Five Cats. Am I Weird?

"Annie Benson-Lennaman" wrote in
message ...

Gem has been coming along nicely. Her chest congestion seems to have
gotten better. She is fat these days, and very playful.

But watching her being playful all by herself we felt a bit bad for
her. All the other three cats are adults, and not too terribly
interested in playing with her. It reminded us that we didn't catch any
of her siblings, and in all likelihood they died. We thought she would
be happier with a playmate.

It happens that our next door neighbors have a new batch of kittens.
They'd offered us one (or all, if we so desired). We talked about it
for the last couple of weeks. "So, you want another kitten?"
"Yes....but... damn, then we'd have five!" "Yeah, five is alot." "So,
do *you* want another one?" and so on, back and forth.

Finally today we decided to go look at them. They are about six
weeks old, playful and healthy looking. They were being kept only
outside. And of course, we ended up taking one back with us. He is
about a third grey tabby, the rest white. Nice markings on the blotches
that have color. Very nice overall effect. And of course, he is
extremely cute.

Normally we would segregate a new cat into a bedroom, but he seems to
want to be with us in the living room, and the other cats aren't
freaking out over him. There have a been a couple of hisses, but no
assassination attempts. Gem seems to be a bit nervous of him. She
hasn't hissed at him. I have a feeling they will soon be great
friends. (Crossing fingers)

He seems to be very people orientated. He's still scared, but has
already forgotten his fear enough to engage in some play. Right now he
has fallen asleep in Lenny's lap. Lenny keeps referring to him as
"she", so I have tentatively named him "Bruce" the most masculine name I
could think of off the bat. And it is kinda funny, since he is so small
and weak looking right now.

This brings our total up to five. We live in a two bedroom house,
about 1500 sq. feet. Not huge by any means, but not a shack either.
Our two adult males go outside once in a while, but mostly stay inside.
Bruce will be mostly inside also.

So are we crazy cat people now? Are we cat collectors? We have no
urge to get any more. I dunno... five seems like an okay number to me..

--
Annie

--
If you can't figure out my email address, you're not supposed to write
me.

my sister and her husband used to have six - and a d*g.
Brenda

Jette Goldie wrote:
No, kittens *can* be weaned as early as 5 weeks - as happens

Just because they *can*, doesn't mean they *should*. What is best for the
kitten is to be with his mom, at least until 8 weeks, preferably until 12.

It may be ideal for a kitten to remain with mum and siblings
till at least 8 weeks, but at 6 weeks they can be parted
without too much trauma.

How much is "too much trauma" is really not up to us to decide, is it?

--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

Annie Benson-Lennaman wrote in message .. .
Gem has been coming along nicely. Her chest congestion seems to have
gotten better. She is fat these days, and very playful.

But watching her being playful all by herself we felt a bit bad for
her. All the other three cats are adults, and not too terribly
interested in playing with her. It reminded us that we didn't catch any
of her siblings, and in all likelihood they died. We thought she would
be happier with a playmate.

(snipped for length)

So are we crazy cat people now? Are we cat collectors? We have no
urge to get any more. I dunno... five seems like an okay number to me..

--
Annie



Not weird - *lucky*. Keep repeating that to yourself, and you will
come to believe it. ;-)

------
Krista
Who is jealous, as her Mikey insists on being an only cat

"Victor M. Martinez" wrote:

Jette Goldie wrote:
No, kittens *can* be weaned as early as 5 weeks - as happens

Just because they *can*, doesn't mean they *should*. What is best for the
kitten is to be with his mom, at least until 8 weeks, preferably until 12.

All things being equal, I would agree with that. But these cats were
being kept solely outside, never coming in. They've not seen the vet,
nor getting much care beyond being fed. Gem was about four or five
weeks old when we caught her, and she was in bad bad shape. Of course,
that was mostly because she was abandoned and starving to death, but she
also had a bad chest infection that she might never shake, and she was
in the same environment at this kitten. It seems clear to me that being
outside all the time is at least somewhat hazardous to kittens. And
that's not taking to account the variety of wildlife we have around here
that might want a kitten as badly as we do... but for differing
reasons.

How much is "too much trauma" is really not up to us to decide, is it?

Actually, that is *exactly* what was up for us to decide, wasn't it?
We decided that taking a kitten away from it's mom when he a bit on the
small size was better than leaving him in an unprotected and fairly
dangerous situation for a couple of extra weeks.

--
Annie

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"Victor M. Martinez" wrote:

Jette Goldie wrote:
No, kittens *can* be weaned as early as 5 weeks - as happens

Just because they *can*, doesn't mean they *should*. What is best for the
kitten is to be with his mom, at least until 8 weeks, preferably until 12.

All things being equal, I would agree with that. But these cats were
being kept solely outside, never coming in. They've not seen the vet,
nor getting much care beyond being fed. Gem was about four or five
weeks old when we caught her, and she was in bad bad shape. Of course,
that was mostly because she was abandoned and starving to death, but she
also had a bad chest infection that she might never shake, and she was
in the same environment at this kitten. It seems clear to me that being
outside all the time is at least somewhat hazardous to kittens. And
that's not taking to account the variety of wildlife we have around here
that might want a kitten as badly as we do... but for differing
reasons.

How much is "too much trauma" is really not up to us to decide, is it?

Actually, that is *exactly* what was up for us to decide, wasn't it?
We decided that taking a kitten away from it's mom when he a bit on the
small size was better than leaving him in an unprotected and fairly
dangerous situation for a couple of extra weeks.

--
Annie

To join the alt.games.everquest chat channel type /join
serverwide.age:age
If you want to stayed joined, then after that type /autojoin
serverwide.age:age

Currently playing:
Teapray-- 45 High Elf Cleric on Firiona Vie

Lentea-- 31 Ogre Beastlord On Firiona Vie

--
If you can't figure out my email address, you're not supposed to write
me.

Annie Benson-Lennaman wrote:
All things being equal, I would agree with that. But these cats were
being kept solely outside, never coming in. They've not seen the vet,
nor getting much care beyond being fed. Gem was about four or five

Cats have lived outside with no vet care for millenia... we sometimes
forget that. I certainly do.
There's a feral mom at work that had 3 kittens about 4 months ago. I've
seen them grow and they are gorgeous right now, I just saw them today.
I'm sorry if I jumped at you, it's just that I'm very protective when it
comes to cats, even if they're hundreds of miles away. I try to think of
what's best for the cat first. Having just fostered (and adopted) two
kittens who lost their mom (run over by a car) at 4 weeks, this hit close
to home. Poor Rufous still tries to suckle from a faux-lamb bed while
kneading away. It breaks my heart every time I see him do that.


--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

In article , Annie Benson-Lennaman wrote:

So are we crazy cat people now? Are we cat collectors? We have no
urge to get any more. I dunno... five seems like an okay number to me..

I don't think you're necessarily weird...it's a small number but you might
pick up another cat or two down the road. :-)

Art

Art
Temporary usercode - to be deleted when spam starts. Use MyBrainHurts at this ISP to reach me

Dear Annie,

We lack sufficient scientific evidence to determine whether you are
indeed weird or not. Please describe your 3 favorite sexual fantasies in
detail and we'll let you know ;-)))))))
Cheers,
Jack

Annie Benson-Lennaman saw Sally selling seashells by the seashore and
told us all about it on Sat, 20 Sep 2003 18:09:01 GMT:

Actually, that is *exactly* what was up for us to decide, wasn't it?
We decided that taking a kitten away from it's mom when he a bit on the
small size was better than leaving him in an unprotected and fairly
dangerous situation for a couple of extra weeks.

I'm no expert, but given the kitten's living conditions I'd say that
you did the right thing in taking it in. So it'll think you're mama
and papa... big deal! It's got the other five cats to bond with and
you're giving it as much loving care as it could wish for. It's going
to be much better socialised living with you than outside in a shed
somewhere!

John's foster babies have all turned out marvellously so far, and he
gets them when they're five or six weeks old and keeps them till
they're old enough to go to their forever homes.

(HUGGLES)

--

Karen AKA Kajikit

Here kitty kitty kitty... visit http://www.catslaves.org!

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