R.K. brought a birthday present to show Mommy yesterday!

R.K. writes:

It was about this time last year when my mama raccoon brought us by to see the human home and food source for the first time.  In fact, the feline kits came by one year ago yesterday for the first time!  Well, I thought I'd continue the tradition.  Yep, that's right:  this half-blind raccoon who thinks she's a kitty had kits!  I've got two healthy furballs, and they're a month or two old.  I'm not telling exactly how old they are, though.  They're about 1/4 to 1/3 my size, and I'm still nursing them, although one of them tried the cat food tonight.  I was so proud!  They played on the deck while I ate, except when the sensor light scared them.  There's space under the deck, so they ran down there when the light was too much for them.  They had a lot of fun playing on the deck, though!  They both investigated (and exclaimed about) the ladder that's lying on there, and had fun jumping in and out of the squares.  One played with the rope that's attached to the ladder, tossing the end up and catching it.  The other found a dead mouse that Tigress had presented to the humans.  My silly kit picked the mouse up and couldn't decide what it was!  It held the mouse between its front paws while standing up, turned the mouse over and over between its paws, then walked off with it to the edge of the deck.  Five minutes later, it was still carrying the dead mouse around, trying to decide if it was food or a toy!

Wordy Wednesday: Catching up on the news, pt. 2

Mama Leopard writes:

My boys and I have been hanging out at the house for the past week, right up close most of the time.  When we need shelter, we've been hiding in the roses around the cedar tree, just off to the right of the picture above.  It makes a great hideout, and we're camouflaged from the raccoons (even though they haven't done anything bad to us).  The lady and man say that next week there will be wire boxes over our food.  I'm not sure about that, but as long as we can still get to the food I don't have a problem with it.  At least, not until I see the boxes.

The lady (and sometimes the man) comes out at about 9 pm to put water in the bowl and put food out for us.  We show up, and if the humans are running late my kittens tap on the glass while I wait expectantly about a foot from the window.  When the humans come out, I back up but am still pretty close.  I'm learning to trust them, so I let them be within 3 feet of me now!  My babies run, but pop right back up and investigate.  My striped boy was mewing to the man, and the man meowed back to him!  My little one didn't know the humans could speak our language, so he looked from the man to me, and back again to him, then mewed again and got an answer again!

Mrs. Raccoon writes:

I had three kits around the time that Mama Leopard had her kits.  Now that they are old enough to travel well and eat regular food, I have shown them where the cat food is.  Since my kits are so young, I usually accompany them.  The picture above shows me in the middle and two of my kits.  However, two nights ago I let them go on their own to the food place.  I should have known better!  They are too young to handle the ones on the other side of the window!  The one on the other side of the window who looks like us, Little Bit, likes to jump at me when I eat.  Since I wasn't there, she jumped at my kits, and they jumped back, thinking she was going to come out and play with them!  They don't know what cats are, and thought she was another baby raccoon.  All three jumped at her at the same time, hitting the window with a bang.  That scared Little Bit, and she meowed at them.  They got confused, stood up, and put their front paws on the window, looking in at her.  She jumped again and they jumped again.  The human came and removed Little Bit.  Then the human came back to the window, knelt down, and looked my three babies straight in the eyes.  In a commanding voice, she told them that they could not jump at the window like that, Little Bit was not going to come out to play, and they had better be nice.  They looked at her, got down on all fours again, and backed up.  Still looking over their shoulders, they ran back to where I was and told me all about it!

Foster Friday

Squishy's all better now, and has been thoroughly enjoying being out and about with everyone again. He and Little Guy have learned to jump onto the kitchen counters, the bathtub, and the end table. Their new favorite activities are getting into the garbage, carrying the bathtub plug around like prey, and playing hide-and-seek with the shower curtain.



We now think Rori and Little Guy (and also Kai) are half-siblings. As Little Guy's coloring gets more pronounced, he's looking a lot like Spongebob and like Rori (see above pictures).

Our newest babies are two male tuxedo kittens. They're not classic tuxies; more like our feral Dot and Tux. In fact, one of them has a black fur patch on his nose just like Dot. These two are bottle babies, so we have been doing feedings every two hours. Little Bit may step into an "auntie" role, but she's not interested in nursing these two. Little Guy wants to comfort them when they cry, and this morning he almost climbed in with the pink-nosed one. Squishy thinks they might play, and bats their heads with soft paws then looks at me when they don't respond.

Rough & Tumble Babies

Little Bit's babies were playing this morning! So, here's your "cute" for the day. :)

Mommyday

Little Bit writes:

My babies are growing so fast! They are much better at walking, and can almost cross the whole box by themselves without falling down. I have been encouraging them to climb the box by sitting outside meowing them on, while they try to scale the side to me. My grey girl and one of the tabbies have succeeded once, but only got about 6 inches away from the box before I saw them. They know the humans, and cry at them when they see them above the box, because they like being petted. The humans, who I'm learning now are called Foster Mommy and Foster Daddy, have even held my babies. Of course, I have to supervise this, and get anxious after a couple minutes so they let me have my babies back in the box after that. But they are very gentle about holding them, and it's good practice for my little ones to be on human laps. I myself am now allowed on the couch and on the computer chair to sit with the humans.

I don't like being in the green house, and I've rung the bell to go outside many times. Somehow, the doorbell trick doesn't work like it used to. Very confusing! I resort to meowing at them then, but they say I need to stay in with my baby kids.

The other cats in the house are interested in looking at my baby kids, too. Rori sits on the kitty tree staring down at them. Skylar walks by and peeks over the top of the box, as does Tabby. Carbon sniffs at the box. My little sisters look over the edge with their front paws on the top, trying to see the baby ones. My cousin Starla is afraid of everyone, and usually stays under the dresser in the bedroom.

My grey girl and my boy (one of the tabbies) are the most adventurous and the loudest.

International Box Day!

This post is dedicated to International Box Day! We love, love, LOVE our boxes here at the green house! Mommy is an independent Avon sales rep., so we get boxes every two weeks. Yay! In addition, sometimes we get surprise boxes from things Mommy and Daddy buy, or at holidays (like Christmas and birthdays). So here are some of our box pictures, past and present, with captions below each picture.

Little Bit and babies in their box on their first day as fosters.

Little Bit's babies on their first day as fosters.

Little Boo today playing in a box she found.

Rori on Avon delivery day.

Carbon on Avon delivery day.

Skylar taking catnip-scented tissue paper out of Carbon's Christmas box, December 2007.

Foster kitten Spooky asleep, 2007. He loved to sleep this way!

Foster kitten Spooky discovered after he climbed into the empty laundry basket through the handle holes! Early 2008.

Carbon on the Trailer Kitties' Christmas package, Dec. 2007.

Tabby and Lydia with their Christmas box, Dec. 2006.

Tabby investigating the Christmas box and contents, Dec. 2006.

Lydia choosing her favorite toy out of the Christmas box, Dec. 2006.