Love is...

not turning on the water, even though you REALLY want to.

In other kitty news...

Dean took Crystal out of her tank for a while yesterday and the two of them were followed around the house by Link. She got nose to nose with Crystal. Crystal seemed unphased, but Dean held Link back just in case she decided to make a move.

Bath time again

We're sort of figuring out this whole bathing-the-cat thing. This is me with Freddie before her bath this morning. She's not really happy to be posing with me because the water is running, off camera.

Having the water running was mistake #1. As I approached the sink, she attempted to climb me and apparently tried to disembowel my right forearm. I trimmed her front claws yesterday, but she still managed to scratch my shoulder. I never trim the cats' back claws, so I have a nice long scratch on my forearm. Mental note: turn the water off, then bring the kitten in.

Dean was off playing in his brother's wood shop, so Molly helped me bathe Frederica today. Christine took the photos again. Learning from past mistakes, I had the measuring cup ready to go for wetting and rinsing Freddie. Molly did a great job working around my elbow.

Freddie calmed down and gave into the inevitable... such a sweet little face, although her expression isn't actually conveying sweetness below.

We had to turn the water back on for rinsing, at which point she made a few attempts to escape. I'm wondering if she'll ever get used to the sound of the water or if I'll have to figure out another process that doesn't involve running water.

Below: Molly goofing off for Christine while I attempted to swaddle Frederica in her towels. The swaddling didn't go as smoothly today as it did other times and Freddie protested, her head completely wrapped in pink towelage.

Her head finally emerged and I thoroughly towel dried her... it's definitely best to do as much towel drying as possible. I didn't get her tail dried well enough and she looked like she had a rat tail.

Yeah, she's pissed.

... still pissed. Adding insult to injury by tossing the wet cat into the crate for blow drying. At least the result is a soft, fluffy and CLEAN kitten... eating a pile of jerky treats.

That's Entertainment!

We bought 3 mice to feed to Crystal because she was active and seemed hungry. She didn't eat any of them, so they're now rooming with Crystal and providing entertainment for Link and Frederica.

One of the mice seems determined to find a way out of the tank. The other two are content to hide under the bit of wood. Frederica and Link are rarely this close together without Link doing some kind of singing or hissing. They were temporarily united in the hunt.

The mouse finally took notice of the cats. You'd think it'd be more concerned with Crystal as it's nearly sitting on top of a predator.

One of my favorite shots...

Freddie and Link, nose to nose... no protests from Link, but check out the size of Freddie's muzzle compare to Link's!

This is just before Freddie decided to perch on top of the cage. Fortunately, the heat lamps prevented her from putting too much weight on the screen!

The mouse managed to latch onto the screen and was hanging from it, right under Frederica's face. There was no place to go from there, so the mouse dropped back down onto the rock and busied about the cage.

7.5 pounds

Isn't that the name of a Will Smith movie? Close. I weighed Freddie yesterday morning and at just over 4 months of age, she weighs 7.5 pounds. She looks almost as big as Link (who weighs around 10 pounds), but it's just an illusion... Freddie has very fluffy fur.


Freddie has begun to sit on the window sills. Below is a photo of her looking out into the trees that border our driveway.


She also likes to sit with Molly... but then who doesn't?

Territory

Brianna is the only human who spends any time sitting in this chair. Below are the usual scenes each day. The part of the cat is played either by Link or by Frederica, but since this is Freddie's blog the photos are of her.

I'm so please that Frederica gets along so well with the dogs. Cupcake joining the scene and Freddie wasn't bothered at all. In fact, she was quite interested... even happy.

Frederica discovers catnip

Prior to Frederica's arrival in our household, Christine acquired a sewing machine at a flea market and wanted to practice sewing by making some simple catnip pillows for the cats. This one was the biggest of all and contains rice and catnip, so it's weighty enough to snuggle well. Freddie curled up in a ball with it last evening and didn't move from the spot for quite some time. Haaaaappy kitty!

Kitty days

Freddie has been enjoying the company of the dogs... I think it's because they nap less during the day. She likes to play with Cupcake and will pounce at her and then run away. Cupcake will do the same thing, so it seems like a match made in heaven.

Frederica still likes to hang out at the dog bowls while they're eating & drinking. She's given up trying to eat their food every morning & evening, but always drinks from their water bowl.

She likes playing with the dogs' toys, too. She's too small still to drag the toys around, but likes to chew on them... dog "sauce" - blecch!

...and of course, she likes to NAP... on the green plastic bag. I'm not sure what she's going to do when we finally take it off to the thrift shop!

Found her!

I thought Freddie had left the family room to nap elsewhere, but she was right behind the couch, curled up on the bright green plastic bag full of soon-to-be clothing donations. Silly kitty!

Freddie has the right idea

A rainy Saturday and we're all sleepy. Frederica needs a bath and I haven't had the heart to disturb her. She was stretched out on her favorite blanket for quite a while...

Christine picked her up to snuggle her and she didn't mind one bit.

Now, she's off napping somewhere else... probably wherever Mr. Bits is.

Chillin' with Cupcake

After playing "chase" together for part of the morning, Frederica & Cupcake settled down for a nap on the chaise lounge chair. It had to happen sooner or later! :-)

The final frontier

Yesterday morning, Frederica wanted to join the other cats for morning "nummies." Mr. Bits didn't like what was being served and quickly left, so Frederica got his plate. Link wasn't too thrilled about her presence, but it didn't stop her from cleaning her plate.


It doesn't get much better than this: Frederica got to eat her food from the face of Botticelli's Venus.

Vinnie has no problem sharing his space with Freddie. He's not as affectionate towards her as he is towards Link, but he'll get there.

Trip to the vet #2

We took Freddie to the vet to get her last round of vaccinations today. She gained 1.2 pounds in the last 3 weeks and now weighs 5.6 pounds!

Molly petted Frederica and got a hair in her mouth. Blech!

Molly showed us her poodle-shaped rubber band. Even Frederica was interested.

Party kitty

Frederica was in attendance at Molly's birthday party Saturday night. No shrinking violet, Freddie hung out with the gaggle of 8-year-old girls. After the presents were opened and the cake was eaten, the family visited in the piano room. Freddie joined them and ended up playing with my crocheted rug near the piano.

I thought I had photos of the party girls posing with Freddie, but have no idea what camera they're on so maybe I just imagined them. :-)

Wild water

Vinnie likes to drink water directly from the tap. We watched Link, as a kitten, learn to do this by observing Vinnie... she's learned a lot of things by observing Vinnie.

Topaz and Mr. Bits have never learned to do this or, perhaps, are just disinterested. Disinterest is definitely the case for Topaz. Mr. Bits, however, seems confused by that stuff coming out of the silver thingy... that we can make it start and stop at will is a mystery. At the moment, Frederica shares Mr. Bits' perplexion... perhaps it's just because she's less than 4 months old, but perhaps it's a small display of solidarity with her new buddy. Whatever the case, below is a video of the two of them marveling at water running in the sink.

In the next video, Mr. Bits is clearly done sharing the counter with Freddie. Moments before the video, he sniffed at her face and pawed gently at her ear... which was cute, but then he acted like a jerk. Men! (Technically, Mr. Bits isn't a man anymore!)