Her Royal Highness, Cleopatra Scarlett, Queen of Denial

Since I haven't put a recent picture of Her Royal Highness up in a while, here we go. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you 

Her Royal Highness, Cleopatra Scarlett, Queen of Denial: 

1st shots today

Shakira went in for her first shots today - she's not scheduled for another series for a month, then she gets her final kitten series a month after that. 

Here she is just before the shot: 

She's still so tiny! And such a hellion! She loves to be held and loves to fight. 

Here she is getting her first shot: 

Now for a day of the groggies. I don't know what it is or how it's caused, but it seems that whenever an infant (human or animal) gets their first vaccination, mind you completely sedative free, simply an anti-viral, they get an overwhelming urge to sleep. 
Thus, the groggies. 

And I managed to find another premium brand of canned kitten food, Fancy Feast, so I got a couple of cans for a degree of variety. 
Unless of course I find that I'm happier with the Iams. 
In which case, I'm sorry, health overrules variety. Iams exclusively. Stable stomach, regular healthy diet, and all is right with the world. 

I also bought a new cat tree today - it's been years since I've had one, because I got rid of the last one because Cleo got too big for it.  

Seriously, as stable as that thing is, she can manage to rock it if she runs up it full tilt. 
Of course, she's now 10 so I don't exactly think running up the cat tree full tilt is exactly an option.

Introduction

Well, it happened. 
Cleo got within 2 feet of Shakira. 
There was no hissing, no spitting, no threat display. 

From either of them. 

It's definitely an encouraging start. 

Milestone #2

Shakira has graduated to dry food. She's still getting wet twice a day, even though the dry is also Iams (I'm a pet food snob). 

I'm still feeding her separately from Cleo for a couple of reasons. 

First and foremost, they haven't formally met yet. 

I'm edging closer and closer to the time when that's going to have to be the reality, however I'm trying to delay it as long as I can because Shakira's still so tiny. 

I'm also beginning to wonder what kind of coat she'll have as an adult.  Based on her markings, there just might have been a Maine Coon in the family tree. If so, she's going to be a longhair instead of a short hair. But that'll be at least a year before I find out conclusively. 

She's scheduled for her first round of shots next week, then she gets 2 more series a month apart, and just as she's getting her last shots, she's going to be spayed. 

Yeah, this has just become the annoying pet parent blog. 

Sorry guys. 

It's distracting me from thinking about your Mom's issues that I can't do shit about. 

  

Milestone achieved

Okay, this is, in my opinion, really big. 
Not only is she eating solid (wet) food by herself, but she's using the box. 
By herself. 
At 5 weeks  old. 

I am so looking forward to seeing the cat she's destined to grow into. 

Parenthood - The midlife version

Yeah yeah yeah, you don't regard raising and keeping an animal as true "parenthood". 
In some respects, you're right. But in others, you're so wrong. 
Maybe it's because I don't have biological children, however my animals have always been "my babies"... and since Polgara died, I've only had HRH Cleopatra QoD for company. 
Well, I put it out to the Universe that I wanted a companion for Cleo and for myself. 
And I got answered. 

She's about 5 weeks old, and currently residing in the bathroom. 
Why the bathroom? First and foremost, tile cleans easier than carpet does. (We're still working out the whole box issue.) - the only downside is that she apparently loves the sound of her own voice and the acoustics in the bathroom do nothing but encourage her. 
For such a tiny kitten, she's got one big mouth. 
And with that, I'm beginning to think she's named herself. 

Shakira. After the tiny Latina artiste with the big voice. 

I think I'm going to try that out for a couple of days to see if it fits. 
Anyway, back to the purported subject of this diatribe - Its been 15+ years since I've had to care for a kitten this young, and even then, Polgara was a little older when she came.

Shakira (I'm finding that I really like that name) wasn't even weaned when I got her. I'm having to handle that chore. We started with KMR, (Kitten Milk Replacement), and then I introduced her to a soft food smoothie - a teaspoon of wet food mixed with KMR, and spoon fed to her. 
Today, however, she actually ate straight wet food out of the can - well, I did spoon feed her, but the fact remains that it was wet food, not a smoothie. 
Now if I can just get her to associate the bowl with food, not the spoon. 

Now, I get to start working on toilet training. Joy. 

See why this has striking parallels to human parenthood? And sibling rivalry? You haven't experienced it until you have to deal with it from the animal kingdom. 
Cleopatra is doing her best to live up to her title, Queen of Denial - however there are some times when Shakira is doing a performance that Cleo will slink off to hide in a corner. 
All in the name of denial. 

The big issue here is that I'm introducing a 5 week old kitten to a 10 year old cat. 
In the feline world, kittens come with mother cats. And mother cats tend to be *really* nasty when it comes to protecting their own from another cat. 
So instinctively, kittens tend to be given a wide berth. 
The downside is that all the kitten wants to do is play - they're still learning and developing, so they don't know of any hazards. 

That's another reason Shakira is being kept in isolation for at least another 2 weeks - she's too small to go against Cleo for any reason. Not that 2 weeks is going to make that much of a difference, however I'm hoping by that time the two of them can be in the same room at the same time. 
Rome wasn't built in a day, you know. 

More to follow 

Greetings from the Void

Hi Andrea and Aiden... it's Grandpa Merlin.
Yeah, I'm still around, at this moment doing a whole restructuring thing. Hard to explain, you'd have to be here. But no matter what, ya'll are in my heart.

Even though I'm beyond horrible about the whole blog thing.

But right now you're up in the mid-west with your mom & dad. That's a whole other kettle of fish.
But to fill you in on what's happened, Polgara has also passed. I was too depressed at the time to even consider a blog post announcing it.
Her Royal Highness, Cleopatra, Queen of Denial, has had to deal with being a solitary cat ever since. This is an experience she's never had... her entire existence has had Polgara, her partner in crime, involved.
Needless to say, she's become my shadow while I'm in the house.
Charming, but annoying after a couple of months.
Well, into this staid existence I am about to plunk a 5 week old kitten.
Herself hasn't yet told me her name, but that's fine. I saw her and fell in love.
Right now she's at the vet, or rather, as we say here, the spa, who's given her a clean bill of health. I pick her up in the morning, and then she goes for about a week of isolation and introduction before she's allowed into the general population at large so to speak.
I'm nervous about this because this is the first animal I've introduced into the household in 9 years.
And it's a baby at that.
But oh my Goddess she's gorgeous. And if this picture I'm trying to get from my phone to the computer ever gets here, I'll have a picture to show.
And thanks to Google store, I have that picture.

I must confess that I'm giving serious thought to going back for her litter mate tomorrow. I'll let you know.
Anyway, it's 5.30 am and I need to get to bed.
I love you and I swear I'll write more.