Kitty stories

Let's see, what new developments have happened since my last substantial update...

I took the babies in for their annual vet checkup last week. They're both perfectly healthy! Good weight, clean teeth, shiny coats, and reasonable temperament for being at their least-favorite place. They are remarkably quiet in the car, there is no howling or kitty-opera (as Sarah's family's cats always did, getting louder and higher in pitch with each scale they meowed!).

The one thing I asked the vet about was River's tendency to scarf down her food too fast and then toss it back up 10 minutes later (this was happening maybe once every other week, but that's a lot for an 8-pound cat). Normally I feed them side-by-side in the kitchen. Simon eats faster than she does, so he finishes his food and then butts in and steals the rest of hers. To counteract this, she was trying to gobble up her food too fast and then it wasn't staying down. The vet suggested feeding them separately so she doesn't feel the need to gobble. We started doing this, feeding them in separate parts of the kitchen. I sit and watch them with the spray bottle of water in my hand. The moment Simon finishes his food and starts to walk over to his sister, he gets squirted. Two days of that and he now looks at me and then walks away, doesn't even try to go for his sister. He learns! Of course, if I'm not sitting right there he knows he can get away with it, so for now I still need to babysit them while they eat. But it's been great, she hasn't thrown up since we started this new routine. Yay!

Other news items.... the cats have started being very sweetie and cuddly in the morning to wake me up for breakfast. I guess they've learned that I respond much more readily to rubbing, purring, and floomping next to me than I do to scratches, howling, and hair-pulling. They learn fast! Well, anything that results in them getting food or treats, that is.

Speaking of treats, they're getting more and more consistent with saying "mama" on command. I have some video that I need to splice together to show how they've gotten better over time. Of course, they won't do it when I have the camera rolling!

In general they're both continuously getting more lovey and lap-happy. Simon loves the glider rocking chair and is pretty consistently in my lap whenever I'm sitting in it. River loves the blanket on the back of Sarah's study chair and is also known to curl up ON Sarah when she's napping (like right now, for instance...). They always greet us at the door with brips that we can hear outside as we fumble with our keys, and they floomp on the floor for head scratches and ear rubs when we come inside. The cuteness continues!

We keep hearing about more wonderful cats from King Street Cats who have found their forever homes. Recently, several long-time resident cats who were there when we picked up Simon and River (almost 18 months ago!) finally got adopted, and we've been so excited to hear about it! There have also been more cute adoption updates from KSC "alumni" in their forever homes, which has inspired me to keep updating this blog for all the amazing volunteers who kept our babies safe and happy until we were able to come and find them. Thank you to everyone at KSC!!! We love you!!