked out two names I liked: Fabrizio, named after Fabrizio de Andre, Italian folk singer; and, Tiziano, named after my mom's second husband.
Well, for the little one, I saw him as a playful kitty. I remember long ago going to the mountains with my mom and her Tiziano. Tiziano had no sense of boundaries. So he guided us on this fence-jumping session out into a tall field of grass. I can still see him running through the grass. Tiziano is a very affectionate man. So the little one, I decided fairly quickly to call Tiziano.
The other one was more of a challenge. He actually looked a bit more likely Jasper minus the green eyes. He has some beautiful Tabby stripes and grey-ish coat too. But he was much more stand-offish. He wouldn't even approach me. I had to do it all. But I saw something strong in him. I kinda figured he was the leader of the pack, and was later proven right.
Saturday afternoon, I decided to go ahead an let them into the bedroom which was fairly kitty safe. They quickly made their new hiding place under the bed, outta arms reach.
It was interesting to see them react to the new room. Tiziano wouldn't have anything to do with it. He hid in the bathroom the whole time. The other kitty, very slowly and patiently crept into the room with one eye on me the whole time. So he'd mastered the room and became more comfortable. Meanwhile, Tiziano was still hiding in the bathroom.
I then decided to get out one of the toys I'd bought the kitties. This was when I saw the larger cat's true nature. He's a hunter!
The toy had some feathers on the end of a sorta fishing rod. I swung it around, and this cat chased it like a mad kitty! I've never seen seen a cat outta breath before. Ten minutes later, he was panting like a dog almost! But he wasn't done either. He kept chasing it.
Tiziano looked in with interest. And finally came into the room. When the feathers came to him, he swatted it sweetly with one little paw. But when the feather accidentally hit him, he fled.
Any case, I did a bit more brainstorming and before heading over to Andrew's to finish mixing, I decided the larger kitty was a hunter. Therefore I'd call him Cacciatore meaning "hunter" in Italian, or Torre for short (and also meaning "tower").
Last night, I let Torre and Tiziano sleep in the bedroom. And when they finally did lay down to rest, Tiziano curled up beside me. But Torre was playing so Tiziano didn't stay long. Course they kept me up for a wee bit rough housing, but they finally calmed down a bit and found Jasper's window perch this morning.
Well back to the kitties while I finish listening to the CD mix.
Posted by Marc Gunn on Sunday, March 09, 2003 |
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Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers
