A fly in the house

We had a fly in the house last night. It made it up to Mom and Dad’s bedroom, which gave us lots of levels to run and chase it from. We sprinted across Mom and Dad and their stuff several times. Castor was jumping higher than I’ve ever seen him jump, including mid-air twists, trying to catch him. I watched from my new favorite spot on the scratcher that looks like a couch (Costco purchase). Dad even joined the hunt. Eventually Aslan swatted it out of the air and pinned it under his paw. Dad went to make sure it stayed caught (you know how we like to release and chase again) but as he got near Aslan he saw him smacking his lips. Aslan ate the fly! He was so proud of himself. In all the chaos we didn’t get any pictures, but I’m sure you can imagine the excitement of the chase. 

Happy birthday to us!

Look at handsome Aslan! He loves having out with Mom and Dad on a calm weekend. (We don’t get enough of those!)

Aslan and I (Loki) celebrated our birthday on May 1. We didn’t do stinky goodness like the kittens because my tummy has been a little weird and we didn’t want that. So we got lots of treats instead. We have a new scratcher coming in the mail as a birthday present. I’ll post proper celebration pictures when that comes. 

Pictures or it didn’t happen

Orange Boy and Baby were both comfortably lounging on the deck until Dad got the camera and OB decided to high tail it away. I think he went around front and ate the leftover snack that Baby didn’t finish from the night before. 

Orange Boy returns!

We have some outdoor friends who come visit. Baby Girl, aka Baby, Baby G (in case she’s not a girl … she hasn’t specifically told us), but Baby G is the most consistent visitor. She knows Dad’s routine and shows up for a snack in the morning, usually on the back deck. 

Tabby was always a skittish boy but he was warming up. But he’s gone walk-about, we think. He wanders the neighborhood more than Baby G. We haven’t seen him in about a month but at some point he’ll show back up, we expect. 

Then there’s Orange Boy. OB from Day 1 has always looked like he picked the wrong fight — a little beat up, a little ragged. The last time we saw him was before the worst part of winter. He was warming up to Dad a little but always cautiously 10-15 feet away. Last time he came be he looked really rough and smelled worse, but there wasn’t much we could do for him but make sure he had good food. Then he went MIA. We figured he succumbed to the winter. Then this morning Dad came down and OB and Baby G were hanging out on the porch. OB ducked out while Dad was getting the food, but he put extra food out for him away from Baby G so they both could eat in peace. 

Never give up hope on these guys — they will surprise you! (We wish we could bring them all in, but since we can’t we do our best to help them out with food, water, and shelter.)

Pollux peeking

Pollux was helping snoopervise Mom and Dad as they unloaded the groceries last night. He's playing it cool here but what actually happened is he lost his footing standing half on the back of the chair and half on the table and he ended up in the chair. He might be full size but there's still a lot of kitten in him. 

Aslan’s happy pose

I just realized the last two pictures of Aslan on here were happy, relaxed poses. He can be an anxious cat so it's so nice to see him kicked back and showing his belly. 

Pollux’s spot

This is one of Pollux's favorite spots. He hunkers down on the cushion by the arm of the couch and can watch out the back door in case we get any visitors out there, but is also in prime position to hop down quickly and get treats in the kitchen. 

Soaking up the sun

Today's a great day to soak up some sun! 

Getting fixed

So this morning Castor and Pollux went for a "spa day" to the vet to get fixed. The people at the vet were super nice and scooped them up real quick at the drop off so Dad didn't even get a picture of the sad kittens. They did not like the drive over in the rain. But they'll be home this afternoon (and probably a little loopy all night). They had to fast after midnight which meant no food or water for any of us. We started to protest around 3 am. At least it kept Dad from oversleeping for the early morning drop off. 

Since we missed getting a drop off picture, here's Castor in one of his favorite hangout spots — the banister rail over the stairs. Weirdo… so many soft surfaces in this house and he likes to live on the edge instead. Little brothers …

It’s a tough life …

It's a tough life being a kitten at our house …

Goofy water cat

Pollux loves water! He's fascinated by the sink. But he loves the shower. He gets between the shower curtain and the liner almost every time Mom or Dad are in the shower. He's gotten in the shower before, but still where the liner is protecting him from the water. One day he's going to slip in all the way and it's going to be a bad day for him and whichever person is in the shower at the time. 

Snugglers

Mom and Dad love that the Chaos Twins will snuggle together. The four before us would hang out but not really snuggle, and Aslan and I also hang out and mirror each other, but don't snuggle. They are really cute and sweet. 

We had a vet visit (all four of us) last Friday to get our shots updated so now the kittens are good to get fixed. That should be soon. They are about four-and-a-half months old now and starting to be more like teenagers. 

Exploring the house

Mom and Dad gave the Chaos Kittens free roam of the house this weekend -- supervised. 

I'm still a little unsure about them now that they are in my space. It's one thing when they are confined to Mom and Dad's bedroom or bathroom, but now that they can come and sneak up on me at any time, I just don't know about that. Aslan has been a good big brother, snoopervising them and babysitting them as they explore. 

 Castor liked checking out the books in the parlor.

Pollux was really interesting in getting under the buffet in the dining room.

All the exploring really wore them out. Castor is really turning into a snuggle bug and loves to curl up with Mom and nap.

There was some scariness today. Mom and Dad put collars on Castor and Pollux so we can keep up with them and they won't sneak up on us as easily. Well, Castor somehow managed to get the snap of his collar in his mouth. Mom found him in distress. Mom had to cut the collar off of him because she couldn't really get to the snap, and it didn't break away like it should have. Castor is doing fine now, and I'm keeping a close eye on him. But it was really scary!
 

The interlopers

We have some intruders in the house, and they are making all kinds of noise in Mom and Dad's bathroom! One of our friendly neighborhood cats -- Ziggy -- ended up having a litter of kittens. Mom and Dad thought she was a tiny boy, turns out they were wrong. There were four kittens who showed up on our back deck a few weeks after they were born. Then they went away for a few days and two returned. Turns out our neighbor adopted the other two. But then Ziggy went MIA for a few days and left the twin boy kittens on our front porch. Mom and Dad were very worried about Ziggy. She was looking real bloated, almost like she hadn't weaned them enough. She showed up again for a day or two, but mostly kept her distance from the boys. So Mom and Dad decided they needed to get the kittens to the vet for a checkup and bring them in. They are in isolation in the big bathroom right now as Mom and Dad de-flea them (no one wants that in the house!) and then we'll get to meet them. Mom and Dad would love to find them a home, but also know that we may have just become a four cat house.

Look how cute they are! Dad snapped this picture after they returned without their sisters and were just hanging out around the front porch.

Meet Castor and Pollux! They are twins, just like the Gemini twins. The only big different is Pollux has pink toe beans (P) and Castor has chocolate toe beans (C). Other than that, Pollux's left back sock is pulled up a little higher than Castor's. They are really hard to tell apart!

This is Castor. He has a little dot on his toe that looks like a flea but isn't (we've tried to get it several times...). 

 

There's a camera in the bathroom so we can check on them all the time. They like the camera. They really like to knock the camera over so we can't see them. 
 

The Twins

I mentioned in my past post about kittens around our house. There were four. Two were adopted by our neighbor (a calico and a tortie) and the twins have been on our front porch. Their mom went MIA for about six days. We've been nervous because she looks a little bloated. We think the kittens were separated from her too soon. But she showed back up yesterday. The twins were lounging in the planter when Dad came back from work at lunch and he snapped this super cute picture. These sweet guys love wet food and found their purrs recently. Mom and Dad have talked about fostering them while they try to find a good home for them. 

Happy birthday to us!

This is a late birthday post because our actually birthday was on Wednesday but Mom and Dad's have been crazy busy at Mom's theater getting ready for Legally Blonde that opens next week so we'll properly celebrate this weekend. Plus there are kittens hanging out on our back deck so that's been distracting. Pictures coming soon! As exciting as that is, the biggest news is that Aslan has started coming out of Mom and Dad's room after about seven months!

Happy Jasper Day

Happy Jasper Day! Today would have been Jasper's 23rd birthday. He was the founder of our blog way back in 2004. Jasper was Mom and Dad's Big Orange Boy — part Manx and part Maine Coon — he weighed in around 22 pounds at his biggest (not fat, just a big boy). He loved to sleep in sinks and boxes and to play in paper bags. He left us in 2018, but he set the standard for the rest of the McKitten-Cats. 

Downstairs?!?

After two months of mostly hanging out under Mom and Dad's bed and occasionally on the bed chilling with Mom or trying to eat Dad's food, Aslan has ventured downstairs three mornings in a row. He'll poke his head into the foyer or the parlor off the foyer, but that's about it. Then he'll go back to the middle of the stairs for a minute before returning to the bedroom. This is usually right as Dad's getting ready to leave for work so Dad can't even spend a lot of time with Aslan encouraging him. But we're both getting extra treats because of this. We're proud of him for being brave. 

Of course just as he's making progress he's developed a sniffle and his left eye had some goop in it last night and he was really squinty so Mom's going to try to get him to the vet this morning and make sure he's ok. They're really cautious about those eyes because of Maggie. Hopefully this isn't a big setback for Aslan. 

On the cat tree

We are so happy to see Aslan out and acting more like himself. You can't see it, but he's getting his nip dynamite here. Hopefully this is a sign that he's ready to venture our from under the bed. 

Under the bed again

Aslan went back under the bed eight days ago. Mom and Dad had been out of town for a funeral and after they came home he and I had a little spat and he decided to go under the bed. Today he finally came out and snuggled with Mom for a good long time. (He did pop out Sunday for a second when he realized Dad had food but quickly went back under.) The photo is him about to come out to visit Mom. Hopefully this is a quick thing. Last time was five weeks. 

We're not sure what triggers it. Mom and Dad think the outdoor cats who visit the deck get me fired up and get Aslan anxious, which is a bad combo. So now we need to figure out what to do about the outside visits. We like to help care for them, especially with winter coming, but if it continues to cause issues with Aslan and me then hard decisions need to be made. Mom and Dad would love to find home for the two sweet, social ones. There's a more feral boy cat who we think is the real problem. We just aren't sure what's best.