Thursday, November 12, 2020

Social Climbers

The Felons continue to learn, grow and change. Their eyes turned green this week, suggesting that they are probably about seven weeks old, one week older than we in the rescue-group thought. We’ve now re-set their birthday to September 25th.

Oleo and Bisto have also learned to climb the cat-trees in the bedroom. This is somewhat to the consternation of Josie, who liked to keep out of their way by lying on one of the platforms off the floor. She can still escape the kittens by resorting to the saddle at the top of the taller tree.






But, in fact, my old lady does not do that as often as I thought she might. Even with the energetic pair flying about the carpet, Josie will lie in the heated cat-bed on the floor. The Felons will sometimes cautiously approach her, sniffing. My Chubs will usually tolerate this, sometimes sniffing in return. If the youngsters come too close, Josie will give them a warning; if they ignore it, she will whap them, though even that blow rarely connects. The Felons get the idea: you don’t mess with a guard five times your size. Mostly, the Great White ignores them.


Of the others, Nevile dislikes the kittens, growling and huffing at them, if he finds himself close to them. Tucker will tell pretty much everyone that he is displeased with the little ones, grumbling and mumbling to himself. When the roly poly is annoyed at something, he is annoyed at everything. Renn, on the other hand, though he doesn’t care for the newcomers, shows some promise. I will work on him.

In the meantime, Oleo and Bisto continue to fight each other, in between snoozing cuddled up. They love their games together, and are a perfect lesson for anyone wondering if two kittens are preferable to one. Alone all day, they are company for one another; I’m sure they spend half their time wrestling and chasing each other. Neither bullies, and they take in turns being the attacker and defender in their fun. One will look for the other, if he can’t see him, and come to discover what the other finds so interesting. Together, they are learning how to be cats. Perhaps, maybe, possibly, one or two of mine will help show them.

14 comments:

  1. It was just a matter of time before they discovered the tree. I'm so glad they are enjoying this new adventure. It must be like climbing Mt Everest to them!
    I love the pic of Josie on her tree looking over her shoulder at you. She must be telling you to get them out of here! Hahaha.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can’t blame your cats for being wary of the little felons, but I hope they’ll give in to this avalanche of cuteness.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh it is nice that they have met the slightly grumpy flatmates. It is good to get them socialized.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ah! It must be fun at your place at
    the moment John..Bless! :)
    If l was you l won't want to go to work
    everyday..
    Wonder what their little minds are thinking,
    when they 'bump' into one of the bigger cats!
    Pleased there all getting on..a growl from
    the bigger ones hopefully is enough to warn
    them off..and..the race to the top of the
    cat tree must be great to watch..Bless!xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is fun to see all your pictures with all your cats getting to know each other. Just like some of us grumpy adults humans, we're not always in the mood for little children. At least they seem to be getting along fairly well and the kittens will soon learn who is in charge.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the last picture seeing that little miscreant up there ready to pop onto the pillow! And his Watcher there--- and perhaps his mentor one day, watching him. Love learning their growing up and what they are doing. I wonder, except for Neville who count care at all......if they are reminded of their young days?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Little monkeys! :-)

    I'm glad they have the opportunity to interact with other cats; it's teaching them how to behave with cats that don't want their attention, and (hopefully!) cats that do!

    ReplyDelete
  8. They are so cute and so full of energy!

    ReplyDelete
  9. The little ones will learn from their elders!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Being educated by the older cats even if by paw rather than tacit understanding is beneficial. Our Einstein had Professor Rumpy the problem being Rumpy grew up in a crate with no cat education of his own. No wonder they such rogues

    ReplyDelete
  11. It's the job of older cats to teach kittens proper "kitten behavior", and It looks like Josie, Renn, Tucker and Neville are all taking their jobs seriously.

    ReplyDelete
  12. It doesn't take long to learn to climb the mountainous cat trees! Josie doesn't look too bothered, but that may change when they make it to the very top. A gentle whap from her will let them know what is permitted.

    ReplyDelete
  13. catfather' outta all de chatz we haz had dood; even while on de road chasin down de bass terd gobbler; eye; tuna of moon agreez with ya buddy on thiz.........1000000000000000000000000000000 purrcent ~~~~~

    eye will bee a noid with ya dood....az eye am two.. N haz been for ..count lezz dayz on end......sinz joolie....2018

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh what fun! I read once that older cats aren't entirely sure what kittens are - they're small and are too busy. I'm sure they'll all settle down, though perhaps not Neville. Josie sounds like my Sami when we brought Silas and Shady home. She wouldn't let them too close and would bring down the paw. But eventually she became their second mother, bathing them and handing out discipline when needed. She was only about 2 years old at the time so perhaps Josie won't get to that point before the felons move on to their forever home.

    Take care and stay well!

    ReplyDelete