kitten games

Bardie Mac has to be the most playful kitten I’ve ever met. He’s always ready for a boxing match with Bill, standing on hind legs as he punches Bill’s fingers, or a fast-running game of soccer —- which used to be played with wadded-up balls of paper but is now played with ping pong balls. At a recent high school volleyball game, some of the players tossed small toy balls into the crowd and Bill caught one — that has become Bardie’s as well.

He also loves playing “tag, you’re It!” with me, softly grabbing my legs in a bear hug before running off, wanting me to chase him. I run after him and tag his fuzzy back . . . if I can! Then he pretends not to care until he can catch me again.

I often pick up this aqua scrap of baby blanket, placing it inside one of his cubbies or onto the cat tree. He hunts for it and eventually drags it back to his favorite night sleeping spot, the floor at the foot of our bed next to his scratching post. He often uses the base of the post for a pillow!

The scrap of blanket came with Bardie from his breeder. She gives a new baby blanket to each litter of kittens; a piece is cut off to be sent home with each adoption to calm the kitten as it adjusts to its new home, having the scent of its mother and litter mates on it. At 9 months old, the scent is probably long gone now, but Bardie still loves his blankie.

no more paper for Bardie!

Bardie loves paper. 

Playing soccer with wadded-up balls of paper, burrowing into packing paper in boxes. Even patting my sketchbook paper as I draw. 

But then he stopped eating. Even his favorite, a canned seafood blend from Earthborn. Apparently, he had eaten strips he had torn from the brown packing paper in the latest order from Chewy.com that is now messing with his intestines. 

Now under a vet's care, he'll be fine --- I'm replacing his paper toys with ping pong balls!

This is also the final page of my beloved sketchbook handbound by Cathy 'Kate' Johnson. Below are the miscellaneous scribblings from the inside covers. Verses, quotes, playing with palette choices . . . even deciding on Bardie's name.

Bardie bits

No, Bardie does not hold still for me to sketch him; I drew these from phone snapshots . . .

Bardie, the artist

Bardie has decided he can draw with me . . . if only he can manage to pick up the pencil.

Bardie discovered his cat cave today . . .

. . . and he likes it! The big (to someone his size) livingroom can be a scary place; this seems like a safe place to observe it from.

a new trick learned

Very early this morning, Bardie was chasing his favorite moth toy (bits of rolled-up paper on a steel wire). When it rose above this cat cubicle cubbyhole, he even went inside it, thinking he could catch the "moth" from underneath. Finally, he jumped up on top and caught it! (This had been my goal.)

Before he realized it, he had made the leap onto our VERY HIGH bed . . .

 

and discovered a whole new view.

Then it was back to that pesky "moth".

While I was posting these photos on Instagram, he then jumped from the floor to the bed behind me, without using the cat cubicle as a stepping stone. Success! I had wanted him to learn to get up here without our having to pick him up, so he would not have to meow to be picked up when he gets lonely during the night. I think he still misses his brothers and sister, and his mama cat who was overprotective of her litter. Here is a photo of his mama, Pippi, and his sister:

Bardie

Today my kitten is 10 weeks old . . . meaning that I could technically pick him up from the breeder's at any time now. We decided to go get him after we renew our vows this Friday; a new kitten doesn't need to deal with all those visitors to our home!

But oddly, I have not been able to get in touch with the breeder this week to finalize plans. Up till now, she has been extremely responsive to emails and texts. She told me she would be unavailable earlier this month, but she should have returned by Sunday. Yet she is not answering my attempts to reach her. I hope everything is well with her and her family.

Meanwhile, I have been debating whether to use Bearcat's stoneware water dish. I bleached it and washed it well, to rid it of any contamination due to his having had feline herpes. I want to make sure it is not passed on to the new kitten. But I'm still uncomfortable using the water dish, so I ordered a new one. It arrived this week --- poorly packaged and broken. :-(

a bit more crocheting and knitting

After crocheting a 'cat cave' for my new kitten out of repurposed yarn, I gathered bits of leftover yarn and started making cat toys. Some have a large jingle bell, some are stuffed with a bit of catnip. Two of them are hung from door knobs (or from a willing human hand). Just keeping my hands busy while I wait to go get Bardie.

Bardie MacRuadh

Though he is still with his mama (being only 7 weeks old), my new Scottish Fold -straight has a name: here's a recent photo of Bardie MacRuadh! (My Scottish Terriers all had Scottish names, so why not stick with tradition?) Bardie means 'gelded cat', but also 'pert or cocky'. MacRuadh (Mac-ROO-a) means son of red -- his daddy is a gorgeous red tabby.

I was reading a fictional book set in Scotland many months ago and came across the word 'bardie'. Not knowing what it meant, I looked it up. I thought at the time it would be a good name for a male cat, though I had no plans at the time of getting one. And it remained stuck in my head.

a new rubber ball

This cat toy appeared to be easier to draw than it turned out to be. I totally messed up on the parts seen through the holes . . . The jingle bell doesn't look right, either.

a cat cave

When Bearcat, my 14 1/2 year old Maine Coon died, I threw away everything that belonged to him. Not from sentimentality but to protect any future cat. When I adopted Bear, he was unknowingly exposed to feline herpes, which my other cat, Dali, had but had not presented symptoms of as yet. As soon as we found out about her illness, we started both cats on daily lysine that helps prevent outbreaks (there is no cure); for Dali it was too late -- she had been born to an infected mother. But it kept Bear healthy for many years. He died from kidney failure and cancer. Before bringing home a new cat, we threw all his stuff away and disinfected everything, so the herpes will not be passed on.

I asked our new kitten's breeder if her cats were used to cat beds. They tend to ignore them but love little cubbyholes or cubes they can hide in. Which fits what I've seen of Maru, a Scottish Fold popular on YouTube for diving into boxes and other small spaces. 

Years ago, I made a bulky-knit bathmat out of Sugar and Cream yarn. We had no need for it here in our new home, so I unraveled the mat and am using the yarn to crochet a cat cave. I found the pattern online, made of t-shirt yarn, but holding 3 or 4 strands of cotton yarn together seems to make a firm enough structure. . . . . My hands got tired so I took a break and sketched my work so far.

silly wee kitties

I'm waiting to hear if I will get to adopt a certain red tabby kitten . . . As I wait, I've been reading up on the breed and drawing from photos found on line. These are Scottish Fold kittens, which pose in the silliest looking positions! There are long waiting lists for kittens with folded ears. Some of each litter are born without the dominant gene that causes the ears to fold; these are known as Scottish straights. That's what Bill and I are hoping for: a Scottish Fold with straight ears. Easier to find and usually costing less. And we think they are cuter than their folded siblings.

One of the breeders I have been in contact with has a 2 week old kitten that might be ours. Ears don't fold until the third or fourth week; if hers stay straight, I can have her. If they fold, she will go to someone on the long waiting list, and I will continue my search.