Vampy = Toothless = Spooky?

Day 51

Both of us had an image in our mind that little Vampy reminded of us. We called her (still assuming this is a female) Vampy because of her tiny little claws, that so determinedly reach out for her mother when she was just a few days old. It reminded us of a little black bat and that brought us to the image of a little count Dracula. Initially we wanted to call her Draky, if she turned out to be a ‘he’. But something was nagging at us that we were unable to identify. Until today. Vampy reminds us very much of the Dreamworks animated character Toothless, from the movie ‘How to tame a dragon’. But Toothless is not really a nice cat name. Could it be morphed into Toodles? Or Spooky? The adopted new owners of this wonderful long-haired dark brown tabby will have to be the judge of that. For now, make your own comparison… 🙂

New toys!

Today we bought the cat family some new toys. The fluffies on a stick are really popular, contrary to the Jackson Galaxy toy with the feather on a stick. I think they need to be older to appreciate that. Mitsy is afraid of it. I think she must have had a run-in with a bird of some kind, or something like that.

We bought the kittens one of those 3-way tunnels with toys in them. They had to get used to it a bit, although they were instantly curious as well. But to get them going, I used the new stick toys and it was a big success.

Vampy and Sipke engaged in play

Mitsy took the opportunity to have a private nap in the Ensuite and at some point I saw 3 tired kittens joining her and suckling. Time for a snack!

Food variety

We have a new modus operandi now. We have small glass containers with plastic lids and we bring out 7 of them on a tray. Each is filled with a good tea-spoon of food and we offer a mix so that the kittens get used to different tastes and also discover what they like and not like. Not too long ago we only saw 3 kittens appreciate the wet food. 2 Nibbled from the kibble and 1 we did not see eat. But that has changed. So I am guessing that Mitsy’s milk is slowly drying up and that the kittens are hungry for something else. They don’t always eat at the same time, which is why we are trying to get mealtimes going. Three times a day. A good solid breakfast with kitten food, then the tasting of different wet foods in the afternoon and at night a repeat of that, until we send them back into the crates for the night, where they have access to kibble and whatever is left of the wet food. It seems to work well.

After play there is food and then there is a long siesta. When we leave them alone. Just now, 5:30pm, I see the whole lot are still napping at the bottom of the cat tree. There may be one or two in the cat tree as well, the cameras don’t cover every angle. At 3pm I usually also cover the window with a big carton, to keep it from getting too hot and that darkness also helps everyone calm down. We seem to have a good system going here!

Aerial view of desert after play – and yes, it shows only 5. Kabiri has climbed into the tree for a bit of shut eye…. they are all becoming little individuals now!

When Wim and I are in the room together, and I bring the washed towels in in a basket. Mitsy indicates that the room is too crowded. She hisses but it is not directed to me and Wim. And then she even meows, which is a first. We believe she does not like to have both of us in the room together. Not so strange, come to think of it, because every time we made a big change, we both came into her space. That’s fine. I understand. So I left the room. Will do my further thinking in the coming days, one step at the time.

I think she is slowly getting ready for more peace and quiet and this might be just in time, because I will feel less bad about spaying her. First, however, she and the kittens need to be vetted.