As Purr Your Request

In the comments, Bismuth asked for kitty pictures. This is the only one I have to post - Maya is on the upper step, and Skeeter is on the lower. Right now both of the cats are lying on my lap - this makes typing difficult, especially when Maya starts licking my earlobe. She has an ear fetish, or something.

Now that we've had the cats a week, their personalities have really come out. Skeeter, who was shy at first, has come on strong. She's still the calm one compared to Maya, but she's also the first one to go check out something new. Maya, who was the leader early, now follows Skeeter's lead.

We finally got a reaction from the dog about the cats, and it was very disappointing. My 100 pound rottweiler-mix dog is afraid of the cats! I tried to hold him by the collar while Carl brought Skeeter up to him, but he backed away and cowered when she tried to touch his nose with her paw. Skeeter is definitely not afraid of Judah unless he comes bounding around a corner and startles her. Maya is more shy of Moose Mutt, but once I get Moose and Skeeter to be friends I'm sure Maya will follow. The trick is convincing the Schnorg that the cats mean him no harm.

Otherwise, things are going pretty well. The cats adjusted nicely to having collars, and since the collars have bells on them you can hear them coming. Both cats are affectionate, which is good for the girls. We do shut the cats down in the basement at night so we can sleep, and they don't seem to mind as they have each other for company. However, in the morning they sit by the door and meow, and I can't let them up until both girls are ready for school. That's the rule, made to keep the cats from distracting the girls, especially Boo. That kid has two speeds: slow and stop. Therefore, if she wants to see her kitties before school, she has to hurry and get ready or else she's out of luck.

This afternoon I have to pack up the cats and take them to the vet for a check-up. The Humane Society requires this, and if there's some problem they didn't catch, they have some kind of insurance that will pay to fix the problem. I was really impressed by that, and also by how careful they are in the adoption process. They spayed the cats (it's Iowa law that all adopted animals be spayed or neutered) plus they made sure their shots were up to date and they implanted microchips in each one in case the kitties get out of the house and are lost. The Humane Society also provides microchips for your current pets (for a small fee, I think) and I'm considering taking Moose Mutt over there to get one, since he sometimes escapes our backyard.

That should be a fun trip!