Awesome news – HYDROX WAS ADOPTED YESTERDAY!!!!
Last week when Keebler and Pink were adopted together, they put Hydrox in a cage with another kitten (Maynard), and they both were adopted together!
Hydrox is going to get a new name – Oreo. Hey, at least it’s in keeping with the cookie theme, right?
I’m so thrilled for Hydrox! I was so worried about him, worried that no one would fall in love with his big baby ways, but apparently the right person came along.
Yay!!!!
Yesterday, I made the decision to separate Steely Dan and Fagen. We’ve separated super skittish kittens in the past, and it always works like a charm. Steely Dan and Fagen clearly want to be held and petted, but they seem to feed off each others’ fear. I had considered separating them when we first got them, but wanted to see how they’d do together.
When Fred got home from work yesterday afternoon, we brought Steely Dan down into the guest bedroom and left Fagen in the foster room. After half an hour, we went in and saw each of them, and it’s like someone had hit a switch. The fear was 90% gone, and in fact when I walked into the foster room, Fagen greeted me at the door, howled at me the entire time I walked across the room, and then jumped up into my lap. Every time either of us went in to see him from then on, he would run under the chair for a second, then come out to be petted and kissed and loved on.
I’m not sure why separating skittish and semi-feral kittens works so well, but it always does. Like I said, they seem to feed off each others’ fear, and once they’re separate, the fear goes away.
We left them separate until bedtime, but then Fagen began howling sadly from his room. I’m pretty certain that neither of them has been completely alone in their entire short lives. After a few minutes I couldn’t stand the sad howling, so I went downstairs and got Steely Dan and put him back into the foster room.
This morning when I went into the foster room, they were back to their skittish ways. So I brought Dan downstairs and put him in the guest bedroom, and again the lack of fear from both of them was almost instantaneous. We’ll keep them separate during the day for a few more days, and put them back together at night so they won’t be lonely. I’m afraid that putting them back together will just bring the fearful behavior back, but I can’t stand the thought of them being alone.
We’ll see how it goes!
Don’t feel too bad for them, though – not only do we both spend a lot of time hanging out with them, but Jake and Elwood are also spending time in the rooms with them as well. The idea isn’t so much to make them so lonely they seek love from us, but to break the cycle of feeding off each others’ fear so that they’re adoptable. If you have a few super-skittish or semi-feral kittens, try separating them – like I said, we’ve never had it not work for us.
Yesterday, I brushed them. Dan loves a good brushing; Fagen isn’t crazy about the brushing, but he’ll put up with it.
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Previously
2009: They are super-playful little girls.
2008: Believe it or not, I’m walkin’ on air!
2007: At the Copacatbana! They fell in love!
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.