an example of cat/kitten integration in our household

The humans in this household have been working to peacefully blend the new kittens with the existing cats and dogs. I came across this scene today, where Luke is snuggled into the chair with Zoë. That’s Zoë in between the back of the chair and Luke’s back. Zoë has her head snuggled into Luke’s rump, and seems quite content.

We’ve been working really hard to make sure everyone is totally chill with everyone else, and it looks like that’s happening in grand style. I’ve watched the boys defer to the little girls in all things, especially eating. And the boys will come up and groom the little girls, which I find pleasantly surprising. If I didn’t know better I’d swear the boys adore the little girl kittens.

two new additions

Misty and Daisy

We adopted two more kittens today, Daisy the Ginger and Misty the dilute Tortie. They are from the same litter. They are also both polydactyls, as is their mom and their siblings.

We named Daisy after Daisy Duke, the cousin of Bo and Luke Duke of Hazzard County. Our two older males were named after Bo and Luke Duke, so this makes it easy to give Daisy her name. It also means she’s now a member of the Gingersnaps.

Misty was named after Misty Copeland, the American ballet dancer for American Ballet Theater.

They’ve had all their shots and they’ve been spayed. Thus, not new cats beyond this. This fits in with how the boys were neutered when they were very young.

So far they’ve eaten, had plenty to drink, and they know the litter box. We’re keeping them isolated the first week from the rest of the household pets, after which we’ll begin controlled introductions until everything is totally calm. That’s that same script we ran with the boys when they first arrived. That was four years ago, when the cat mix was much different than it is now. In a way, Daisy and Misty are replacements for Lulu and Ellipses, who passed on in 2016 and 2018 respectively. Even in retirement we can handle four cats if we do the right things from the get-go.

I’ll have more to write about tomorrow, including how we came by the two little girls.