Catablog

End of Week 3 (photos)

All is going well. The kittens are well behaved and lots of fun. No messes or damage. Boy survived his neutering surgery and is fully recovered. Amelia is very tolerant, eats with them, and let Boy sit in the window with her. Names? We are considering Turbo, Gonzo, or Jambo for the boy and Emmaline or Tiger Lily for the girl.

Girl

Girl catches a toy mouse

Boy and Fleur

Fleur (video)

Fleur (a character in The Forsyte Saga by Galsworthy/PBS)

Click for video (2:11)

End of Week 2 (photos)

Two weeks, and still no names. We are working on it. Inspiration will come.

The kittens are a ball and we really love them. We were prepared for breakage, but they have done no significant damage. Today was their first full day free in the house alone. I inspected carefully when I got home, fully expecting chaos, but I found nothing broken or even knocked over.

It dawned on us that Boy B. is going to have to be neutered soon. He is starting to show signs of adolescence. We don't want any accidents. Enjoy, Boy, while you can. He is the most active and friendly of the bunch. He has been sleeping between us near the bottom of the bed. I don't know where the others are spending the night.

Girl B. is getting friendlier. She is more comfortable and plays a lot, and will now come for petting when she is called.

Siamese is just so cuddly you can't leave her alone. It's really hard to walk by her without picking her up. She's playful too, and doesn't seem to be afraid of anything.

The cat litter has been moved to the basement, and they seem to enjoy exploring the lower reaches of the house. Yesterday, one of them dragged a bicycle inner tube upstairs. Another was following chasing the tube. It's scary to think about what they might drag up out of the basement.

Amelia is spending more time upstairs. Unfortuately, she seems to have been run out of her favorite haunts in the bedroom. This is sad, and we will try to correct it. The kittens approach her, and she still hisses, but not with much conviction. We're still hoping she will adapt.

The kittens sleep in a pile on the futon.

On this day, Amelia shared.

Kittens being kittens (video)

Click for video (2:41)

Ancestry

There is a lot of information on the web about Bengals, which were developed from a cross between an Asian Leopard Cat and and a domestic cat. The International Bengal Cat Society is a good site that has an article on the Asian Leopard Cat that includes links to video and audio of the wild cat. Bengalcat.co.uk has a nice article on the ALC with picture.

Our Bengals have the same father, Leopald.

Boy Bengal's mother is Judy and Girl Bengal's mother is Kiara Golden Touch (no pictures available yet).

Parents of our Siamese

End of Week 1 (photos)

After the first week, the kittens are doing well. They are getting more comfortable. Comfortable enough to knock this plant off the bookcase.

Boy Bengal pretty much rules the house. If you call any cat, or pet any cat, he comes to get his. He has a tendency to attack and bite (gently) when he's being petted, but this won't last. First we make sure he doesn't get rewarded for this by stopping petting, then we clap loudly and say "no!" Then we use the squirt gun. Well, in theory we use the squirt gun. It's never there when you need it. We need squirt gun holsters. Girl Bengal loves to be petted, but she is still a little afraid of me. She acts like she is not supposed to be in the house and runs back to the laundry room when she sees me. When she is relaxed, she loves to be petted. Siamese plays and sleeps with the Bengals. She's a little smaller, but holds her own. She is the best at cuddling and so far, the calmest of the cats.

How many cats can you find in this picture?

Amelia is being very tolerant. There have been some close encounters of the hissing kind between her and Boy, but she does all the hissing, and then retreats. He just seems very curious about her. There have been no fights. I am sure there will be peaceful coexistence, and maybe even friendship, eventually.

These kittens put out an amazing amount of highly aromatic waste. We have two litter boxes and are changing twice daily. They must be putting out more than they are taking in. This could be the secret of perpetual motion, and hundreds of kittens could be used as an alternative power source for our house (although no one would live in it). I've been wondering about the evolutionary value of stinky kitten poop. First, it prevents fouling the den because the mother would not tolerate it. Second, if a kitten got lost it could be located within seconds after crapping, which happens every minute or two.

Bengals playing (video)

Bengals playing (click for video, 13 seconds)

Day 4

They are all running around and having a great time. They are actually well behaved and haven't done any damage. That may be because they are not comfortable yet. The female Bengal still avoids me, but the other two are happy to be held and petted.

Amelia photo

Amelia keeps watch from a safe place, hoping the kittens will just go away

Snowshoe Siamese photo

Female Snowshoe Siamese, born May 12, 2004

Female Bengal photo

Female Bengal, born March 8, 2004 (very shy)

Male Bengal photo

Male Bengal, born March 12, 2004

Day 3

They are all out from time to time, including the Bengal female. The male roams the house and the Bengals were seen playing and chasing each other. They knocked a bunch of magazines off the table and I think the noise spooked the Siamese. She hid behind the washer all evening. I'm trying to get some pictures, but they won't hold still. I had a tough time getting the female Bengal into the laundry room for the night. She wasn't hiding, and she let me pick her up, but she was very skittish and when she gets scared, she has about a thousand very sharp little claws!

Day 2

They spent the day in the laundry room until Tom got home at 5. The male comes out to be petted and has sniffed around the kitchen. The Siamese comes out into the mudroom and stares. The female Bengal is behind the washer and dryer. All three of them go back there when they are spooked. The male will come out to be petted, but not the others. The female Bengal disappeared at about 8 pm and we didn't find her until morning, hiding in the dining room behind a plant.

Resting in safety

We got three cats from the excellent breeder at Helderberg Exotic Cats in East Berne, NY. We got two Bengals, a male and a female, and a femals Snowshoe Siamese. They are pretty scared. They got out of the cat carrier, but then got back in and stayed. Amelia came out and hissed at them and then went back into the bedroom. We put them in the laundry room for the night.