Skinny!
So, Skinny (not Kimi) is a black adolescent kitty (four months old or so) with a couple of white splotches on his belly. He's got a cold and keeps sneezing, he's very active and energetic, he rubs up on you to be petted, and he is TALKATIVE. Mao! Mao! Mao!
It's getting kind of distressing actually. It's like when a baby is crying and you're like "I have fed you and changed your diaper and sang you a song, WHAT DO YOU WANT??" I played with him and gave him food and water and petted him, and he's still going MAO! MAO! MAO! all the time. I wonder if maybe he's teething, since he's about the age when adult teeth start to come in. But I would think then he'd be biting everything in sight, and he's not. He's just… stressed out for some reason.
I think what he really needs is a littermate to play and wrestle with, but I can't give him that. I've been giving him toys to bite and wrestle instead, but he loses interest in them fairly quickly.
If I didn't know he was a (neutered) male, I'd think he was in heat. He's got the same insistent meow, constant need for petting, and aura of dissatisfaction.
I don't know his story--maybe he was with his littermates, but they got adopted already or something, and now he's alone and he doesn't know where they went and he's calling for them? Or for his mama? They usually don't come to me with names, not to mention already fixed, so I have to wonder if he was a surrender, or what. Maybe the humane society fixed and named him, and THEN realized he had a cold? I dunno. He also doesn't have one of those paper collars they put on their kitties. He is a mystery.
I'm hoping his distress will lessen as he gets used to his new environment, and that it's not something more serious like he's in pain or something. I was going to have him sleep in the cage while I slept out on the couch with Hypatia tonight, but that's not going to happen. He HATES being in the cage, and has already knocked his food bowl over once, so I don't want to leave him in there all night. (What if he knocks his water bowl over and then has nothing to drink?) I'll have to sleep in here so I can keep an eye on him. Silly cat.
Hypatia is mad at me, but she didn't hiss when she caught sight of Skinny, which I consider a vast improvement on her previous reactions, especially since she usually hates males. Maybe his being neutered makes him less offensive to her. Skinny is sick, so I can't properly introduce them and probably won't be able to, since he just needs to get better and doesn't need to make weight or anything. Once he gets better, he's gone.
A bit later:
Okay, apparently what Skinny needs is… lots of cuddling? Maybe he just wanted some comfort. He's calmed down a bit now, although he still MAOs at me when I stop petting him for too long. However, now Hypatia is standing outside my door crying because I won't let her in. I CAN'T WIN WITH YOU PEOPLE.
I do feel bad about disrupting Hypatia's life every couple of months, especially since she's been settling in so well to our new apartment, but on the other hand I don't want to quit fostering. Sigh.
It's getting kind of distressing actually. It's like when a baby is crying and you're like "I have fed you and changed your diaper and sang you a song, WHAT DO YOU WANT??" I played with him and gave him food and water and petted him, and he's still going MAO! MAO! MAO! all the time. I wonder if maybe he's teething, since he's about the age when adult teeth start to come in. But I would think then he'd be biting everything in sight, and he's not. He's just… stressed out for some reason.
I think what he really needs is a littermate to play and wrestle with, but I can't give him that. I've been giving him toys to bite and wrestle instead, but he loses interest in them fairly quickly.
If I didn't know he was a (neutered) male, I'd think he was in heat. He's got the same insistent meow, constant need for petting, and aura of dissatisfaction.
I don't know his story--maybe he was with his littermates, but they got adopted already or something, and now he's alone and he doesn't know where they went and he's calling for them? Or for his mama? They usually don't come to me with names, not to mention already fixed, so I have to wonder if he was a surrender, or what. Maybe the humane society fixed and named him, and THEN realized he had a cold? I dunno. He also doesn't have one of those paper collars they put on their kitties. He is a mystery.
I'm hoping his distress will lessen as he gets used to his new environment, and that it's not something more serious like he's in pain or something. I was going to have him sleep in the cage while I slept out on the couch with Hypatia tonight, but that's not going to happen. He HATES being in the cage, and has already knocked his food bowl over once, so I don't want to leave him in there all night. (What if he knocks his water bowl over and then has nothing to drink?) I'll have to sleep in here so I can keep an eye on him. Silly cat.
Hypatia is mad at me, but she didn't hiss when she caught sight of Skinny, which I consider a vast improvement on her previous reactions, especially since she usually hates males. Maybe his being neutered makes him less offensive to her. Skinny is sick, so I can't properly introduce them and probably won't be able to, since he just needs to get better and doesn't need to make weight or anything. Once he gets better, he's gone.
A bit later:
Okay, apparently what Skinny needs is… lots of cuddling? Maybe he just wanted some comfort. He's calmed down a bit now, although he still MAOs at me when I stop petting him for too long. However, now Hypatia is standing outside my door crying because I won't let her in. I CAN'T WIN WITH YOU PEOPLE.
I do feel bad about disrupting Hypatia's life every couple of months, especially since she's been settling in so well to our new apartment, but on the other hand I don't want to quit fostering. Sigh.