BLOBBY'S BLOG

HERE KITTY KITTY KITTY

We have a new member of our family!!!!!

Yesterday, we went to Geauga Rescue Village and had the opportunity to have a kitten choose us. We had stopped in over the weekend and were overwhelmed at the number of kittens they had. The folks at the Village said that during this kitten season, hey had twice as many kittens than normal. The good news is, they had less waiting for homes yesterday than they did on Sunday.

It can be so very hard to choose. We had never picked a kitten before. With Kylie and Tovah we got them sight unseen and those were just meant to be. Here, as Denton said, it's like Sophie's Choice....except at Rescue Village they don't put down any animal.

They try to keep litters in one cage, making prospective family members feel like heels if they take one but leave two or three. Perhaps that's just my guilt. The ones who were climbing up the cage, while I found it amusing, I saw shades of what might be in the house and they were put in a lower tier. Ditto with the biters. The choice came down to two little girls. One was so cute, but had an upper respiratory infection. No biggie. But since she was not feeling 100%, we weren't sure how to gauge her true activity level. We had Tovah to consider. They will eventually have to get along tolerate each other.

Fabiano (swear to g-d, that was the name she had on her collar) was the second and smaller kitten, but oh so sociable. She warmed to us immediately. Trotting back and forth between us, putting her nose up to ours and purring right away. After a mere two hours (!!!) of paperwork, she was ours. The length of time there seemed excessive, but this place is thorough. She had already been neutered and had two of her three vaccines - not including her rabies shot, which was also done. She also comes with an implanted microchip....just in case she ever gets lost....which she never will!!!

We have 'Fabiano' sequestered for a few reasons. One is to make sure she doesn't have an upper respiratory infection. She doesn't seem to - but why chance it. Two is that she hasn't known life outside a cage, so instead of giving her full access to the house, we'll let her feel secure with sights, sounds and smells. The biggest reason is to slowly acclimate her to Tovah. The rescue place suggested trying up to FIVE weeks doing this. It sounds good in theory, but unlikely. We'll shoot for two, possibly three.

But 'Fabiano' is adapting well to the sleeping porch. The word 'porch' makes it sound like she's outside and she is not. A sleeping porch was a room in older homes, pre-air conditioning, that folks would sleep in (duh!) in the summer. A room with big windows/screens that would allow for maximum air flow. It is not an over the top plush space - but it's not a cage that she had to share with her brother and sister (see below) in a room full of 40 other cats.


More importantly it allows Tovah no access, though they are now both aware of each other. Some hissing (on Tovah's part), but that's it so far.

To those who are worried - we will not be keeping the name 'Fabiano'. We haven't picked a name at this point, but it is pretty safe to say we have opted not to use Lady Griddlebone, Pinkle Purr, Skanky or Fluffer! Especially either of the last two...because I think it's a rule of thumb that being a fluffer kind of makes one skanky?