Announcement! (xpost from FB)
Meet Makeba!**
Makeba ~ 11.16.09
(You can just barely make out the clipped right ear.)
I first met her about 6 weeks ago, and she was pretty much feral. She had been found on the street with a new litter of kittens and brought to Dr. Randall. The kittens weren't doing well and had to be put down. Doc spayed her and clipped her right ear, preparing to let her go back, but one of the employees asked for a chance to socialize her. About 10 days ago, I spent a while letting her & Amadeus get acquainted.
Makeba ~ 11.16.09
...cleverly placed with TiVo remote for size comparison
She's now really affectionate and loves being petted (tho she's not excited about being picked up). At our last visit, Bob finally met her... A little prep and name research, and two hours later we went to pick up the tiny black cat on Friday the 13th. And I do mean TINY -- she weighs maybe 4-5 lbs, and compared to our 14 & 18-lb boys, she is positively diminutive!
Clockwise from top: Sagan, Makeba, and Amadeus
~ 11.13.09 (Friday the 13th)
After the first night, Deus pretty much got over her. (I could just see the thought bubble: Oh geez, not another one!) She'd prance over and headbutt him, get growled at, and sniff him some more before moving on. Sagan was a harder sell; she is still very playful and active, which has turned out to be a good thing for him, but she was on HIS chair, man, and scratching on HIS post! It took about 48 hrs (similar to Deus's acceptance of him 6 yrs ago) for them to start playing & wrestling together. If he gets up and goes somewhere, she has to follow. I think they're both a little smitten with each other now, truth be told. :) But he's still a little hesitant about eating too closely to her, whereas Deus didn't care (who's gonna move him??) so we're still in the adjustment phase.
We kept her in the MBR for the weekend to get her used to everyone, and let her out to explore the rest of the house yesterday. On the SUPER bright side, she responds well to "no" and only scratches the stuff meant for scratching, so the furniture is safe thus far. She's having a blast with all the toys that Sagan has left around the house and hasn't touched for the past year or so (his activity declined when Deus's neuropathy set in). So there's sounds of playing that we haven't heard in a while, and sounds of chasing, and believe it or not, we're actually starting to get some straight sleep already - about two weeks earlier than I'd figured. ;)
We're happy that Sagan's going to be a bit more active, which will be healthy for him, and we have hopes that Makeba's maternal instincts will kick in where Amadeus is concerned. So, despite the fact that we've always been a 2-cat family, it should be a good thing all around.
Sagan & Makeba ~ 11.17.09
See! Smitten! I think it's 'cause Sagan was playing hard to get.
**Makeba (ma-KAY-ba, or muh-KAY-buh) was named after Miriam Makeba, aka "Mama Afrika" or "the queen of African music".
Here's a couple links if anyone's curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Makeba
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/10/south-african-music-legen_n_142584.html (Jesse, you get total credit on this one. Thanks for enlightening me!!)
To further tie in the spontaneity and drive this home for us, Ms. Makeba died during a performance...on Bob's birthday last year.
Oh, and this video is great, esp. the first few lines. "How do you make that noise?" "It's not a noise, it's my language!" Ever so fitting!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mwh9z58iAU