It's been a while

Baby's first toy.

I know it's been quite a while since my last post. I haven't felt up to blogging much since we lost Anubis. But in July of 2016, my other half and I decided it was time to start looking again, and we found this guy at the shelter. He was just a tiny, pitch-black ball of fluff at the time, only 10 weeks old. He ran under my legs and wouldn't leave. He claimed us, and so we brought him home. We ha originally intended to pick a friend to bring with him, but he didn't seem particularly interested in any of the other kittens, so for now we adopted him as an only child. (SimbaToo - now known simply as "Kitty" - still lives with my parents and has pretty solidly bonded with my mother, so there she stays.)

Ceiling fans are confusing.

He very quickly settled in, and we breathed a sigh of relief when he took his cues from us and slept through the first night. After some deliberation, my other half chose the name Night for our new little monster. He was rambunctious and feisty, but very smart and so quickly learned the rules of the house (though we had a little trouble with him trying to eat anything he found on the floor, including lint and strings, so all small objects had to be put away or discarded).

And then he grew. And grew. And grew. By 6 months old he was already larger than the average cat, and still growing. The vet confirmed he is probably at least part Maine Coon, and said he is likely to keep growing to at least 2 years of age. So far that is proving to be true.

Turn on the faucet, please?

He developed a love for water - but only on his terms. Eventually he figured out that we can control the magic faucet where water comes out, and started begging us to turn on the "drippies" for him.

Reusable shipping bag for scale.

And still he continued to grow. At last weigh-in, he was almost 14lbs - and that was a few months ago. He has grown more since then.

He is a very muscular cat, with very shiny fur - we think this was helped along by his food. We settled on Hill's Ideal Balance for him, as the ingredients list was on par with some of the more expensive brands like Wellness, but was a brand we knew we could find fairly easily. Plus they had an adult food that matched the flavor of their kitten food, which made for an easier transition. He also gets a bit of wet food in the evening, mixed with lysine powder to help control the symptoms of his feline herpes - a chronic respiratory infection that is common in cats who came from a shelter environment. He had some issues as a kitten with some nasty flareups, and the vet determined he has a sensitive immune system due to his lymph nodes swelling several times, but as he has gotten older he has stayed fairly healthy so long as we keep up with the lysine.

He loves little plush toys.

Night does not seem to have gotten the memo that most cats mellow out as they approach a year of age. He's about a year and a half old now and still tears through the house at top speed, and prefers to have several hours of playtime a day. His favorite toy is a blue stuffed bunny we purchased at the dollar store around Easter last year - I am currently watching for them to return so I can buy him a bunch of backups, just in case poor bunny gets torn up beyond repair.

Restoring his chocolate tips in the sunlight.

He does have some quirks we need to work through, mainly getting very fixated on things to the point of obsession. His love of drippies has turned into obsessively sticking his paws down drains, and pawing aggressively at the tap when it's off, so we are currently working with him on that. We also had a mouse in the walls for a while this winter, and he would ignore his food for hours on end just to stare at the spot where he last heard it, waiting for it to come back. We tried Rescue Remedy for a bit and it did help, but his fixation on water increased once the mouse went away so we've taken him off it until such time as we need it again.

Gotta keep that fur perfect.

He also seems to have VERY sensitive hearing, which at times leads him to be a little jumpy, but he is getting better on that front. He seems to have sensitive skin as well, and we found that we are unable to use standard flea treatments on him. This sensitivity also makes him a bit difficult to groom. Thankfully he usually is able to keep up with it himself, except during heavy shedding season. He also has the softest fur of any cat I've ever known.

Warming his toes by the space heater.

Night's hobbies include kneading on blankets, playing chase through the house, scratching on the couch (never mind his several scratching posts that lay ignored all over the house), nomming on mommy's arm when she's not paying him enough attention, and stealing small objects. He is still working on his stealth skill and has not quite figured out how mommy and daddy always know he has stolen something when he's crouched over it so they can't see. It's like we're psychic or something.

Heat vent and sunshine - double the warm!

All in all he is growing up to be a gorgeous cat, very smart and active and full of mischief. It's hard to remember with his size that he is still technically a kitten. At least until he warbles out his war cry right before tearing down the hallway after his toys.