The new kittens are both a tuxedo pattern for coloring, the male is grey and white and the female is black and white. Because of their formal attire I'm trying out the names Ralph and Lauren! Sabbath has been remarkably patient with the new kids. I let them out of their crates to play for about a half hour in the morning and again in the evening, and it's pretty cute watching them carefully approach Uncle Sabbath.
Sabbath looks on as Ralph attempts to scale the markerboard in pursuit of snacks
Kittens playing with a wood pellet and then swatting each other.
Little Lauren
Ralph in his formal tuxedo with tie
Ralph likes to wrestle and gently play bite when I'm scratching him. He's very gentle and mostly likes to try to catch my hand with his paws and bring it into his mouth.
Sabbath looks on with light disdain for the youngsters and their shenanigans.
Blu totally and completely ignores the kittens, as if in hopes that they will go away if he gives them zero attention.
Sabbath, at 18 years of age, has retired from mouse control in the barn and now is simply serving in a supervisory role. Sadly, Orzo disappeared a bit over a month ago and so there was an opening for new barn cats.
Wednesday I got a text from a friend, who knew of two kittens dumped a neighbor’s place this week. My friend knew I was in need of a cat or two and happily connected us. The kittens arrived Wednesday evening and I set them up in a large dog crate in the tack room to get adjusted to the routine here. They’ll be in the crate for a couple weeks to learn that the food arrives twice a day and get used to me, then they’ll be allowed loose in the tack room at night.
I’ve begun the search for a low cost spay/neuter program in the area so that I can get them altered, ear tipped (a universal feral cat sign that they are altered) and vaccinated so that if they don’t stick around at least they are not out procreating. They are quite small right now, and still have brand new kitten teeth, so are likely just weaned at about 8 -10 weeks old. It will be a little while before they are old enough to get altered, but I do plan to get them fixed before the female is old enough to get pregnant.
The grey tuxedo kitten is male, with a small grey patch under his chin. He has a loud and squeaky motorboat purr, and is outgoing and friendly. The black one is also a tuxedo pattern, is female and a little more reserved, but is warming up to attention very quickly. Tonight I let them run around loose in the tack room while I cleaned their litter box and put kitten food into their bowl, and they were into EVERYTHING, including inspecting every corner of the cabinet under the sink where I keep the food.
They don’t have names yet. I was trying to come up with something general or non committal because I didn’t want to get too attached to them as barn cats sadly often disappear, as in Orzo’s case. However, they have already won me over and it’s definitely too late, I think I love them.
Sabbath is very tolerant of the new kids in the tack room. Mostly he sits on the counter and surveys them from there. He does periodically get this look on his face which clearly says, “I’m getting too old for this…”
