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If you saw last night’s “good night innernets” picture on social media, you have likely stampeded to my door to see what the story is, so without further ado…
Four 2 day old kittens – two classic orange tabby boys, two torbie girls.
One VERY friendly orange tabby mama.
The orange boys are Mambo and Tango. The torbie girls are Sashay (the one facing the camera in this picture) and Flamenco.
Mama is ChaCha. They’re the tiny dancers. (Or just “the dancers,” if you prefer.)
Here are your cheat sheets.
ChaCha’s certainly easy enough to tell apart from the kittens.
How I tell the kittens apart, at least right now: Sashay is the smallest, and also she has a blaze of orange above her nose. Flamenco has a dot of orange on top of her head (which is only useful information if you’re looking at them from above), and has white toes on her front feet (though you can’t really see them in this picture.)
The boys, I cannot for the life of me tell them apart yet, though I’m sure in the days to come I’ll figure it out. Tango has a green dab of nontoxic paint on his left ear. (Also, these are not the best of pictures.)
ChaCha’s story is that she was an owner turn-in, accepted by Huntsville Animal Services around noon on Monday. She gave birth in the early hours of Tuesday. And Tuesday morning Brittany asked if I’d be interested.
Since Nolan, Owen and Patsy are all adoption pending and should be going home fairly soon (they go for their spay/neuters next week), it wasn’t very hard to get Fred to agree to my taking them.
They’re all in good shape – ChaCha’s not at all underweight and she’s not sneezing or goopy-eyed. Huntsville Animal Services guesstimates that she’s about 2 years old, which means this is likely NOT her first (or even second) litter. When I picked her up to lift her out of the carrier when I got home with her, I could tell her milk was very much in. The kittens are all nursing well and gaining weight. Sashay is significantly smaller than the others, but is well within “normal” parameters. She’s just small – I suspect she’ll catch up soon enough. Or maybe she’ll be tiny and sassy – we’ll see!
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Nolan’s all “I can hear you in the foster room opening cans of food and sweet-talking someone, lady.”
Looks like trouble, trouble and trouble.
Owen in the Fruitasan (which is in my room for now.)
Patsy has a sleepy.
They’re dealing fine with not being allowed in the foster room – to be honest, I kicked them out several days ago so I could paint the shelves on the wall (they were pretty much raw wood; they’re painted white now) without assistance. They run around the downstairs during the day, and at night they’re locked upstairs with me. They have access to my room, my office, and the bathroom. I worried that they’d keep me awake, but they are EXCELLENT sleeping companions and usually sleep in my office or on the cat tree in the window. Occasionally I wake up to find one – sometimes all three – snuggled up against me, but they rarely wake me up.
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Nolan said “Oh look, it’s Uncle Rocco. Hi, Uncle Rocco!”
And then they tried to sniff noses through the window.
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Posted on social media (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Tumblr/ Bluesky) yesterday.
Nolan’s all “Go ahead. Make my day.”
Patsy (left) and Owen are all “You don’t need to see your monitor. You get to see US!”
YouTube link
The kittens like the ping pong balls – and Nolan’s nearly as good at jumping up and catching them as his mama was!
Patsy still fits perfectly in the Adirondack.
YouTube link
Owen and Patsy have a tussle.
It’s just a rough life ain’t it, Owen?
Good night innernets. 😉
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Previously
2024: No entry.
2023: Nothin’ smells better than a sun-warmed kitten.
2022: No entry.
2021: No entry.
2020: Big world, little Aramis.
2019: “What’s a ‘squirrel’?” wonders Josephine.
2018: Bethel, all “Hiiii innernets! I am sleepy!”
2017: “Hangin’ on m’fancy sofa, kickin’ m’pillow. What?” (Telstar)
2016: “This belly ain’t gonna rub itself, lady.”
2015: “STAND BACK, I’VE GOT IT!”
2014: Throw Back Thursday: Buster.
2013: First Sopranos post!
2012: Apparently Magoo is not terribly tasty.
2011: No entry.
2010: No entry.
2009: “TERRY,” I said. “I thought I was your true love! I thought you loved me best, and now you’re laying in her arms like you could just lay there forever!”
2008: Sights from around Crooked Acres.
2007: “Oh lord, how much more must a poor kitteh suffer? How much longer, lord?”
2006: Maddy loves the belly rubs.
2005: No entry.
I saw Fred’s “spoiler” first, so I wasn’t sure if there were kittens, or if he had charmed a stray again!
Welcome Mama ChaCha and Tiny Dancers!!
The picture on Fred’s FB is not ChaCha. Stay tuned. 🙂
Another teaser!! 🙂
Tabbie-time: it’s a Fall Classic at L-a-H!
Question Time! We have 2 stray cats that have been coming around for several months. One has become very friendly and sociable to the point where we’re thinking of adding him to our clowder. He spent last night in our garage (first time!) and we set him up with a litter box, bed, and food/water. However, I don’t think he knows what a litter box is because he peed on his bed (a waterproof cushion, so no harm done) instead of in the box. Do you have any experience with training a full-grown cat to use the litter box?
BTW – I LOVE the new fosters!!! I saw Fred’s post last night and was excited to see the full story here this morning!
I can think of one foster off the top of my head who didn’t quite “get” the litter box at first – Kristi, from the Olympians – and this is what I tried:
1. Dr. Elsey’s makes a Cat Attract litter, AND a litter additive. I prefer to use the litter, because I think the attractant is probably all through the litter (whereas the attractant you sprinkle on top and will get mixed in as the litter gets used.) It probably doesn’t REALLY matter which you try, they probably both work out the same, but I just tend toward the litter first. (I do buy the attractant and
2. Scoop a pee clump or a poop clump out of another litter box and put it in his litter box, so he’ll get the idea.
3. If neither of those works, then try what ultimately worked for me with Kristi: dig up some dirt from outside, and add it to the litter box. I’d do, like, a hefty sprinkle. That was what made the connection in Kristi’s mind, and from then on she always used the litter box.
I’ll give these a try…THANK YOU!!!
That kitten conveyor belt just never stops, does it? What a beautiful new family of Tiny Dancers, and beautiful, beautiful ChaCha.
And, oh, the sweetness of Nolan and Uncle Rocco!
It NEVER slows down!
What a sweet family – and did they ever hit the jackpot in scoring a stay at the Love & Hisses hotel!!
New bebehs!
I love orange girl cats. If I were closer I’d totally apply to adopt the mom once she’s available … but that’s not practical so I’ll just watch your blog 🙂
An orange mama! Have you had one before? And although currently my only cat is an orange boy, I have a super-soft spot for torbies like my Harley was.