Your Kitten Pictures, 11/2/15
Posted on November 2, 2015 Posted by John Scalzi 40 Comments
Don’t say I never do anything for you.
Thing One, among the cords (and yes, I’m actively discouraging chewing).
Thing Two, mid grooming.
The two both seem to be adjusting well to life at the Scalzi Compound. I’m happy to say that both also took to the litter box with alacrity, so that’s one less worry. The dog has met them from the other side of a baby gate and wants to snuffle the heck out of their little heads, which neither Thing One nor Thing Two seems particularly keen on at the moment. Neither Zeus nor Lopsided Cat has made their acquaintance yet. I figure that will come in the next couple of days, when one or both decides to come upstairs for whatever reason.
There is much scampering.
And yes, you will be getting a lot of kitten pictures in the foreseeable future, here and on Twitter (and on Facebook, if you’re following me there). Don’t act like you didn’t know this would happen.
They won’t be kittens for long — absolutely you’ve gotta snap while the cute is hot!
Our attempt at cat ownership crashed on the rocks of insurmountable allergies and a tough break-up after bonding with an awesome representative of the species. He’s o.k,, but not with us. Anyway, I’m looking forward to your pictures for some vicarious cat enjoyment.
Yay for kitten pics!
You can never have too many kitten pictures! But they are going to get little inferiority complexes if they don’t get names soon. Since you have a Zeus, how about Castor and Pollux?
It just dawned on me that yes,you can tell if they are boys or girls. They are calicos.
Barring the possibility of Klinefelter’s Syndrome, which is both more common and less disabling in cats than it is in humans, but is still relatively rare.
SO cute!!! Thank you for the Monday-brightener (much needed) and I look forward to daily doses for the foreseeable future….
We’ve had a cord-chewer, too, and we found a totally safe grapefruit peel extract to spray on the cords that did a very good job of deterring him. Can’t recall the brand name offhand, though it might have been Grannick’s, the same folks who make the bitter apple spray. The bitter apple was a good deterrent for our late Labrador, but didn’t faze the feline cord-chewer. The grapefruit, on the other hand, both deterred chewing and produced some hilarious moments of “aaack, thhppht, yuck” when the little devil first encountered it.
Enjoy kitty time today, sir, we’ll be following along vicariously!
Dave Crisp!
In which case they probably won’t need to be neutered. Count on people here to come up with unusual conditions.
Thing One proves once again that he is the photogenic one while Thing Two, well does cat things.
sooooo cute, but yeah not good for your cords lol
@Carolannie: I’ve known a couple of boy torties, so I kinda like reminding people that you can’t assume :)
There can never be too many kittehs on the interwebz.
So far on the basis of a few pics, it appears that Thing One is the more mild-mannered one, and Thing Two has what we call “a lot of personality.” Is this an accurate assessment?
Now I’m absolutely glued on to Twitter and blog updates. Good job, Mr. Scalzi.
In case you are wondering: “Have I posted too many kitten pics?” The answer is no, No, NO! MAXIMUM KITTENS PLEASE!!!!
They are so desperately cute at this age!
ChaCha said it as well as I could hope to — MAXIMUM KITTENS PLEASE!
Have they started reading the classics yet?
I desperately needed kitten pix today. Yay!
Tough call, but I think Thing One is just a little bit cuter. What sex are they? Don’t keep us in suspense.
Your dog looks pretty big. Wait till they learn they can perch on her back. They’ll love her then.
Jennifer McGuire, if you are suffering from cute kitten pic deficiency, may I recommend Good Morning Kitten dot com, run by the same people who run Daily Puppy dot com.
You never do anything for us (don’t tell me what not to say).
Exceptionally cute kitties, BTW.
I have a book called Good Cats Great Owners, by Somebody and Somebody Else (don’t have it with me, sorry) that says you can teach your cat tricks. Has anyone tried this? Also has anyone tested the claim that you can teach the cat to use the toilet? (We had one that was so dumb it seemed she honestly couldn’t remember where the litter box was; on those occasions she stumbled across it she used it, but she eventually became an Outdoor Cat because of her low IQ. She was too dumb to be offended by the demotion and lived happily ever after.)
Awwww! They are very cute :) . I bet your site traffic goes up. And – to my amusement – when I saw the kitties, the header pic was the one of Lopsided Cat peering over the edge of a sofa …
Pogonip,
I have personally known cats that use the toilet (friends’ cats, not mine). It’s a big process to train them, though, and if they have a problem or illness, it can make a mess. I would rather deal with the mess in their own litterbox than on a toilet I use. (Also, kitty paws on the toilet seat kind of icks me out. It’s irrational, since of course my cat walks all over me and every surface in the house, but these things are not rational.)
Carolannie1949: In which case they probably won’t need to be neutered.
Oh, no. They will definitely still need to be neutered/spayed, even if no male cat is in the vicinity. A frustrated female cat in heat is kind of… awe-inspiring, really. If you go in for the ladycat’s non-stop calling, rolling around, and doing a little dance that could get your house shut down as an unlicensed porno parlor.
Awwww! Much approval, maximum kitteh, very cat. (so says Doge).
In human words, our 4 rescues/freeloaders give a hearty “congratulations” to Thing One and Thing Two.
They are both adorable, but Thing One has particularly captured my heart. I agree with bskinn – they are this cute for only a short time. You might as well share all the wonderful pics you can get.
Kittencam!
@CaseyL … if you follow the convo, you’ll see that carolannie’s comment was in response to me saying that calicos might be XXY (Klinefelter’s) boys rather than girls – and such individuals are almost always sterile.
Couldn’t hurt to be on the safe side, though :)
DANG IT. I am even more envious then I was yesterday. Guess I’ll just go pet my (non-shedding) poodle.
Two is definitely a calico, and, as Genetics 101 says, thus most likely a she.
I can’t tell about One. Is that orange striping, or light brown?
And do you know what colors the parents were?
So much adorableness!
I agree with CaseyL though, whatever gender the kitties have, a visit to the vet ought to be in their future.
Waiting for picture of both kittens sitting in your shoes.
Congratulations on adopting the two Things! Great news. May you bring them many years of faithful servitude!
And adopting siblings was an excellent idea. I volunteer with a local cat rescue group, including fostering kittens (my 3rd litter arrived last week, 2 brothers, street rescues, about 12 weeks old), and we usually encourage people to adopt two. We certainly don’t insist on it, but it’s well worth considering. They keep each other company and wear each other out. In fact, 3 of the last 4 kittens I adopted out went to 3 homes that each had a young cat who the family had realized really needed a playmate (and at last report, all 3 cats are settling in well and have become best buddies with their new adult siblings).
Pogonip: I have a book called Good Cats Great Owners, by Somebody and Somebody Else (don’t have it with me, sorry) that says you can teach your cat tricks.
I personally have never tried to teach a cat tricks, but I did see the Moscow Cats Theatre once, and those cats definitely performed tricks: Cats
Not only did we know it would happen but we were really really hoping for it! Another one here in the ‘can’t-own-cos-allergies’ (partner’s) club. Vicarious cat ownership is my saviour :)
One of the reasons I love fostering. A little kitten distraction makes the day complete.
This is an underhanded plot to increase your click count. We are not fooled!
John,
Even after the new cats are vaccinated and stuff, presumably you introduce them to the other cats slowly? Since you and yours are solid veterans in introducing new cats into an already-cat household, what’s your favorite method of doing so?
Thanks for all the pics. We won’t be having new kittens for a while, I think, so it’s neat to see someone else getting some.
Thing Two is definitely a calico, so likely a girl. Which would explain the “lots of personality”. T1 might be too, which explains the kyooooot. Be looking at goddess names, is my advice. Also, gird your loins. Torties are even more cat than most cats.
We haven’t had a kitten in 9 years and won’t again till both the current cats are gone, so I must live vicariously.