The Woes of Kitten Rearing

I've now had Arthur for one week. Seems like longer! While I was somewhat prepared for the troubles that come along with having a kitten, based on my experience with Walter, I failed to recognize that each cat is unique.
I had prepared myself for the possibility of meowing all night long, playing all night long, biting my feet under the covers. I even tried to anticipate the problems I might run into introducing a kitten. Walter trying to us Arthur's litter box, Walter wanting to eat the kitten food, Walter wanting to eat the kitten. However, none of these things happened. Instead I've been faced with kitten problems I did not face with Walter.

First, Arthur had an accident on my bed. No big deal, he's still little and accidents happen. When Arthur does use the litter box, he tries to eat the litter. I've heard this is common with kitten,s but not something i experienced last time. Arthur also likes to simply sit in the litter box and hang out.

Next, while i was worried about Walter trying to eat kitten food, it turns out no one wants it, and they'd both rather eat Walter's food. And they are both currently eating Blue, so I'm not sure why the adult version is better.  Also, they've been getting canned food, and while it's identical, Arthur prefers to eat it out of the bowl given to Walter. I gave up trying to separate that after the first few days.

Walter used to have this adorable habit of trying to sleep on my face. Cute. He wanted to be close. I broke him of that quickly. Arthur, has no desire to sleep on my face (although he does try and curl up under my chin which is awesome) but he does think of it as a toy. Every time the little guy is within swatting distance, he goes for it. Unfortunately, with him, when I try to stop it, he just wants it more, and comes back biting.

Arthur also has an itty-bitty kitty cold. While its been going on for a few days, the only thing that seems to make him sneezing is being within sneezing-distance of my face. I have been with him all day and he has not sneezed, but I know the second we go to bed, it will be non-stop. This morning he managed to get me right in the ear!

Overall, things are going well. He is still adorable as ever, even with his cold and goopy eyes. He is also very cuddly, and I love that about him.

 I just hope he doesn't grow out of it. Besides the face biting, he's great at night. Will sleep without disturbing me until about 5am, at which point its time to get up and play. He also isn't very vocal, which I appreciate. When he does make noise, instead of meowing, he just makes adorable little squeaky noises!

 I also love that all you have to do is touch him and he starts purring. For those of you that don't know, Walter cannot purr. I've talked to vets about it, and apparently some cats just don't purr. Arthur purrs all the time. And after 5 years of being with a purr-less cat, Arthur's instantaneous purr still puts a smile on my face each time :)

Big Brother

Today, Arthur wanted to be just like his big brother.
So even though he has all sorts of awesome kitten food, he only wants to eat Walter's food. And only out of Walter's bowl.

Walter gets to go outside from time to time, and of course, Arthur wanted to follow!

So I took him out for a few minutes.

He was not happy when he had to come back in :(

....nor was Walter

More Pictures!!

 Big activity for the day: scaling the sofa:

Made it! 

But it was hard work. pretty sleepy.

 He's smaller than a phone! So adorable

And now off to play with Walter

Introducing Sir Arthur Kittington III

This is Arthur.

Arthur was adopted on Friday night, from a farm near my parent's house. He was an orphan. Unfortunately, his mother was hit by a car about 3 weeks ago.Arthur has two sisters, who are also in need of loving homes: 

Having come from a farm, with no mom, he was quite dirty when I brought him home. First thing we did was take a bath.

Arthur was a trooper and didn't make a peep the entire time.

Saturday morning, he had his first outing, a trip to the vet. He was great there too. I guess having spent the past five years with Walter, and getting used to him hating everything, it surprises me that a kitten would be ok with these things.While we don't know exactly how old Arthur is, the vet thought he looked about 7 weeks. He weighs about 12 ounces and is basically pure fluff. I got Walter when he was about 8 weeks, and Arthur is much much smaller than Walter was as a kitten. But we all know how big Walter grew up to be!

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing and napping. 

Arthur even got his own red cube to match his big brother Walter! 

 Arthur got to meet his big brother Walter too! I had planned on keeping the two of them completely separate until next weekend. I wanted to make sure Arthur was healthy and couldn't get Walter sick, and I wanted to make sure Walter had plenty of time to adjust. However, that thought was quick lived, as soon as I realized I felt bad for one or the other, as I could only spend time with one at a time, and a door got left open, Walter came in, and nothing bad happened. So now they are in the same room as long as they are being supervised.

 At first, Walter was scared. 

But Walter adjusted quickly. He hissed at Arthur a few times, then became disinterested. Went off and did his own thing. Now if his curiosity is spiked, Walter will just walk up to Arthur and basically just sit around and watch him. After Walter got over his initial shock, it was Arthur that was afraid of Walter. Arthur hissing and Walter, and Walter getting scared and running away is one of the cutest things that has happened thus far. 

Arthur had to have a second bath today, because he is not very good at eating, and he still had a faint barn smell to him. 

Unfortunately, he was not as compliant as he was the first time. And, unfortunately for him, he was too tiny to climb out of the sink!  Hopefully he won't need anymore after today. 

Today was more of the same. Arthur napping on me, Walter napping in his usual spots...

 Arthur is already much more playful today than yesterday! They grow up so fast! Which means, everyone should come experience his adorableness before he grows up!!