Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Finding their True Spirit.


there is a lot of work to be done.  Since bringing home Elsa from the shelter on Sunday she has been doing better.  She confused the living daylights out of me for a while (and still is to some extent) because she has started vocalizing.  Somewhere between a muffled meow and a growl.  At first I thought it was because she was in pain - still thinking the worst about that twist tie - but she is eating and pooping normally and having fun playing with Ella (and eventually the rest of the kittens) so we are still doing that very delicate dance you do when the being in front of you speaks a completely foreign language to you and may very well hurt you badly if you accidently say "hey lets play" instead of "you really should calm down" that you meant to say.


Ella, what can I say about Ella.. How do you solve a problem like... oh wait, sorry. :) Ella is so darn adorable.  She has a bit of her mother's excess energy, so she is not into being cuddled.  DH was in the kitten room with me and he tried to cuddle her but she was trying to be all teeth and claws.  He thought he might 'teach her a lesson' about biting first and asking questions later by offering her own tail.  Well of course she chomped down on it and seemed to enjoy it (and looked freaklingly adorable doing it) He laughed and laughed.  I tried to hold her and give her kisses, which also causes her to go into teeth and claw mode.  DH started speaking for her.. WHY OH WHY does everyone want to snuggle me.. don't they know I'm ferocious!!  see my teeth??  It was cute.  She is also working on her "floof suit" and doing the arched back and doing that sideways hopping thing that is just so cute.

The newbies are making some progress.  The boy the most.  He still is not a fan of my hand coming right at him, but once I touch him all of the flinching is gone and he is a gonner.  He starts purring, leaning into the patting, and really enjoying himself.  The girls would much prefer I not handle them at all thank you very much.  Fortunately they just hunker down and accept my picking them up, and don't fight to get down once I have them.  They have come to accept that when they can't stand it and try to make a break for it that I will put them down safely.  I decided to name them after painters, seeing as they are white and splotched with color much as a painter would be.  The boy I am going to name after Jackson Pollack.  I'm not quite sure if I am going to go with Jackson or Pollack.  I'm leaning to the latter, but I'm not quite sure that is going to stick. I wanted to name one of the girls Georgia after Georgia O'Keeffe, but my first set of kittens had a Georgia (actually my sister ended up adopting her) so I think I am going to go with Evelyn (Evelyn De Morgan) and Frida (Frida Kahlo) but I haven't decided who is who.

I have been leaving them in the cage and working on helping them understand if they let me touch them good things happen.  When Jackson Pollack let me pat him, I let him loose in the room to play.  Once he relaxed a little, he LOVED it.  He loved chasing and pouncing on Ella.  He loved having Ella chase and pounce him, and he loved trying to pull one over on Elsa.  Elsa was very good too.  She has a tendency to go overboard when playing with Ella and I've been working on helping her understand limits.. she would "go after" the kittens but when they would over stimulate her (the point when she normally would go all out) she would remove herself from play and go sit in a box.  I almost cried with happiness.

I didn't know if the long haired girl or the short haired girl would be next.  Each would take a step forward then one back.  SHG would eat in front of me, but wouldn't play.  LHG would play but wouldn't eat unless I put the food directly in front of her.  Somehow LHG got out first, and she started playing and running around, it was adorable to see her do something other than sit there not moving.  She is so going to rival Ella with adorableness once she loosens up and lets her True Spirit shine

Last night I needed to go vote once I got home, so I went downstairs and let them out of the cage.  I opened the door then picked them up and put them down in front of food in the middle of the room and left.  When I got back they ran and hid - except Jackson Pollack.

Soon SHG came out.

She has a pretty short tail.  Maybe it is just an optical illusion, but it does seem quite short.
What?
I'm not quite sure about things yet.
I pulled out the fishing pole toy and got them running all around, including over my legs and I got Jackson Pollack to jump up in my lap.  Granted he was immediately gone, but it is a step in the right direction.  None of them want me to reach out to them, when I do they run.  I decided I need them to work more with me, so I ended up locking them back in the cage for the night (that and and even after watching them interact for almost two hours now I'm not confident about leaving them with Elsa unattended.  I know I'm being overly paranoid about it, but I'd rather be paranoid than sorry)

aww..come on!
SHG mewed in protest.  It was so freakin cute, as up to this point she has seemed almost happy to be in the cage far far away from me. :)

11 comments:

  1. Progress....and a lot of cuteness. :)

    I remember the first time Junior came out and starting making noise. The crew looked at him like he was an alien. He doesn't meow - just has a whine. The adults are now used to him, but every once in a while a kitten will stop and look at him like 'huh?'.

    Glad Elsa is trying to learn some self control.

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  2. Good news and good progress. Those kittens are CUTE.

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  3. It's great that you can see progress!

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  4. this is just What Elsa needed...kitty distraction!

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  5. That's a wonderful and positive update on Elsa. I really hope she continues to make positive strides and adopted by a wonderful family.
    I love the colors and markings on Jackson Pollack, Evelyn and Frida. :)

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  6. Yes! Things sound like they are starting to go very well! Purrs...from us at Colehauscats.com

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  7. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before your tender ministrations have the PAWSitive effect you are looking for with the new kittens.

    I was thinking that if Elsa is an overactive kitty that the vocalizations might be part of that. I know when Dante gets pent up energy, he will howl loudly before taking off like a shot.

    My Domino girl was a real little demon as a kitty. She lived at my son's place then, and terrified some of his roommates. You never knew when she was going to attack and crawl up your leg using her claws to scale the heights. She calmed down as matured, though now that she's 12 she has become quite kittenish again and loves to play.

    I guess your problem is to socialize the little ones so they can find furever homes, though, and that is very difficult with very energetic little ones. Adorable, but problematic indeed.

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  8. If Jackson or Pollack don't stick J.P still sounds alright - combine the two :). Anywho great work keep it up I'm sure they'll all come around...

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  9. LOVE the new names! And it's so great to see the progress in all of them!

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  10. Anonymous6:32 AM

    Progress, even though it's step by step (little steps), I'm sure you'll get somewhere in the end!

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  11. It does sound like you are making some progress. Hope Ella starts to calm down soon so she can find a home. Maybe someone will come along that wants an overly energetic kitty. We can always hope. You sure are doing a good job with them.

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