Fear Comes in Many Forms

Whoever said "The problem with kittens is they turn into cats", never slept in the same room with a kitten.

I have always had cats at home.  It's been sort of a tolerate/hate relationship.  I find them a necessary evil for rodent control, rather like a barn cat, and they do require a lot less "face time" as compared to, say, a dog.

Last Valentine's day we lost our 18 year old cat.  That left us with only our eight year old female.

Having two cats is like having one cat, because they will play with, clean, sleep with and generally annoy each other and leave me the heck alone.  This is important, because here at the lodge, they are required to stay ONLY in our bedroom because so many people are allergic to cats.  Having only one cat means she needs input from people for socialization.   Since I am one of those people with cat allergies (or "contact sensitivity"), this is a bad thing.  Having one cat is like having ten cats.

Enter our oldest daughter.

"Hey, guys!  Since you lost Voodoo, and my cat just had a litter..."

Now we have an eight week old female kitten our daughter called Scout, because she was the first to do everything.  She is fearless.

Upon introduction to our dog, she marched up and touched the dog's nose.  Dog was puzzled, but she is a good dog, so she wandered off.

Upon introduction to the adult cat in our room, Kaboodle, the old cat, marched up to the kitten and HISSED and HISSED and HISSED within about 2 inches of the kitten's face.  The kitten stared at the older, MUCH larger cat in fascination.  Then the kitten looked over at me as if to say "She's crazy, isn't she.  I've heard about these..." and then calmly looked back at the older cat.

The older cat was completely unnerved. She said "Oh no!  She isn't afraid!  She must have some sort of super powers!"

And the MUCH bigger cat ran under the bed and hid there, growling, for two days.

At night, the kitten sleeps some of the time, but often wakes up and looks for something to play with.

"Ha! Fingers!"  Bite/bite/wrestle/bite/wrestle...

"Ha! Foot!"  Pounce/jump/pounce/bite...

At "Ha! Nose!" the kitten hit the floor.

"Ha! Dog!"

And in the dark, I heard the poor, old dog, jump up out of her bed and walk around the room, groaning as she was being pursued by 12 ounces of fearless play.

After a while, I took pity on the old dog, climbed out of bed and grabbed the kitten again, pinning it to the mattress until it fell asleep.

So now, with the allergies, my nose is running and my eyes are red and watering.  It looks like Old Yeller just died.

Benadryl works well for me, but it makes me sleepy, and that is already a problem.

Now there's a thought!

What do you suppose the dosage is for a 12 ounce cat?


Bill

Foot Note...  The cat is definitely a  fearless explorer, so she has been renamed "Pounce deLion".

I REALLY hope she does not stay forever young...