Charlotte's New Roost

We decided it was time to get Charlotte a condo, tree, tower (they go by a number of names).  It's a little over 4 feet high, as 3 above-floor levels.  It's all open shelves, one (second from top) has a hole to allow here move or play through the third level.  It's got a couple of dangly toys, with jingle bells. She played with those dangly, jingly mice (or whatever they are) for more than a half hour before it was time to nap on that same third level; the one with the hole. 

The top level is smaller.  She fits, but with its raised back edge and smaller space she's not as enamored of it.  Or at least she's not as fond of it in the first hour or so.  We'll see how it develops over time. 

The dangly, jingly mouse handing from the third level is placed so she can play through the hole or reach down from the outside edge, or from the second level. 

Now, it's nap time.  At least for a little while.

Charlotte, a different kind of kitten

I've raised 2 kittens in the past.  The first one, Sarah, was interested in a variety of foods, especially salty items, during her first year.  I really had to defend my potato chips and French fries

The second one, Charlie, was a one-food cat most of his life.  He was so particular he only ate Deli-Cat.  He'd leave other foods untouched for days.  The only life-long exception was raw met.  He'd get to the cutting board faster than the dog.  During his last 2 years he tried all kinds of things, but the first 10-11 years he was very picky.

Charlotte is a whole other story.  She likes to try a wide variety of foods.  She really likes bready foods like pancakes, bread, cereal.  She is the first one in the dog's dinner dish.  The one thing we really have to vigorously defend when we have it for dinner is shrimp.  It drives her wild. 

This morning she was intent on having some of my Rice Chex.  I'd give her a small piece, placing it on the edge of the recliner.  If I was slow moving my hand, she'd gently push my hand aside before sweeping the piece to the floor before eating it.  She did that more than once; I gave her several pieces to keep her from fishing out her own from the bag.

As I write this entry she is stretched out on my arm, on her back, taking one of her many daily naps.  Of course, as I finished that sentence, she finished her nap and jumped down.

Charlotte

Charlotte is a solid 5 pounds now.  (Weighed her this morning.)  For the most part she is a loving, sweet kitty.  A little wild, but that's to be expected at 4-1/2 months.  But, her go-to move is to bite.  When a kitty is fired up while playing, some biting is to be expected.  But, when she wants something to stop - petting, holding, etc. - she will grab and bit.  And her teeth are very sharp.  One of the last bites I received goes around one side of a knuckle.  The slicing bite feels about the same as a scratch.  Other times, though, she bites deeply.

Charlie would bite us, but only when we got him fired up  by challenging him to catch our hands on the bed.  There would be many warnings and indicators, so when he did bite it was at our instigation.

Charlotte just reaches out and bites as a "don't do that" with little or no warning behavior.  Regardless of all the expert advice about how to discipline a cat ... we will stop the biting.

A few behaviors are starting to show up as she grows up.  She has started the "chitter" - that strange sound that comes with a vibrating, partly open mouth - when she's hunting a toy.  And that odd butt lift that happens when you pet her full length along her back.  You see those in adult cats, but have just started to show up with her.

The Fox and the Kitty

Charlotte has an unusual toy -  a fox tail.  Not the grass type of fox tail that is the bane of all pet owners, but the tail of a red fox that had been hit by a car on the highway years ago.  We collected the road-killed fox (I had asked a Wildlife officer about collecting the tail - he told us we had to collect the whole animal and properly dispose of the parts we didn't want). 

Since it was never tanned in any way, it is stiff.  Charlotte doesn't mind.  Sometimes she carries it around - despite it being longer than she is.  Lately, we wake up with it in bed between us.  She also likes to wrap her front legs around it and kick at it with her back legs (as if disemboweling an enemy).  To get her going again, all we have to do is pick it up and move it a bit, and she's on the attack.

The real fun combo for her is laundry and fox tail.  Every time we take the laundry basket upstairs to fold and put away clothes, she's there and all about pulling things out of the basket.  Then, when it's empty she'll jump in with her fox tail and kill it over and over.

Charlotte's new toy

My sister had no idea she was sending us a new cat toy.  She sent us a box of homemade treats.  We'll enjoy the toffee, peanut brittle and home grown walnuts.  Charlotte gets the box.  It only takes a few minutes to convert the right size box to a great fun toy.  One (or more) jingly ball sealed inside a cardboard box with a few holes big enough for a paw but too small to allow the ball(s) to come out provides hours of kitty fun.  Then, when she bites one of the holes big enough to get the ball, we just another box.  For $20-40 you can buy a plastic one, professionally designed ... we spent a couple bucks for a half dozen jingly balls at the grocery store.  This is her second box - she chewed one of the holes bigger and got the ball out of the first one ... after a couple weeks or more.  Today, as she heard the ball rattle around while I cut the holes she was climbing my leg to get to the box and poke her "arm" inside.

We don't know yet if it's a new phase or temporary change, but Charlotte is no longer pouncing on our feet around 7 am.  Instead, she's likely to come back to bed and come under the covers.  Or if she's still on the bed she'll move from her spot by Tom's feet and come under the covers.  She's been letting us sleep as late as 8 or a bit after. . .

She has decided she likes to harass poor old Max.  When she discovered she had the power to use her less than 5 pound body to make a 60 pound dog bark and get up and move, she was a holy terror.  That first night she must have pounced on him at least 6 or 8 times in just a 20 minute period or so.  Then she pursued him up to his preferred sleeping place at the top of the stair and did it a few more times.  She now generally does it at least 2 or 3 times a day. 

Ouch!

This morning I got my first serious injury from Charlotte.  It wasn't an attack, it was a miscalculation.  She leaped up, intending to jump onto the footrest and my legs.  Unfortunately, she didn't jump quite hard enough and when she felt herself slipping she just reacted.  Her claws dug in and still she slid.  Oh, it's a good thing my shins aren't really sensitive, since she laid open a 3-4 inch slice across my shin.  Had it been an intentional attack ...  but it was an accident, so I just deal with it.  I'd love to say it'll never happen again, but I like lounging in my robe ... that leaves my legs vulnerable.

Not a fun night

There's nothing that will ruin a night's sleep faster than a safety alarm going off.  Sometimes our furnace runs a really short cycle that doesn't heat the vent pipe.  If it's cold enough outside the cold air in the top of the pipe keeps the warm air from rising and exhausting.  So the CO detector gets us out of bed at 4 am to clear the air and get the damned thing to reset to zero.  I hate running fans and opening windows to sub-zero temperatures, but we've got to get the air cleared.  It doesn't come back, so it's not that we have a leak or blockage.  It only happens when a certain set of circumstances all match up.

So we got the CO detector cleared, the CO cleared out of the house and went back to bed.  It went OK for a while.  Then, around 7 am, Charlotte decided it was time for us to get up.  She was up and full of energy.  Unfortunately, one of her new passions is jumping & climbing curtains.  The only curtain she can reach in the bedroom is right over & behind our heads.  She'll pounce on feet, bounce up the bed, and launch ... sometimes off our heads or faces.  "Nicely" grabbing her and setting her gently in a better place does not good.  Last night, the third night she's done it, we were grabbing whatever body part came to hand in the dark and sending a bit less than gently to the foot of the bed or off the bed.  We only both grabbed her at the same time once - one back leg and one front leg.  We'll see tonight if it did any good.

This morning she started a bit with the curtains by the table.  She loves to sun herself in that windowsill.  Down here, and with both of us up for the day, I have an air horn (one of those canned ones you carry on a boat) to blast at her.  Too bad we all have to be subjected to that noise.  We'll be searching for a better solution for all of us.

After being gone a little over a week, it looks like Charlotte has grown some more.  Of course, I expected it, she's a growing kitten.  She weighed just under 4 pounds a couple weeks ago, now she's just under 5 pounds. 

Last night she got crazier than we've ever seen her before.  She got out into the garage a couple times and really didn't want to come back in.  After Tom went to bed she got pretty much psychotic.  I don't know how many times she went after Max.  Time and again I heard him bark.  He tried to move someplace she'd leave him alone.  It was no good.  She followed him and went at him again.  And again.  I don't know if she just pounced next to him or if she was actually pouncing on him. 

When I went upstairs to bed she continued harassing Max, then moved on the pouncing on plastic bags in the bedroom and climbing the closet door to see if she could pull down my robes.  When she tired of that she'd run across the bed, including us, and jump onto the curtain over the head of the bed.  The last time she tried it, I grabbed her by the tail and sent her toward the edge of the bed.

Eventually, she did settle.  Somewhere.  I didn't see or hear her again until after I got up to go to the bathroom.  Then she was ready for a cuddle under the covers for a little bit.

What a night!