naming

Rocky’s a girl!

Rocky’s a Rockette! A little girl in pink! A sweet pea. And here we thought she was a tough little tumbling boy, the little bitty aggressor, always winning the wresting matches with her brother.

I had her neutering scheduled for Monday and we took both kittens to the shelter clinic for their shots. I mentioned tomorrow is “loose your nuts” day, and the vet tech looks at me funny and says “You know Rocky’s a girl, right?” Oh boy, we felt dumb!

So, on Monday I dropped off a kitten for spaying instead of neutering, and paid the fee for spaying, and not neutering. Ouch!

She couldn’t care less either way. The surgery didn’t affect her one bit. She’s alert, running around, and does not seem to be in pain.

And just like that, Rocky became Rockie.

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July 31, 2018June 15, 2019 by Kitty Vindaloo Tags: adoption, Cat, gender, kitten, name, naming, neutering, portrait, shelter, spaying 1 Comment

Meet Henry

Rocky needed a playmate. He loves playing with Kodi but I, a human who is fairly new to orphan kitten behavior, decided he could benefit from having a buddy his age to wrestle with. Kittens are aplenty in the shelters, and after a few days of placing the request, I got a photo of a tuxedo cat. And off to the shelter I go. But not without first asking my big guy if he agrees. He does of course.

They handed me a wild little thing! It screeched all the way back home, trying to claw its way out of the carrier. Not a happy camper!

I let him roam around a bit in the bathroom before giving it a bath. Have you ever given a cat a bath? That in itself should be its own reality show. Cats do NOT like water. And cats have claws, which explains why I now sport all kinds of injuries on my wrists! But I think I got 90% of the fleas out.

It’s a rather big kitten, bigger than Rocky, yet its teeth are less developed. It’s a boy. And he hisses and screams like a feral cat when he’s not happy. But over the course of one evening, he became a very loving, happy, free kitten.

His name is Henry, to be pronounced with a stiff upper lip. He’s black and white. My relative Henry was colorblind. Hence Henry. More specifically, Henry Of the Poisonous Claws. Yes, we think that’s funny!

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July 6, 2018July 6, 2018 by Kitty Vindaloo Tags: adoption, animal rights, behavior, carrier, Cat, claws, kingwood, kitten, name, naming, orphan, parasite, portrait, rescue, shelter 1 Comment

Rocky the Rock Star

Meet Rocky, our little RockaPoo, RockaDoddle, RockaRama and many others.

As can be expected, we love our new baby. He’s been through a lot (and so have we). He’s a fighter, a mighty cat, a survivor. Hence his name: Rocky. Because you know, the Survivor song, theme of the movie Rocky.

He’s a bit small for 5 weeks old, but has a ton of oomph in him. He has never learned to suck on a bottle, preferring instead to chew on the nipple to get the milk to come. Lately, he’s simply chewed the nipples off. So, he’s pretty much off the bottle now. It’s a bit early but he’s lapping the milk out of a bowl, which, in turn, is a bit early for a kitten to do. He also uses his litter box and eats wet food out of the can. He’s a big boy. He rocks.

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He doesn’t have a litter mate obviously, but Kodi is a great big brother. Whenever we take Rocky out of the playpen, Kodi comes running, and proceeds to annoy him. He knocks him down, paws at him, bites him, wrestles with him, and then gives him a tongue bath… We were a tad concerned when we heard some pitiful meows, but then saw the tiny one attacking his brother’s tail, so it can’t be too bad! We now let Rocky loose in the house for an hour or so, and if we lose sight of him (he’s so fast and tiny and climbs into crevices), all we have to do is look for Kodi, who, inevitably will be staring at that mini fur ball.

He’s the best. He’s simply the best. Better than all the rest…

June 25, 2018August 2, 2018 by Kitty Vindaloo Tags: adoption, bottle, bottle feeding, Cat, feeding, kingwood, kitten, litter training, name, naming, nursing, orphan, portrait, rescue, shelter, weaning, wet food 2 Comments

Bye Bye Boo

Boo died today, at 12:35pm. He spent the morning on my chest while I was reading, making little noises, crawling back towards my neck before falling asleep. At noon, I got out of bed (don’t judge me until you feed bottle kittens around the clock) to get ready to take the whole crew to the vet. When I picked him up, he died in my hands, just like that.

Boo is the only one we had really named. He came with nasty flea bites on his tail. He had booboos on his tail, hence Boo.

He was the biggest of the three, strong and always hungry, the first to learn to latch on the nipple. Yesterday, he started being finicky, and had diarrhea. At midnight, my husband woke me up because Boo was refusing food. We got some Pedialyte to rehydrate him. We planned on being at the clinic when they opened at 1:00pm. Boo didn’t make it.

It was none of the common parasites. Kittens are fragile creatures and can take a turn for the worse in a matter of hours. I don’t even have a picture of him with his eyes open.

We are naming the other ones The Boos. You are gone Baby Boo, but you will not be forgotten.

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May 31, 2018June 6, 2018 by Kitty Vindaloo Tags: bottle feeding, Cat, death, feeding, kingwood, kitten, name, naming, nursing, orphan, parasite, portrait, rescue, shelter Leave a comment

Our Duchess

Not much to say here. All is good with Momma and her kittens. I want to brag and show you the most precious 12 day-old kittens in the whole wide world.

Momma cat has a new name, temporary since we are only fostering her. She is Duchess, named after the protective mother cat in The Aristocats. She is the sweetest, most devoted mother ever.

She came to us so traumatized. For days she would only eat if I fed her. The camera confirmed that she didn’t get out of her cardboard box. Now she sometimes sleeps away from the box, in the playpen, on a towel, sometimes even letting all the munchkins away from her.

She likes me a lot! She doesn’t know what a hug is, but she’s a lap cat. I comb her everyday, to get the filth off of her and as a trust-building activity. I now get kissed and headbutts from our Duchess.

She has no problem letting us her handle her kittens. Feeding is pretty much all she does all day. She has to be bored! She likes when she sees me walk into the room and climb into the playpen with her. I keep promising that I will grab a book and spend time with her in there, but I haven’t been good at that.

The only unpleasant thing about her, is that she has to idea what a litter box is for. I don’t know how to litter train an adult cat. I followed the advice found on the internet (place poop in there, placing her in the box and showing her how to scratch) but she doesn’t understand.

It can get smelly in there…

March 11, 2018 by Kitty Vindaloo Tags: adoption, Cat, duchess, feeding, kingwood, kitten, litter, litter training, name, naming, nursing queen, orphan, queen, rescue, security camera, shelter, the aristocats 1 Comment

The naming game

We have names for The Floofs.

Let me introduce you to Tango de la Floof, Kodi de la Floof and M.C. de la Floof.

Kodi is the little black cat. He looked like a bear cub last week, all chubby and with claws that should be registered as dangerous weapons and would not be allowed on a plane! Bear, grizzly bear, Kodiak bear, Kodi. It suits him perfectly.

M.C. is the baby white kitten. She went from Madame LaFloof, to Mini Floof, to Floofito, Yoda, E.T., and finally M.C. It stands for Mini Cat, Mighty Cat, Martian Cat, MC Hammer, Mountain Cat (she’s climber). You pick. M.C. she is.

The orange one never really had a name until this morning when my husband suggested “Tango”. And for no apparent reason, that cat is a good “Tango”. It’s supposed to be derived from “tangerine”.

We had their second photo shoot last night. I thought it was time to introduce them to the world of books and the writings of Cleveland Amory on cats is a perfect choice.