Snow Kitties

We got over a foot of snow up here in the mountains, and a bit more is falling now. I figured the kittens wouldn't leave the front porch except maybe to go to the basement while the fluffy white stuff was on the ground, and boy was I wrong. Besides following me around the yard while I took some pictures, they actually played in the snow. Google especially seemed to be enjoying himself.

I would love to edit our voices out of the video, but don't have the software on this computer. But it's cool, watching little Google play in the snow like that. This is before the bulk of the snow fell, of course, and later on, when it was so deep, he mostly played in areas where I had walked.

Hope followed me out into the yard, but wasn't real happy about it. She stayed right next to the house, then walked out to get under the car. From there, she ended up under the storage building, then hightailed it under the deck.

Was surprised to see her sitting in the snow on the deck with Google for a bit.

Yahoo did follow me around the yard, but not for long. He stayed mostly under the deck (trying to clean snow off his fur)...

...or on the porch, curled up on his favorite cushion.

I really want to find a home for these guys. They are just the sweetest things. Yahoo especially loves to sit on your lap and be held. They are still young enough that they would make great indoor kitties. (They are constantly trying to come in our front door.) They are now spayed/neutered and are up-to-date on their shots. All I ask for their adoption is a donation to the local animal shelter. Not a bad deal if you ask me.

IT'S A GIRL!!

Well, the kittens are still here, and I am hoping to get them to the vet to be neutered in the next week or so. The person I was hoping would take them wasn't able to, but she has promised to keep watch for anyone who might be interested. In the meantime...Jeeves has given us a bit of a surprise. He is a she.

I would have sworn Jeeves was a boy. I would have sworn I saw little...thingies...as she walked away from me. But it must have been a visual trick played by the way the fur was growing, because now they are obviously not there. Then I took her to the vet's office on Saturday and had my suspicions confirmed. The littlest brother is now the little sister. (She still play fights better than her brothers, though.)

So, we are trying to figure out a new name for the little girl, but aren't having much luck. We're still calling her Jeeves for lack of anything better, and she doesn't seem to mind. We thought about Eve since the sound is close to the same, but it just hasn't stuck. Maybe Jenny, but that hasn't made the cut yet either. If we stick with the search engine theme, the task becomes even more difficult. There just aren't many search engines out there using female type names.

For now, Jeeves is still Jeeves, and her brothers (Google and Yahoo) still treat her like a little brother, wrestling with her in the front yard, chasing her up trees. Or maybe, that's how little sisters are routinely treated. Either way, she doesn't seem to mind.

Kitten Update

May have a home for one or more of the kittens. (Keep fingers crossed.) For now, they are still running all over my front porch, raising a heck of a racket. Today, I gave them a treat...a bit of sardines. Boy did they like that.

My usual readers know I have a small house outside for the cats. (a couple actually) The kittens recently discovered the foam one that Muffin usually sleeps in. I'm betting the little microwaveable "heater" I put in there has something to do with their discovery. What's odd is what they're doing with this "new" item they have taken over. Instead of sleeping inside it, they seem to like the idea of sleeping on top of it, collapsing the thing around them.

That's Jeeves and Yahoo in the picture. When I went out there early yesterday morning, Jeeves and Google were laying there like that. They came running to me, and then I was surprised to see Yahoo come crawling out of the house. They were laying on top of him. Maybe it was his idea, a way to keep warm.

I still get a kick out of Google's eyes. He is always wide-eyed and ready to go.

And Yahoo is such a beautiful boy. Sometimes he just sits beside me and watches the others play.

Jeeves is a hoot. Still more standoffish than the others, but does come running to be petted. He's a doll.

They're growing like weeds. I see a difference every day. Such beautiful little guys. Even Muffin is learning to accept them being around.

Sort of.

Life Goes On

I still start to cry when I look at pictures of my Little Buddy, or read about him in my journal, but there are three other kittens, not to mention all the adult cats, who need my attention.




This is Google (on left) and Yahoo (on the right). Google was the first named because he had such googlie eyes. His eyes are always wide open like that. We decided to go on with the search engine theme and called the other one Yahoo...because it's another search engine and he follows along behind Google, who seems to be constantly searching for something. It all works.



In thinking about other search engine type names, we decided to call this little guy Jeeves (along the lines of Ask Jeeves). We don't know for sure yet if he's a boy, but it works anyway. He's the most skittish of them, but he always has been. We're working on it though.


Here's Yahoo letting me pet him. It helps if I try while he's eating. He's getting to where he really wants to be petted, though. I even managed to pick him up for about a second or two this morning before he yelled at me.

Not everyone around our house is happy about the kittens being here. Muffin gave them a good talking-to this morning. But, with all her hissing and such, the other night I went outside to find her actually running around playing with them. When she saw me watching, the play stopped of course. You know how cats are.

I'm Sad Today

I lost one of the kittens last night. Second from the left, looking up at the camera, is the one of the bunch who let me hold him. He had gotten to where he would come up to me and rub on my legs and we'd play a bit when I went out to feed them. He was a sweetie and I was really hoping to find him an indoor home. But, it wasn't to be. I found him lying in the grass this morning. There was a small wound on the back of his neck, and we figure a dog probably got hold of him. (You know how they shake things like that.) I have seen a coyote not far from my house, but if that had been what got him, it probably would have taken him off.

The other kittens are a bit more skittish now, which is understandable. After my pet sitting appointment this morning, I came home and buried the little guy in my front yard. As I was digging, the others came out from under my porch. They sat near and watched me until I was done. Almost like they were saying goodbye themselves. I think they will probably move over here now as they can go up under my porch where there is a small opening that leads into my basement. Much safer area.

I wish I could handle things like this better. A part of me wishes I didn't get so attached so easily. I'm second guessing myself when it comes to how I've been dealing with these guys now, and I'm really tired of crying over animals like this. (If more people would take care of their own pets, this type of thing wouldn't happen so often.)

At least I know the little guy was pretty happy. He and his siblings were over here on our porch late last night and I held and played with him. He had the loudest purr I've ever heard on a kitten. I'll never forget that, or him.