Our new family member Kilo, who adopted us a few days before Thanksgiving, is doing great and living a happy, healthy, fun-filled life as a kitten should. His beginning was rather rough as I mentioned in my previous post, but you wouldn't know it now! He recovered very quickly from his surgeries.
He is really smart and acclimated himself to our home, our other pets and our routine in no time once he was feeling better. He knows his name, the names of our other pets and the word hungry. He has adjusted to having three legs just fine; in fact, seeing him fly by, you wouldn't even notice he was missing a leg until he stops and is still for a moment. He runs and plays just like any other kitten.
He got to know our dog Duke first. The first couple of weeks we had Kilo, he stayed in his cat condo which was next to one of Duke's beds. Duke kept him company and watched over him every day. Kilo would often talk to Duke. The first opportunity Kilo had to get out of his condo for awhile, he went straight to Duke, who was sound asleep on his bed, and smelled his nose. Then he ran back into his condo, which was his safe place. It was so cute. Once he was allowed out of his condo during the daytime, he would sleep in a bed next to Duke's. He tried snuggling up with Duke on his bed, but that was a little too much for Duke. Though Duke is enjoying having a little brother kitten and often gives him kisses, snuggling together is pushing it!
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| Duke and Kilo |
Kilo has been wonderful about giving our other two cats, Chloe and Dusty, their space and taking it slow in gaining their affection. He has been real respectful of their boundaries, unlike the other male kittens we have had. He is winning them over. Though Chloe would only hiss at him for the first few weeks, she will sometimes play with him and enjoys watching his silly antics.
And although a bit jealous at times, Dusty has been seen playing with him, watching him play, and they sleep in close proximity to each other during the day.
He is a real sweet and affectionate kitten and has brought a lot of love and laughter into our lives. Kilo is a good example of how resilient animals are. We can learn a lot from them.
I love kittens! They are so much fun because they have all that energy and just want to play! I have been getting new clients with kittens and some of our long time clients have recently adopted new kittens.
I have noticed over the years that some kitten/cat parents are not aware of the household dangers for cats. (As well as some dog parents/dog dangers.) It doesn't matter whether they are young kittens, seniors or in between. Cat-proofing your home is very important. It can mean avoiding an emergency trip to the vet. It can mean the difference between life and death. In the same way that you would child-proof your home for a new baby, you need to kitten/cat-proof, puppy/dog-proof, bird-proof or whatever-it-may-be-proof your home.
When you take on the responsibility of sharing your home with a living, breathing being -- no matter what kind of animal it is, it's important to do your part in learning about the care of them -- part of which includes learning what is dangerous or toxic to them and how to keep them safe.
Many people get pets on impulse and then do not bother to learn anything about them. Or they rely only on something they've heard before or maybe check out one source of information, that may or may not be reliable.
When you buy a new appliance, you read how to set it up, use it properly, take care of it so it lasts. You probably even did some research before buying it.....deciding which kind would fit properly and be the best one for you. Did you do any research before you adopted your new furry or feathered family member (or other animal)? Did you prepare for them? Have you read some books or talked to others that are knowledgeable about the care of them?
Even if you have had pets your whole life, what we learn and discover about these beautiful creatures changes daily. Some books and things you may have heard or read about in regards to the care of pets in the past have been replaced with new knowledge and understandings. We are always learning. Things are always changing. Nothing stays the same. It's something you have to keep up with -- always keeping your mind open for
what we'll discover next.
As this topic of pet-proofing your home has been on my mind lately, wouldn't you know that I just received an article from one of my favorite holistic veterinarians, Dr. Karen Becker, on the subject of kitten-proofing your home. Please check out her 10 tips here.
One thing she doesn't mention that is fresh on my mind because we just went through the holidays, is the dangers of Christmas trees. This is worth mentioning again. Read about one example that I experienced a couple years ago here.
If you have cats in particular, and are going to go out of town for Christmas, please plan ahead. Plan so you can do whatever needs to be done so that you can take down your tree before you leave. Or put it in another room if possible and close the door! There is no sense in leaving a Christmas tree up when you're not even going to be there but yet your cat will have plenty of unsupervised time with it. It's not worth the risk. Sure, people leave their trees up, go out of town and they have cats and nothing has happened. That's great. You think it won't happen to you. It can. Are you willing to take that risk? Cats are animals and they love to climb. If you put a tree in their environment, which is not only something new but enticing, expect that they may decide to climb it! Even if they are a senior. Error on the side of caution. Play it safe. They are counting on us to keep them safe.
