![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mimi_sardinia[Error: unknown template qotd]
Cats.
I grew up with cats. The first one I can remember was Kristy, when I was 5-6. She's the one I say responded to "Puss" or "Cheese". Didn't have any in Sydney when I was 7-8, but got Ricky after moving away from there. Then there was the kitten who followed Grey home, Cassy, Silver when we moved to the townhouse on the steepest busy road in town, Garf (short for Garfield), Goldie, Moony, Toby, Meharni.
Kristy had two litters of kittens I barely remember, one of whom went to my aunt and was a hell of a hunter because he stayed with Kristy until he was 6 months old and Kristy was a hell of a hunter too.
Goldie had a litter that included such names as Skie, Cloudy, Jack, Jones and Quicksilver (also known as Puddin'). Quickie got both names for the same reason, the day we found Goldie had given birth, we only found one kitten. Because Mum was away, I had taken over her bed (it was a water bed), so I didn't find the other four until the next morning when I went to my room to get dressed, when I sat down on my bed and heard a slight squeak. The other four were in my bed (probably the best place for them too, they were insulated there).
I'd closed the door the day before so Goldie couldn't go fetch them. I think she was quite relieved to have them back. The side effect was that Quickie was always a little fatter than the others because she had a whole night with her mother the others didn't have.
Meharni had two litters, one right on top of the other. Seriously, she went into heat again before the first litter even had their eyes open. She lost one of the first litter, so there were only three.
Meharni's kittens were a huge lesson in how much effect flees have on kittens. The first litter was a constant battle to keep flees at bay, with me suffering extra pain to my chilli-burnt fingers after flee-bathing them (the house we were in had a chilli tree out back - I'd used a couple for something I cooked, chopping them with bare fingers. I was feeling that for days and the flee bath didn't help).
Some time between the two litters we found Advantage, one of those flee treatments that are basically liquid drops applied to the back of the neck.
The second litter were markedly healthier, and developing quicker than we had usually seen, opening their eyes within a week instead of something like the 10 days that is normal. That's what a lack of flees does.
It was not long after that litter we moved to the place I'm currently living in. I think we still had the kittens of the second litter, but they soon got old enough to adopt out.
It wasn't all that long after that we got a talking to, because the idiots at the Department of Housing told us we could have Meharni there, but in reality we couldn't. Frankly, we were so sick of moving and all that we sent Meharni off to a new home in preference to moving again.
Since then there was our xmas visitor a few years ago, just after I got out of hospital - Mum thinks he was named Snowy. Then there was![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
agiftedmind's cat Seth, who I was willing to help with some of the care of. He's now in Tasmania with 'Cade. I'm sure he's glad of a bigger house and being allowed to roam a bit more (though one of the things I helped with was his neutering so he probably doesn't roam too far).
These days I visit whatever kittens are in the pet store at the Hyperdome. While they do have the usual glass boxes, they have a large bird cage that can fit a covered litter tray in the bottom, has a couple of shelves and ramps, and a hammock at the top that they usually have kittens in. The kittens seem to like the hammock, and running a finger back and forth across the cage bars entertains them.
I wish I could have a cat again, but I'd need to move house to do that, and unless I win Lotto some time, that is not a likely prospect.
Cats.
I grew up with cats. The first one I can remember was Kristy, when I was 5-6. She's the one I say responded to "Puss" or "Cheese". Didn't have any in Sydney when I was 7-8, but got Ricky after moving away from there. Then there was the kitten who followed Grey home, Cassy, Silver when we moved to the townhouse on the steepest busy road in town, Garf (short for Garfield), Goldie, Moony, Toby, Meharni.
Kristy had two litters of kittens I barely remember, one of whom went to my aunt and was a hell of a hunter because he stayed with Kristy until he was 6 months old and Kristy was a hell of a hunter too.
Goldie had a litter that included such names as Skie, Cloudy, Jack, Jones and Quicksilver (also known as Puddin'). Quickie got both names for the same reason, the day we found Goldie had given birth, we only found one kitten. Because Mum was away, I had taken over her bed (it was a water bed), so I didn't find the other four until the next morning when I went to my room to get dressed, when I sat down on my bed and heard a slight squeak. The other four were in my bed (probably the best place for them too, they were insulated there).
I'd closed the door the day before so Goldie couldn't go fetch them. I think she was quite relieved to have them back. The side effect was that Quickie was always a little fatter than the others because she had a whole night with her mother the others didn't have.
Meharni had two litters, one right on top of the other. Seriously, she went into heat again before the first litter even had their eyes open. She lost one of the first litter, so there were only three.
Meharni's kittens were a huge lesson in how much effect flees have on kittens. The first litter was a constant battle to keep flees at bay, with me suffering extra pain to my chilli-burnt fingers after flee-bathing them (the house we were in had a chilli tree out back - I'd used a couple for something I cooked, chopping them with bare fingers. I was feeling that for days and the flee bath didn't help).
Some time between the two litters we found Advantage, one of those flee treatments that are basically liquid drops applied to the back of the neck.
The second litter were markedly healthier, and developing quicker than we had usually seen, opening their eyes within a week instead of something like the 10 days that is normal. That's what a lack of flees does.
It was not long after that litter we moved to the place I'm currently living in. I think we still had the kittens of the second litter, but they soon got old enough to adopt out.
It wasn't all that long after that we got a talking to, because the idiots at the Department of Housing told us we could have Meharni there, but in reality we couldn't. Frankly, we were so sick of moving and all that we sent Meharni off to a new home in preference to moving again.
Since then there was our xmas visitor a few years ago, just after I got out of hospital - Mum thinks he was named Snowy. Then there was
agiftedmind's cat Seth, who I was willing to help with some of the care of. He's now in Tasmania with 'Cade. I'm sure he's glad of a bigger house and being allowed to roam a bit more (though one of the things I helped with was his neutering so he probably doesn't roam too far). These days I visit whatever kittens are in the pet store at the Hyperdome. While they do have the usual glass boxes, they have a large bird cage that can fit a covered litter tray in the bottom, has a couple of shelves and ramps, and a hammock at the top that they usually have kittens in. The kittens seem to like the hammock, and running a finger back and forth across the cage bars entertains them.
I wish I could have a cat again, but I'd need to move house to do that, and unless I win Lotto some time, that is not a likely prospect.
